Measuring Success | Performance Measurement

Measuring Performance

Coastal development, habitat protection, port vitality, sea level rise, and public access to beaches are a few of the issues facing the nation. To address these issues, coastal managers must be able to: assess the status and trends of coastal resources and communities effectively and efficiently; set goals for the protection, maintenance, and improvement of resources; and monitor the success of management strategies. Performance measurement systems provide a framework for integrating these activities with program planning, implementation, and evaluation.

Strategic planning is an important part of performance measurement systems. Strategic planning is done to establish goals and performance objectives for addressing critical management issues. The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) requires federal agencies to write strategic and annual plans with performance measures that show agency results over time. The NOAA Strategic Plan establishes these goals and objectives, guides agency management decisions, and provides a consistent framework for NOAA programs. The NOAA National Ocean Service (NOS) Strategic Plan is developed within this framework and establishes program specific goals and performance objectives. Ultimately, performance measurement is a tool for evaluating our effectiveness in addressing the challenges of coastal management.

How Are We Measuring Performance?

Strategic Planning

The Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) as part of the National Ocean Service (NOS), contributes to the NOS Strategic Plan and performance objectives. OCRM created a strategic plan (2007-2012) to communicate priorities and to guide activities over the next five years. The plan outlines goals and objectives to highlight OCRM cross-program priorities and to facilitate cooperative support of our partners. The strategic plan bridges the broad programmatic mandates contained in the Coastal Zone Management Act, the Marine Protected Areas Executive Order, and the Coral Reef Conservation Act.

OCRM programs have also developed program specific strategic plans in cooperation with our partners:

In addition to program specific strategic planning, the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) is developing performance measurement systems in cooperation with our partners that are tailored to the unique aspects of each program.

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CZMA Performance Measurement System

The Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) Performance Measurement System tracks national indicators of the effectiveness of Coastal Management Programs (CMP) and National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERR) in achieving CZMA and strategic objectives.  The system consists of a suite of contextual indicators to provide information on environmental and socioeconomic factors influencing program actions and performance measures to assess how well states are achieving CZMA objectives. 

The Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management partnered with CMPs and NERRs to develop a performance measurement system that provides flexibility and accommodates varying management structures and differing coastal priorities across coastal states. 

Quantification of management outcomes directly responds to Congressional requests for performance measures to assess the national impact of CZMA programs and to recommendations by the Office of Management and Budget that CZMA programs develop outcome-oriented performance measures to demonstrate program effectiveness. In addition to improving program accountability, the CZMA performance measurement system will also facilitate adaptive management, enhance communication, and inform planning and resource allocation decisions by federal and state coastal managers. OCRM is also working with state partners and other federal agencies and stakeholders to improve coordination in reporting on the condition of America’s coastal resources.

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Marine Protected Areas Management Effectiveness Initiative

The NOAA National Marine Protected Areas Center focuses on forging partnerships and serving as a resource for information about the nation’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The MPA Center works closely with the Department of the Interior and other federal agencies, states, commonwealths, territories, and tribes to achieve this goal. The MPA Center includes a Training and Technical Assistance Institute and a Science Institute, and supports the MPA Federal Advisory Committee.

One goal of the MPA Center is to improve MPA stewardship and effectiveness. To support this goal, the MPA Center developed the MPA Management Effectiveness Initiative. This initiative is a collaborative effort of the MPA Center, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas Marine and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to provide tools to evaluate the effectiveness of MPA sites and to develop indicators specific to MPAs.

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Links

Coastal Indicators Information Exchange — This website offers a number of tools to guide practitioners in choosing and using coastal indicators.

National Coastal Condition Report — This report describes the ecological and environmental conditions in U.S. coastal waters.

For additional information, contact Laurie Rounds.

 

 

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