Making Training Dollars Count: Distance Education and the Certified Public Manager Program.

The author presents three accountability relationships for assessing the appropriateness of using distance education in the Certified Public Manager (CPM) Programeducational accountability, financial accountability, and organizational accountability. Finding that distance education extends the CPM's mission to improve public productivity, she argues that making an investment in it is necessary for CPM programs. However, two factors inhibit this investment. First, distance education represents a major change from the modal formatclassroom learning-used to deliver CPM programming. Second, because CPM programs rely primarily on political allocations, they compete unsuccessfully for scarce governmental resources. Therefore, the adoption of distance education initiatives will occur in CPM programs if directors meet two conditions: (1) they make distance education part of a diverse mix of delivery options that includes classroom training, and (2) they make their CPM training dollars count. Understanding the multiple accountability relationships between distance education and the CPM program will help mobilize internal and external support.This support can help public management training functions endure in highly charged political environments.1 Is distance education compatible with high-quality public-sector management training? This article examines the relationship between distance education and the Certified Public Manager (CPM) Program. If distance education is compatible with the CPM mission, then new CPM programs and CPM programs that have the greatest funding stability, program credibility, and a culture of risk-taking will embrace it more easily. Distance education is a learning system in which educators instruct learners who are separated physically from them through a technology-mediated training process. My focus is on the CPM program because it is an example of high-quality public management training (Paddock, 1997).The CPM program offers comprehensive management training and development designed to strengthen the skills of public managers. Its purpose is to enable well-trained public managers to respond effectively and efficiently to current and changing governmental priorities. All CPM programs follow national accreditation standards, and the National Consortium of CPM programs (National Consortium) monitors these standards. Eighteen states2 and the District of Columbia have adopted the CPM program model since the 1970s; federal employees have access to an accredited CPM program through the USDA Graduate School (Miller and Vogelsang-Coombs, 1998). In 1994, approximately 10,000 public managers were participating in CPM programs, and another 5,000 people had graduated by then (Hays and Duke, 1996). Applying quality principles of continuous improvement, Paddock (1997) has identified thirty-eight benchmarks for management development based on the best practice of twelve accredited CPM programs. Interestingly, Paddock did not include distance education in the scope of those benchmarks.Two factors may explain this absence. First, distance education was not widespread in CPM programs extant J-PAE5 (1999):4:295-308 Journal of Public Affairs Education 295 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.70 on Tue, 06 Sep 2016 05:47:18 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Making Training Dollars Count: Distance Education and the Certified Public Manager Program in 1994-1995 when Paddock conducted her data analysis. In addition, the National Consortium uses an instructor-led, classroom format to deliver 80% of the CPM curriculum. A natural constituency for distance education may not exist among CPM training providers. Rahm and Reed (1998) found that faculty in professional degree programs were not accepting of distance education. However, CPM participants may push for distance education because they are working adults who have mandated professional development and limitations on their time and resources.Therefore, those who wish to integrate distance education into CPM programming must show how its implementation makes educational and organizational sense while making training dollars count. This paper examines the accountability relationship between distance education and CPM from three perspectives: educational accountability, organizational accountability, and financial accountability. Understanding these accountability relationships helps justify the effective use of technology-mediated training in developing public managers. My intent is to enable CPM instructors and program directors to make a transition to a new way of delivering public management training cost-effectively. My position is that instructors can effectively use distance education to deliver some parts of the CPM core curriculum.Therefore, it makes sense for program directors to use it as part of a diverse mix of delivery options. One caveat, however, is that the union of distance education and CPM involves a major change.As in any change process, the implementation of distance education must address human concerns about technology other than the obvious business reasons for undertaking this management development methodology (Bridges, 1980). The Certified Public Manager Program The CPM is a public program. In its constitution, the National Consortium (1998) articulates this program's public purpose as follows: The quality of management in government within the United States has a major impact on the lives of individual citizens and the orderly functioning of society. Systematic training programs are essential to maintain and improve the effectiveness and professionalism of government managers.The National Certified Public Manager Consortium is a confederation of members offering the Certified Public Manager programs bonded together by the desire to improve the productivity of government in the United States at all levels. The Consortium's vision is to provide access to accredited public management training for "all federal, state, and local public managers in the United States" (National Consortium, 1998). Specifically, the CPM program systematically measures and develops the professional competency of public managers by offering them a comprehensive and learner-centered training system.This training system engages participants in significant on-the-job (classroom) study, practice, job-related applications, and testing.The CPM curriculum emphasizes four core areas of public management: (1) general administration and organization, including professional responsibility and managerial ethics; (2) technical, legal, quantitative, and qualitative analysis; (3) analytical and conceptual decision making tools; and (4) human relations skills. Because CPM programs use significant public resourcespersonnel, money, time, information, and equipmenttheir directors must monitor them for quality assurance (Paddock, 1997).The National Consortium is responsible for establishing national standards, accrediting programs, and monitoring those accreditation standards. CPM programs receiving accreditation must comply with the following requirements: • Governors in states with a CPM program must designate an appropriate administrative location and commit to provide adequate funding. • Each program must have an advisory or governing body including representatives from state and/or local governments and CPM gradu-