Performance Standards: What Are They, What Will They Do?

• NCJ Number: 156117
• Journal: Corrections Today Volume: 57 Issue: 4 Dated: (July 1995) Pages: 156-160
• Author(s): J D Lehman; L G Myers
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 5 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

In 1994, the Standards Committee of the American Correctional Association (ACA) launched a program to review ACA's standards and to recommend modifications consistent with the concept of performance management.

Abstract

The first step was to develop common definitions that the field can use to generate realistic expectations from programs and activities and to establish criteria for measuring performance against those expectations. The Committee defined performance-based standards, performance measures, outcome criteria, and process criteria. In addition, the Committee decided the measurements should measure outcomes and processes but distinguish between the two, should be important to corrections managers, should use data that are relatively easy and inexpensive to collect, and should provide interpretable results. Examples from existing ACA standards demonstrate how performance-based standards can be developed.