Project Description:
National Core Indicators (NCI) is a collaborative effort between the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) and the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI). The purpose of the program, which began in 1997, is to support NASDDDS member agencies to gather a standard set of performance and outcome measures that can be used to track their own performance over time, to compare results across states, and to establish national benchmarks.
Fifteen states initially stepped forward to work on the Core Indicators Project, as it was originally known, and pooled their resources to develop valid and reliable data collection protocols. Over time, NCI has grown to become an integral piece of over half the states' quality management systems and aligns with basic requirements for assuring quality in HCBS waivers. NCI is a voluntary activity and primarily state-funded. From 2011-2016, the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) will contribute grant funding to support the expansion of the program to an additional five states per year. The NASDDDS Research Committee oversees the activities and guides the direction of the program. NASDDDS and HSRI staff provide technical assistance to states through consultation, training, project communications, data management and analysis, and dissemination of reports and results.
The NCI program is also recognized as a uniquely valuable source of information about individuals with developmental disabilities receiving services across a large sample of states. The NCI database includes randomly-selected representative samples by state, with 39 states planning to contribute data this year. Efforts to analyze the mulit-state datasets have been supported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD), and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). Results of these analyses have been published in both national and international peer-reviewed journals and presented at research conferences around the world. The Adult Consumer Survey tool has been adapted and administered in other countries, including England and Australia.
