A good performance measurement framework focuses on the learner and measures what is important to all program stakeholders, i.e., the attainment of new skills, progress across levels, learner goal achievement, program goal achievement. What is being measured must be meaningful both internally and externally (hence the need for standards). Data must be collected regularly and reliably and on an ongoing basis. Measurement must lead to program improvement.

The Components of LBS CIPMS Chart on the previous page includes percentages for each of the performance measurement components of effectiveness, efficiency and client satisfaction. These figures are the weightings by which we will measure performance. Effectiveness at 50% carries the most weight when determining an agency's performance. Previously, contract compliance was more heavily weighted than it will be under CIPMS. This means that the results we achieve in terms of learner skill attainment (learning outcomes) will be more strongly weighted than the results we achieve in terms of learner contact hours. This does not mean, however, that we can ignore performance indicators with lower weightings.

3 CIPMS is a model of continuous improvement

Continuous Improvement is an integration of performance measurement into the daily operations of an organization in order to continuously seek to improve the quality of services offered to clients. ^{Endnote 18}

The three main areas in an LBS CIPMS are the results we achieve in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and client satisfaction. In order to achieve those results, we must have good processes in place. For the past few years, those processes have been measured by the Program Monitoring Report. Now we are getting ready to move on to focus more on the results themselves.

Effectiveness is the extent to which we meet our intended objectives and produce the results we plan to produce. In other words, are we doing the right things to help learners reach their goals? When we talk about effectiveness, we are focusing on who our learners are, evaluating the delivery of literacy training and measuring learner skill attainment or essential skills gain. Although we have done a lot of work over the past few years in terms of common assessment and getting comfortable with the LBS Levels, work is now being done to more reliably measure learner skill attainment in a way that is commonly understood and communicated in the literacy field.

A performance measure is quantifiable information that provides a reliable basis for assessing achievement, change or performance over time. Draft core measures have been developed for effectiveness (as of winter 2007). Although these measures are subject to change, looking at what is proposed by MTCU can help us better understand how we might measure effectiveness. Each performance measure will also carry a weighting, although this had not been finalized at the time this manual was written.