Response to ExpectMore.gov

ExpectMore.gov was another site that I came across while doing research for the Appalachian stereotypes essay. The Office of Management and Budget and Federal agencies develop this site. I found this website to be helpful because it provides three main resources for each government agency. In my case, I chose the site for the Appalachian Regional Commission. The three resources that it provides are the goal that that the agency is trying to accomplish, the agency’s performance rating, and an improvement plan.
The link next to the goal of the commission brings you to a long list of specific objectives that the agency aims to accomplish by a certain year. Under each accomplishment there is a column with the year, the target, and the actual. For instance, one of the goals is the cumulative number of jobs created. In 2005, the target was 20,000 new jobs, but only 19,346 were created. In 2006, the goal was the same, but 28,866 jobs were actually created. For the year 2010, the goal is 120,000 new jobs. This seems slightly high to me, but it is good to be ambitious. I like this site because it provides a way to numerically measure the success that is achieved in Appalachia.
The next resource that is provided is the rating. Unfortunately, the Appalachian Regional Commission received a lower rating than I expected. ExpectMore.gov gave ARC a rating of adequate. “This rating describes a program that needs to set more ambitious goals, achieve better results, improve accountability or strengthen its management practices.” The problem that is mentioned is that there are several other programs that do similar things like ARC. The evaluators at ExpectMore.gov feel that the reason why the score is not higher is because ARC’s purpose is not unique enough. I still think that it should be at least one level higher because it has helped so much.
The third resource that is offered is an improvement plan for the agency. The description of the general improvement plans says that everything can be improved and that all the assessed programs “are held accountable for improving their performance and management.” I think that the key to creating efficient agencies is accountability. When every part of an organization is available to analysis, then it is also available to potential improvement from other people outside the organization.
I found this site to be very helpful. However, I was disappointed that it received such a low rating. I would think that an agency tackling such a large problem would at least get a little leeway. ARC is trying to improve the lives of people that are living in a very impoverished region of the United States. Overall, the Appalachian stereotypes essay that we had to write really taught me a lot about the region and what people and the government are doing to help out this region.