Program Evaluation & Policy Analysis for Emergency Management & Homeland Security

Unit 7: Written Assignment #4
Corrective Action Plan – based on After Action Report
Length and Grading: Approx 2-4 pages; 175-point scale, 20.0% of final course score

Due date: Please see course schedule for details

Corrective Action Plan Assignment: Summarize the design strategy for a corrective action effort undertaken in response to an exercise after action report

This is the fourth of four written assignments for the course. The purpose of assigned written work in the course is threefold: (1) written assignments afford students the opportunity to demonstrate substantive understanding of materials covered in course readings, lectures and online discussion, (2) assignments permit students to develop and demonstrate research, analytic and written communication skills, and (3) the written work permits the instructor to assess student knowledge, skills and ability within this subject domain. The benefit cost analysis report students are asked to produce is related to the assigned content covered in Units 5 and 6 and is explicitly intended to meet the objectives stated above.

Students should imagine that they are the Emergency Manager for Maricopa County, Arizona. The Maricopa County Department of Emergency Management has recently conducted a full-scale flood exercise in order to test procedures, plans, and staff capability. Your exercise planning team has completed its after-action conference and developed the After-Action Report and Improvement Plan in compliance with standards of the Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program. [That document is included separately in the course shell.] After reviewing the entire After-Action Report/Improvement Plan, address each of the following question topics in the write-up of a short plan detailing the design/strategy for a corrective action approach:

1) Each exercise objective will list the observed strengths and areas for improvement. Which objective with an area for improvement listed is the most critical for your department? Why?

2) Choose one corrective action listed from Appendix A and discuss how you would address the corrective action. Which plans, procedures, or partners are needed to correct the issue identified? How long would it take to address this issue and what are some of the potential roadblocks from implementing the corrective action? Be precise in explaining the planning design or overall approach needed to take the identified corrective action.

3) Based on the observed and demonstrated performance listed in the AAR/IP, do you assess this full-scale flood exercise was a success? Is there anything you would do to ensure a different result for the next evaluated exercise?

There is no minimum word count for this assignment. Answers should be thorough and demonstrate critical thinking and a basic understand of why programs use exercises to evaluate plans, procedures, and staff. An appropriate length to this assignment is roughly 2-4 pages.

Corrective Action Plan – Grading Rubric:

A grading rubric is provided for this written assignment; details are available on the course Canvas site.