MPA COMP EXAM STUDY GUIDE
Performance Budget - Answer -A process designed to improve budgeting by focusing
more on what the organization hopes to accomplish
Measure of service efforts: input measures - Answer -Measure the amount of financial
and non-financial resources applied to a service
Ex
Financial: costs of road maintenance
Non-financial: total lane-miles of roads used in providing a service
Measure of service accomplishments: - Answer -Output measures and Outcome
measures
Outcome measures - Answer -measure results associated with provision of services:
may include measure of public perceptions of results
Example: Percentage of roads in good or excellent condition: or the residents rating of
the smoothness of the road
Output measures: - Answer -measure the quantity of services provided, a quality
requirement may be included
Example: Number of lanes-miles of road repaired in a certain minimum satisfactory
condition
Measure relating services efforts to service accomplishments - Answer -Efficiency
measure and Cost-outcome measures
Cost-outcome measures - Answer -Measure the resources used per unit of outcome or
result, or per cost per unit of outcome or result
Example: cost per lane-mile of road maintained in good or excellent condition
Efficiency measure - Answer -measure the resource used per unit of output, or the cost
per unit of output
Example: cost per lane-mile of road maintained or more specifically resurfaced/seal-
coated
Logic Model - Answer -a realistic and plausible model of how a program will work under
certain environmental conditions to solve identified problems
It is a tool that describes the theory of change underlying an intervention, product, or
policy
, inputs/resources -> activities -> outputs -> short-term outcomes/intermediate
outcomes/long term outcomes
Performance budget - Answer -budget preparation and adoption process that
emphasizes performance management, allowing allocation decisions to be made, in
part, on efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.
Legislative review - Answer -Reporting requirements
Financial, performance, planning, "problem areas" etc.
Research, evaluation, audit, and investigation
Oversight of sub/committees
Standing committees: role of "continuous watchfulness"
Informal contracts/meetings between committees and staff
Formal legislative hearings
Judicial review - Answer -"Looks" - degrees of deference courts give to agencies
"Hard look" - strict scrutiny
"Soft look" - reasonableness
"No look" - rational basis
Reg-Neg (Regulation-Negotiation) - Answer -Face-to-face negotiations among
interested parties and the agency
"Rulemaking committees" including agency and stakeholder representatives
Goal is to improve the poor quality of rules produced, the burdensome nature of the
rulemaking process and the frequency of the litigation that follows
Qualified immunity - Answer -encourages public administrators to follow the case law
and be responsive to judiciary's constitutional reasoning and values
APA (Administrative Procedure Act 1946) - Answer -Provides basic framework for
incorporating constitutional values ie: representation, public participation, transparency,
fairness, accountability.
seeks to prevent decision that are
- arbitrary and capricious
- contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege, and immunity
- in excess of statutory jurisdiction/authority
Performance Budget - Answer -A process designed to improve budgeting by focusing
more on what the organization hopes to accomplish
Measure of service efforts: input measures - Answer -Measure the amount of financial
and non-financial resources applied to a service
Ex
Financial: costs of road maintenance
Non-financial: total lane-miles of roads used in providing a service
Measure of service accomplishments: - Answer -Output measures and Outcome
measures
Outcome measures - Answer -measure results associated with provision of services:
may include measure of public perceptions of results
Example: Percentage of roads in good or excellent condition: or the residents rating of
the smoothness of the road
Output measures: - Answer -measure the quantity of services provided, a quality
requirement may be included
Example: Number of lanes-miles of road repaired in a certain minimum satisfactory
condition
Measure relating services efforts to service accomplishments - Answer -Efficiency
measure and Cost-outcome measures
Cost-outcome measures - Answer -Measure the resources used per unit of outcome or
result, or per cost per unit of outcome or result
Example: cost per lane-mile of road maintained in good or excellent condition
Efficiency measure - Answer -measure the resource used per unit of output, or the cost
per unit of output
Example: cost per lane-mile of road maintained or more specifically resurfaced/seal-
coated
Logic Model - Answer -a realistic and plausible model of how a program will work under
certain environmental conditions to solve identified problems
It is a tool that describes the theory of change underlying an intervention, product, or
policy
, inputs/resources -> activities -> outputs -> short-term outcomes/intermediate
outcomes/long term outcomes
Performance budget - Answer -budget preparation and adoption process that
emphasizes performance management, allowing allocation decisions to be made, in
part, on efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.
Legislative review - Answer -Reporting requirements
Financial, performance, planning, "problem areas" etc.
Research, evaluation, audit, and investigation
Oversight of sub/committees
Standing committees: role of "continuous watchfulness"
Informal contracts/meetings between committees and staff
Formal legislative hearings
Judicial review - Answer -"Looks" - degrees of deference courts give to agencies
"Hard look" - strict scrutiny
"Soft look" - reasonableness
"No look" - rational basis
Reg-Neg (Regulation-Negotiation) - Answer -Face-to-face negotiations among
interested parties and the agency
"Rulemaking committees" including agency and stakeholder representatives
Goal is to improve the poor quality of rules produced, the burdensome nature of the
rulemaking process and the frequency of the litigation that follows
Qualified immunity - Answer -encourages public administrators to follow the case law
and be responsive to judiciary's constitutional reasoning and values
APA (Administrative Procedure Act 1946) - Answer -Provides basic framework for
incorporating constitutional values ie: representation, public participation, transparency,
fairness, accountability.
seeks to prevent decision that are
- arbitrary and capricious
- contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege, and immunity
- in excess of statutory jurisdiction/authority
