45 C.F.R. §§ 2522.500–2522.560

This subpart sets forth the minimum performance measures and evaluation requirements that you as an AmeriCorps applicant or grantee must follow.

The performance measures that you, as an applicant, propose when you apply will be considered in the review process and may affect whether AmeriCorps selects you to receive a grant. Your performance related to your approved measures will influence whether you continue to receive funding.

Performance measures and evaluations are designed to strengthen your AmeriCorps program and foster continuous improvement, and help identify best practices and models that merit replication, as well as programmatic weaknesses that need attention.

Approved application means the application approved by AmeriCorps or, for formula programs, by a State commission.

Community beneficiaries— refers to persons who receive services or benefits from a program, but not to AmeriCorps members or to staff of the organization operating the program.

Outputs— are the amount or units of service that members or volunteers have completed, or the number of community beneficiaries the program has served. Outputs do not provide information on benefits or other changes in communities or in the lives of members or community beneficiaries. Examples of outputs could include the number of people a program tutors, counsels, houses, or feeds.

Intermediate-outcomes— specify a change that has occurred in communities or in the lives of community beneficiaries or members, but is not necessarily a lasting benefit for them. They are observable and measurable indications of whether or not a program is making progress and are logically connected to end outcomes. An example would be the number and percentage of students who report reading more books as a result of their participation in a tutoring program.

Internal evaluation means an evaluation that a grantee performs in-house without the use of an independent external evaluator.

End-outcomes— specify a change that has occurred in communities or in the lives of community beneficiaries or members that is significant and lasting. These are actual benefits or changes for participants during or after a program. For example, in a tutoring program, the end outcome could be the percent and number of students who have improved their reading scores to grade-level, or other specific measures of academic achievement.

Grantee— includes subgrantees, programs, and projects.

National performance measures— are performance measures that AmeriCorps develops.

You— refers to a grantee or applicant organization.

Establish ambitious performance measures in consultation with AmeriCorps, or the State commission, as appropriate, following §§ 2422.560 through 2422.660 of this subpart;

Ensure that any program under your oversight collects and organizes performance data on an ongoing basis, at least annually;

Ensure that any program under your oversight tracks progress toward meeting your performance measures;

Ensure that any program under your oversight corrects performance deficiencies promptly; and

Performance measures are measurable indicators of a program's performance as it relates to member service activities.

Performance measurement is the process of regularly measuring the services provided by your program and the effect your program has in communities or in the lives of members or community beneficiaries.

The main purpose of performance measurement is to strengthen your AmeriCorps program and foster continuous improvement and to identify best practices and models that merit replication. Performance measurement will also help identify programmatic weaknesses that need attention.