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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
Program Assessment

Program

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Foreign Service Institute

The purpose of the program is to train and develop U.S. government personnel in the foreign affairs community to carryout U.S. foreign affairs activities. Each year the Foreign Service Institue (FSI) provides more than 450 courses to 50,000 enrollees from the State Department and over 40 other government agencies.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Effective

This is the highest rating a program can achieve. Programs rated Effective set ambitious goals, achieve results, are well-managed and improve efficiency.
  • FSI provides mission specific skills required by the State Department and the foreign affairs community to support U.S. diplomatic platforms and activities. This training is not available through private sector or generally duplicated by other government training programs. FSI has been designated one of five federal-wide service providers for e-Learning.
  • FSI has put management policies in place to control costs and improve efficiency. This includes setting minimum student levels for courses and using time-limited hiring authorities to flexibly adapt to changing curriculum needs. FSI has completed four streamlined outsourcing competitions on 90 positions. It has also set agressive long-terms goals to double distance learning products and users.
  • Similar to other training programs, FSI relies heavily on survey questionnaires from students and supervisors to assess satisfaction and performance. Reliability of these surveys is critical for program evaluation. FSI is working to ensure that its questionnaires are well targeted, response rates are adequate, and outcomes are well analyzed and strongly linked to program decision making.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Developing a methodology to capture and better quantify the resource benefits of distrance learning courses.

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