ABSTRACT
In the information age, it has become all too easy for political leaders to make the assumption that computers, spreadsheets, and performance management systems can be used to direct public management from on high. The Bush administration’s Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) and the No Child Left Behind Law (NCLB) of 2002 are examples of how this can cause confusion and gaming and undermine policy purposes. The missing ingredient, American federalism (see also Keevey, chapter 10 of this volume).
