AmeriCorps State and National 

FY24 Notice of Funding Opportunity Technical Assistance

Best Practices in 

Performance Measure Design: Live!

09/28/23

1 Hi everyone, and welcome to Best Practices in Performance Measure Design: Live! I’m 

Sarah Foster, the AmeriCorps State and National Program Impact Specialist, and I will be 

leading the session today. I’m here with my colleagues who you may have seen in other 

technical assistance sessions: Colleen Holohan and John Paul Snead, our training team.

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Session Outline

• Questions about the content of the recorded Best Practices in Performance 

Measures session

• Enter Performance Measures in eGrants

• Questions

• Resources 2

Today’s call has three parts to it. First, we’re going to set aside some time to answer any 

questions you may have after viewing the Best Practices in Performance Measure Design 

recorded webinar. 

Next, I will walk through entering the performance measure designed in the recorded 

session into the eGrants Performance Measure Module.

We’ll take time for more questions about performance measures or entering your 

information in eGrants.

Lastly, we’ll provide you with some helpful performance measurement resources.

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Questions

3

So before we get started today: the Best Practices of Performance Measure Design 

recorded session was posted last week on the NOFO competition page. Today’s session is a 

continuation of the content in the recorded session. Do you have any questions about the 

content in that presentation before we dive into new content?

Great! Let’s get started.

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EduCorps: Recap

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The EduCorps Program is requesting twelve 

three-quarter-time AmeriCorps members to 

lead one-on-one and small group tutoring 

programs for middle-school students at a highpoverty school. The primary goal of the 

program is to improve students’ achievement 

levels in mathematics and to help students stay 

on track for high-school graduation. Members 

will meet with groups of 1-3 students after 

school each day for about an hour each, using 

mathematics enrichment materials that 

complement the normal classroom curriculum. 

Members will also lead daily large group 

activities focused on physical activity and 

healthy eating so that middle school students 

make better health choices.

• One aligned performance measure 

connected to the primary intervention

• Primary intervention: tutoring

• Aligned PM: ED1A + ED5A

• Objectives

• 12 TQT members = 8.4 MSY

• Education – K-12 Success: 6.3 MSY and 12 

members

• Healthy Futures – Obesity & Food: 2.1 MSY 

and 12 members

• Target Beneficiaries

• ED1A: 180 individuals

• ED5A: 126 students

In the recorded session, we left off at Step Five: Enter performance measures into eGrants. 

So before we get to that, I’m going to recap the performance measure we designed from 

the recorded session. 

So to our simplified program: The EduCorps Program is requesting twelve three-quartertime AmeriCorps members to lead one-on-one and small group tutoring programs for 

middle-school students at a high-poverty school. The primary goal of the program is to 

improve students’ achievement levels in mathematics and to help students stay on track for 

high-school graduation. Members will meet with groups of 1-3 students after school each 

day for about an hour each, using mathematics enrichment materials that complement the 

normal classroom curriculum. Members will also lead daily large group activities focused 

on physical activity and healthy eating so that middle school students make better health 

choices. 

Even though EduCorps members are performing multiple activities for middle school 

students, they decided that their primary intervention is tutoring since their primary goal is 

improving student’s achievement levels in mathematics. After looking through the 

Performance Measure Instructions, EduCorps found that the National Performance 

Measure output ED1A – Number of individuals served – and outcome ED5A – Number of 

students with improved academic performance – were a good match for the EduCorps

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theory of change, logic model, and program design.

They calculated the MSY and members that would be dedicated to each objective that their 

entire program is working toward. Based on the performance measure instructions, the 

tutoring activities fall under the K-12 objective, and the physical activity and healthy eating 

activities fall under the Obesity & Food objective. Based on their program design, all twelve 

of their members perform activities in both objectives, but they spend 75% of their time 

tutoring and 25% of their time leading the physical activity and healthy eating activities. 

Therefore, they calculate, of their total project’s 8.4 MSY, that 6.3 MSY are dedicated to K-12 

Success and 2.1 MSY are dedicated to Obesity & Food.

They also decided on their target beneficiaries. EduCorps’ output target, or the number of 

individuals their AmeriCorps members hope to tutor, is 180. They also think that 70% of 

those students, or 126 students, will meet their definition of improved academic 

performance.

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Enter Performance Measure Module

• Enter Performance 

Measure information in the 

eGrants Performance 

Measure Module • The Application Instructions 

explain how to enter 

information

5

So now EduCorps is in eGrants and they need to enter the information they’ve decided on 

into the Performance Measure Module. Every aspect of the performance measure design 

we walked through, from selecting specific outputs and outcomes to the instruments they 

will use to collect data, is entered into the Module.

While the Application Instructions explain how to enter information into eGrants, we will 

walk through it here so that you can see how the system looks before you enter it yourself. 

To get to the Performance Measure Module, click on the Performance Measures link in the 

left-hand menu. Then click on the link that says “Click here to enter Performance 

Measures” to enter the module.

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Performance Measure Module: Home Page

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Click the Begin 

button to add a 

new 

performance 

measure

You will enter the Performance Measure Module and be placed on the Home Page. Note 

the tabs across the top: The tab that you are on is highlighted in pink. Also, note that the 

other tabs of the module are greyed out. As we walk through the module, you will see that 

most of the information in the Performance Measure Module is based on information 

entered in previous tabs. Therefore, the system doesn’t allow you to skip ahead in the 

Performance Measure Module.

To start the process of creating a new performance measure, click the Begin button.

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Performance Measure Module: Objective Tab

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Select the focus 

area 

connected to 

your primary 

service activity

This will take you to the Objective tab, as you can tell from the tab’s pink font.On the 

Objective tab, you need to enter objective and intervention information about your entire 

project. Click on the arrow next to the focus area to display all of the objectives that fall 

under the focus area.

EduCorps’ member’s service falls under the Education and Healthy Futures focus areas. 

Since their primary intervention is under the Education focus area, they’re going to click on 

the arrow next to Education

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Performance Measure Module: Objective Tab

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Select the 

objective 

connected to 

your primary 

service activity

To see all of the objectives as listed in the Performance Measure Instructions. Click the 

arrow next to the objective to see the interventions that are associated with your chosen 

objective.

EduCorps’ activities fall under the K-12 Success objective. So now they’ll click on the arrow 

next to K-12 Success

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Performance Measure Module: Objective Tab

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Check the box 

next to your 

primary service 

activity. Use the 

scroll bar if 

necessary

To see the list of interventions that are associated with the selected objective as shown in 

the Performance Measure Instructions. 

Some objectives, like K-12 success, have a lot of interventions listed under their objective. 

If you don’t see the objective you’re looking for, use the scroll bar to see all the options.

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Performance Measure Module: Objective Tab

10 Check the box 

next to your 

primary service 

activity

You will put a checkbox next to your selected intervention.

For EduCorps, they see tutoring, so they put a check next to it:

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Performance Measure Module: Objective Tab

11 Great! Now EduCorps will go through the same process with Healthy Futures. 

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Performance Measure Module: Objective Tab

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Repeat process 

for all your 

program’s 

service 

activities/ 

interventions

Remember: Members and MSY have to be allocated to all of your project’s objectives, so 

you need to fill out the information at the objective level on the Objective tab. Otherwise 

there will be issues in later screens!

So EduCorps will complete the same exercise for the other part of their program: physical 

activities and nutrition/food support. They can see the Objectives under Healthy Futures. 

They expand Obesity and Food

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Performance Measure Module: Objective Tab

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To see the possible interventions. 

Nutrition/Food Support is visible here, but EduCorps needs to scroll down

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Performance Measure Module: Objective tab

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It is possible to 

check more 

than one 

service activity 

under the same 

objective

To also see Physical Activities. You have the ability to select multiple interventions under 

one objective. Check the boxes next to the appropriate interventions.

EduCorps selects both Nutrition/Food Support and Physical Activities.

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Performance Measure Module: Objective Tab

15 Once you’ve selected all your service activities, you’ll need to state which is the Primary 

Focus Area and Service Activity.

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Performance Measure Module: Objective Tab

16 Assign your 

primary and 

(optional) 

secondary 

focus areas 

and 

interventions

At the bottom of the Objective tab, there are dropdowns where you select your primary 

focus area and intervention. You must select a primary focus area and intervention, and 

you have the option to add in a secondary focus area if you so choose. 

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Performance Measure Module: Objective Tab

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Selecting your primary focus area and primary intervention is key because your aligned 

performance measure is connected to the primary intervention. 

So let’s see how this works for EduCorps:

They only have the options Education and Healthy Futures available to them because those 

are the only focus areas that their program’s service activities fall under. Since EduCorps’ 

primary intervention is tutoring, they select Education as the Primary Focus Area. 

Next, EduCorps has to select the Primary Intervention. The only option available is K-12 

Success: Tutoring because tutoring is the only intervention they selected previously. And 

that’s great, because it is EduCorps’ Primary Intervention.

If EduCorps wanted to select Healthy Futures as a Secondary Focus Area, they could. They 

would have to decide which of the two interventions they selected previously, Physical 

Activities and Nutrition/Food Support, is their Secondary Intervention. That decision would 

be based on their program design – just like AmeriCorps does not define “primary,” 

AmeriCorps also does not define “secondary.” 

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Performance Measure Module: Objective Tab

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Since EduCorps doesn’t have to select a secondary focus area, they are going to just select 

Education as their primary focus area and Tutoring as the primary intervention. EduCorps

knows that the performance measure they create later in the module will be connected to 

the primary intervention as stated on the Objectives tab. They are on their way to meet 

AmeriCorps’ requirement to have one aligned performance measure connected to their 

primary intervention.

Because they’re good with this tab, they can move to the next tab by clicking Next.

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Put It Together: MSY/Members Tab

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Enter the total 

MSY for the 

project (which 

aligns with the 

total MSY in the 

budget)

This will take us to the MSY/Members tab. The information you enter in this tab is still at 

the larger project level.

You can confirm that the Summary reflects your program. This information followed us 

from the Objective tab.

The first data point you’ll enter is the Total MSYs for the project under the resource 

allocation section. Your total MSY also appears in your budget. Make sure that this value 

matches the MSY in your total grant budget; otherwise you will get an error when you try 

to validate your application later. 

EduCorps’ project as a whole has a total of 12 three quarter time members, which is a total 

of 

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Put It Together: MSY/Members Tab

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Enter the MSY 

and members 

connected to 

each objective

8.4 MSY. 

Next, enter the MSY and members allocated to each objective for your program.

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Put It Together: MSY/Members Tab

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So based on the math we did previously, they enter the 6.3 MSY and 12 members in K-12 

Success and 2.1 MSY and 12 members in Obesity & Food. Remember: members can be 

double-counted across multiple objectives, but MSY cannot.

Something to note: eGrants calculates how many MSY you’ve allocated to each objective 

compared to the total MSYs for the project and automatically populates the percent of 

total MSY column. You must allocate 100% of your MSY in the objectives. If you do not, 

you’ll receive an error on this page when you try to move on.

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Put It Together: MSY/Members Tab

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If we use our scrollbar, we can see that there is a grand total row which confirms that 100% 

of our MSY have been allocated to the project. Wonderful! When the grand total of the 

percentage of total MSY is 100%, click Next to take you to the next tab.

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Put It Together: Performance Measure Tab

23 Now after all this time, you’re actually going to enter the information for your performance 

measure in the performance measure module! A few things to note on the Performance 

Measure tab.

First: at the very top there is a Summary of Performance Measures. This populates as you 

add information into this tab.

Second: in the bottom left corner, there’s a Save button. The Save button is actually on all 

of the tabs. It’s a good idea to save your work as you go.

Third: there’s a third button now in the bottom right corner – Delete PM in Progress. 

Hopefully you won’t have to use this button because you’ve already planned out your 

performance measures before you got to the eGrants module. But it is available in case you 

need to use it. 

Finally: Since we haven’t entered any information into the Performance Measures section 

yet, you’ll see a lot of No records found entries. These fields will change as we enter 

information into the module.

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Put It Together: Performance Measure Tab

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Select the 

objective 

connected to 

your primary 

service activity

So we’re going to dive into the Performance Measures section of this screen.

To meet AmeriCorps’ performance measure requirements, you need to create an aligned 

performance measure connected to your primary intervention. So that’s the first 

performance measure you should make to ensure you meet your requirements.

EduCorps is going to enter the information needed to get to their aligned measure: output 

ED1A and outcome ED5A.

The first thing you’ll need to do is select the objective for which you’re making the 

performance measure. 

Once again, the only options available are based on the information EduCorps selected 

from the Objectives tab. Tutoring falls under the K-12 Success objective, so EduCorps is 

going to select that option. 

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Put It Together: Performance Measure Tab

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Enter a logical 

title for the 

performance 

measure. Enter 

a brief 

description of 

the community 

problem/need 

connected to 

the 

performance 

measure.

Next, you need to enter a logical title for the performance measure. It is completely up to 

you to decide on the title. 

Since EduCorps’ goal is to improve students achievement in math, they enter Helping 

Students Improve in Math, which is a pretty logical title.

Next you’ll enter a brief description of the problem or need being addressed by the service 

activities captured under this performance measure in the Problem Statement field. You 

can summarize this from the information in your application. 

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Put It Together: Performance Measure Tab

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Select the 

primary 

intervention 

and any other 

intervention(s) 

connected to 

the 

performance 

measure

Next, you’ll need to select the primary intervention you identified, plus any other 

interventions that also contribute to this performance measure. 

Now wait, EduCorps didn’t enter this information... or did they? This is the intervention that 

they selected back on the Objective screen under K-12 Success. It appeared here when 

they selected the K-12 Success objective on the Performance Measure page. 

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Put It Together: Performance Measure Tab

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Select the 

appropriate 

performance 

measure output

Next you’ll select the output of the aligned performance measure you’ve created. The 

outputs also populate based on the objective selected above.

EduCorps’ performance measure output is ED1A, so they put the checkbox next to

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Put It Together: Performance Measure Tab

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ED1A: Number of individuals served. 

You may wonder what the empty box and checkbox are below ED1A. If you were to create 

an applicant-determined performance measure under the K-12 objective, you would check 

the box and enter the output for your applicant-determined measure. Since EduCorps is 

using the National Performance Measure, they ignore it.

You’ll also see that there is a value under the Outcomes. Since EduCorps selected ED1A in 

the Outputs section, all of the National Performance Measure outcomes aligned with ED1A 

(per the Performance Measure Instructions) are now populated in the Outcomes section.

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Put It Together: Performance Measure Tab

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Select the 

appropriate 

performance 

measure 

outcome

In the Outcomes section, you will select the performance measure outcome you chose 

when designing your measure. Some program designs may pair more than one outcome 

measure with the output. This is fine as long as all outcomes measure significant 

accomplishments from the activities captured by this performance measure. There’s an 

FAQ about choosing multiple outcome measures in Appendix C of the Performance 

Measure Instructions.

EduCorps decided that ED5A would be their outcome aligned with ED1A. The checkboxes 

may appear a little wonky – so they are sure to put a check in the third box

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Put It Together: Performance Measure Tab

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since ED5A is the third entry in the table.

Now we can see that EduCorps has selected their aligned output and outcome pairing! 

Great!

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Put It Together: Performance Measure Tab

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Enter the 

number of MSYs 

and members 

connected to 

the 

performance 

measure

The final pieces of information to add at the bottom of the Performance Measure tab are 

the MSYs and members that contribute to this performance measure. 

All of EduCorps’ members and MSY dedicated to the K-12 objective are also dedicated to 

this specific performance measure. Therefore, EduCorps will enter

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Put It Together: Performance Measure Tab

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6.3 MSYs and 12 Members. 

Remember that performance measures do not need to capture 100% of a program’s MSY 

or members, so the additional 2.1 MSY in the Obesity & Food objective are not included in 

this performance measure.

After you’ve entered the MSY and Members, click Next to get to the Data Collection tab.

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Put It Together: Data Collection Tab

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Summarize the 

service activity 

(or activities) 

connected to 

the 

performance 

measure

On the Data Collection tab, you will enter details about how your output and outcome are 

measured. But before you get to that, you need to enter a brief description of the service 

activity or activities captured under this performance measure. This content can also be 

summarized from your grant application.

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Put It Together: Data Collection Tab

34

EduCorps enters the information from their description: members will lead one-on-one and 

small group tutoring programs to middle school students at a high-poverty school. 

Members will meet with groups of 1 to 3 students after school each day for about an hour 

each, using mathematics enrichment materials that complement the normal classroom 

curriculum.

Next, you’ll enter information about the data collection instruments for your selected 

output and outcome. This is also an opportunity to confirm that you selected the correct 

output and outcomes from the Performance Measure tab. To start the process, click the 

arrow to expand the output measure

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Put It Together: Data Collection Tab

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Enter the 

method, 

instrument 

description, 

and target 

number for the 

selected output

In this section, you will need to select the data collection method, then enter the 

instrument description, and target number for your output. 

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Put It Together: Data Collection Tab

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The method for measuring your output is pre-populated with the option that is mentioned 

under how to measure/collect data in the Performance Measure instructions. Select the 

option for the instrument that works for you.

EduCorps is going to pick Tracking System and then fill in the remaining content to describe 

the tracking mechanism they will use.

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Put It Together: Data Collection Tab

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So in the instrument description section, you will need to enter detailed information about 

what the instrument is, what it measures, and how it will be administered. This information 

helps to confirm that your tool measures and collects the data as stated in the performance 

measure instructions.

Lastly, you will enter the target output value into the field.

EduCorps determined their output to be 180 individuals. Note that the Unit of Measure is 

pre-populated and greyed out. All national performance measures have pre-determined 

units of measure to ensure that applicants are reporting on the proper metric and 

definition. 

If you were to create an applicant-determined measure, the unit of measure would be 

blank and you would need to enter that information yourself.

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Put It Together: Data Collection Tab

38

Enter the 

method, 

instrument 

description, 

and target 

number for the 

outcome(s)

Next, you’ll complete the same information for the outcome measure. 

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Put It Together: Data Collection Tab

39 Once again if we look at the method options for outcome ED5A, they match up with the 

performance measure instructions. So you’ll choose the option that works for your 

program. 

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Put It Together: Data Collection Tab

40 Mark the 

performance 

measure as 

complete

Still following the same process as the you did with the output instrument, you’ll enter a 

description of the tool you’re using to collect data, as well as what it measures, how it will 

be administered, and details about its reliability and validity.

You will also add your target outcome number. For national performance measures you 

cannot change the unit of measure. If the unit of measure isn’t appropriate, you would 

need to adjust what you were measuring to be sure that it follows the performance 

measure instructions. If you are creating an applicant-determined outcome measure, you 

will need to enter the unit of measure. Remember if you’re creating an applicant 

determined measure, make sure that your outcomes are aligned with your outputs.

Once you have filled out all the fields, you will click Mark Complete. This means that you 

have completed entering information about this one performance measure. Once you click 

Mark Complete, you will be taken...

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Put It Together: Data Collection Tab

41

Check for your 

completed 

performance 

measure(s), 

then click Next

Back to the Performance Measure tab!

But now the tab looks a little different. The Summary section at the top lists the created 

performance measure, Helping Students Improve in Math as a completed performance 

measure. 

If upon reviewing the summary you see some information entered incorrectly, you can edit 

the performance measure by clicking on the Edit button. If you need to delete the 

performance measure, click the Delete button. 

The Performance Measures section of the tab has been cleared out so that you can add 

more performance measures beyond your required aligned measure connected to your 

primary intervention. If you want to create a new measure, you will complete the 

information on the Performance Measure and Data Collection tabs. Remember that you 

should only create performance measures for significant activities and that not all member 

activities need to be captured in performance measures.

If you’re happy with how your performance measures look, like EduCorps is, click Next, 

which will take you to 

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Put It Together: Summary Tab

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Review 

performance 

measure 

information

The Summary tab. 

Across the top, there are three pie charts that show how MSYs are distributed at three 

different levels: by Focus Area, by Objective, and by performance measure types.

While you can’t edit information on this tab, you may want to check the pie charts to 

ensure your understanding of how your MSYs are distributed.

75% of EduCorps’ MSY are shown to be in one Focus Area (Education) and 25% of their 

MSY are shown in another Focus Area (Healthy Futures)

Similarly, 75% of EduCorps’ MSYs’ activities are under one objective (K-12) and 25% are 

under another objective (Obesity & Food)

Finally, 75% of EduCorps’ MSY are part of a National Performance Measure (abbreviated as 

NPM), none are in applicant-determined measures, and 25% of their MSY are not assigned 

to any Performance Measure.

You can click Print PDF for all Performance Measures to see more detail.

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Put It Together: Summary Tab

43 As you scroll down the Summary tab. You’ll see all the performance measure information 

that you entered in the previous screens listed by the performance measure title. 

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Put It Together: Summary Tab

44 Validate your 

performance 

measures

If you’re happy with your performance measure, click the Validate Performance Measures 

button. If all goes well...

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Put It Together: Summary Tab

45

Return to your 

grant 

application

You will get an alert at the top of the Summary tab saying “Success: All Performance 

Measures are valid. Please exit the performance measures section and go back to the main 

application.” Hooray! To go back to the main grant application, click the back to eGrants 

application button. And that’s it! Your Performance Measures are all set.

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46 Questions

That’s it for the walkthrough. Are there any other questions that I can answer for you now?

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Resources

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• Performance Measure Instructions

• 2024 AmeriCorps Performance Measure Instructions

• 2024 Public Health AmeriCorps Performance Measure Instructions

• 2024 AmeriCorps Planning Grants Performance Measure Instructions

• 2024 Application Instructions

• Notice of Funding Opportunity

• 2024 AmeriCorps State and National • 2024 AmeriCorps State and National Native Nations

• 2024 AmeriCorps State and National Native Nations Planning Grant • 2024 AmeriCorps State and National Public Health AmeriCorps

• National Performance Measure Core Curriculum

• Best Practices in Performance Measure Design

Questions? Email AmeriCorpsGrants@cns.gov

Once again, here are the resources that will help you with designing your performance 

measures.

First, you should review the 2024 Performance Measure Instructions for the funding 

opportunity you’re applying to. Remember that Public Health AmeriCorps and Planning 

Grantees have their own Performance Measure Instructions. 

Next, the Application Instructions. These instructions apply to all funding opportunities. 

Attachment A in the Application Instructions walk you through entering information into 

the performance measure module in eGrants, including how to enter information for 

output-only performance measures. 

Additionally, you should review the appropriate Notice of Funding Opportunity.

AmeriCorps also has recently updated the National Performance Measure Core Curriculum. 

The curriculum is six modules long and is self-placed. This curriculum can give you more 

context for performance measurement, including how to collect high quality data.

I’ve also linked the video to the Best Practices in Performance Measure Design session on 

the competition pages.

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Finally, if you have questions about Performance Measures, or any questions about the 

funding opportunity or grant application process, you can reach out to 

AmeriCorpsGrants@cns.gov for support. 

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Produced and published at US taxpayer expense. 48

Thank you!

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