Office of Performance Evaluations
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Rakesh Mohan
Director
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Amanda Bartlett
Principal Evaluator
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Ryan Langrill
Principal Evaluator
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 Lauren Bailey
Senior Evaluator
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Mackenzie Moss
Evaluator
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Sasha O’Connell
Senior Evaluator
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Casey Petti
Senior Evaluator
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Liz Demer
Evaluator
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Year | Award | Qualifications | News Release |
| 2016 | Outstanding Evaluation | High quality work, use and influence of the report, office’s continued influence in the evaluation community | October 21, 2016 | |
| 2011 | Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Government Evaluation | Work is highly influential in government context | September 29, 2011 |
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2016 | Donald C. and Alice M. Stone Outstanding Practitioner | Outstanding professional contributions in government management |
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Excellence in Evaluation | |
| 2006 | Best advancing the field of legislative program evaluation from 2002 through 2005 | |
| Excellence in Research Methods | ||
| 2012 | Equity in Higher Education Funding | |
| 2010 | Public Education Funding in Idaho | |
Per statute, evaluations may be conducted of any agency or program that receives state funds.
| State government | Local government |
| Boards | Cities |
| Commissions | Counties |
| Departments | Districts |
| Offices | Other political subdivisions that have the authority to levy, collect, and spend tax dollars |
| Institutions |
Requests for evaluation must be submitted to the Oversight Committee through a legislator. The Oversight Committee reviews all requests for evaluation. Requests may include background information on the issues of concern. Any member or the full committee may request that our office prepares general background information for full committee consideration of a requested evaluation. A strong evaluation request is timely and addresses a broad audience. See examples of prompts that can strengthen a request under Requesting an Evaluation.
Using background information and information cited in the request, the Oversight Committee decides which requests will be conducted. The number of assigned evaluations are made according to resources within our office. Topic selection typically occurs toward the end of each legislative session, but requests may be submitted at any time during the year.
After the Oversight Committee assigns our office an evaluation, we conduct the evaluation without involvement from the committee. We may interview agency personnel and stakeholders, analyze financial and budgetary data, conduct surveys, and review procedures, processes, and applicable standards. Before the release of the evaluation report, all materials obtained or created as a result of our evaluation are confidential (Idaho Code § 67-461).
When the evaluation is complete, OPE staff prepare a written report with findings and recommendations. The final report is published with responses, if any, from the evaluated state agencies and the Governor. In a public meeting, the Oversight Committee receives the report, makes decisions about the appropriate steps to implement recommendations, and may forward the report to other legislative committees for consideration of policy. After the report is released, all workpapers compiled to document the evaluation’s conclusions and recommendations, except those that are otherwise confidential under Idaho law, become subject to disclosure.
| Three evaluation standards guide our work: | |
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Government Auditing Standards (issued by the US Comptroller General) |
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Guiding Principles for Evaluators (issued by the American Evaluation Association) |
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Program Evaluation Standards (issued by the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation) |
