Our data team

DCHS’ Performance Measurement and Evaluation (PME) unit collaborates with internal and external partners to use data to understand the implementation and impact of the programs managed by the department. PME’s mission is to generate evidence and use it in collaboration with partners to support DCHS policy and programming decisions.

Specifically, PME focuses on:

• Creating a culture focused on learning and shared accountability within our own organization and with our contracted service providers and other partners
• Performing innovative and timely analyses about the services we support to deeply understand individual and community impact and identify possible inequities
• Sharing data in clear, accessible, and actionable ways
• Aligning information across programs and using quantitative and qualitative data to tell a more complete story
• Collecting, analyzing, displaying, and interpreting data in a culturally-appropriate, equity-focused manner
• Developing and using and secure tools and technology

Results Based Accountability and DCHS’ Responsibility

In 2015, DCHS adopted the Results Based Accountability (RBA) planning and performance measurement framework. RBA is a plain-language framework that starts with the results we are trying to achieve and works backward to the strategies for getting there.

The framework encourages population accountability by tracking indicators for all of King County and performance accountability by tracking measures from programs.

DCHS uses to identify needs, understand baseline conditions, and track the conditions we want to change. DCHS services contribute to population-level (countywide) results in the long term, while recognizing that the whole community across multiple sectors is responsible for countywide conditions and many additional factors influence these outcomes.

DCHS holds themselves and their contracted providers accountable for program performance. Measures of this performance typically answer the questions:

• How much was done?
• How well was it done?
• How are people better off?

The goal of performance measurement is to use data to inform ongoing work, understand which strategies are effective and why, and support shared responsibility for success between DCHS and our contracted providers. Most DCHS-managed activities or programs have a Performance Measurement (PM) Plan that explains what the provider is expected to do and the outcomes they are trying to achieve. PM Plans are created in partnership with program managers, providers, and evaluators.

In addition to this regular data collection, PME leads deeper evaluations of certain high-priority and/or innovative programs to better understand how they are implemented and their impacts for the community. The results of this work are available on the Briefs and Reports site.

For additional questions, contact DCHSdata@kingcounty.gov.