National Core Indicators

National Core Indicators (NCI) is a collaborative performance-measurement program in the United States involving the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services, ADvancing States, and the Human Services Research Institute. Established in 1997, it was created to give state human-service systems a consistent set of indicators for assessing service quality and outcomes over time, comparing results among participating states, and developing national benchmarks. NCI is not a consumer product brand or a conventional commercial company. It is an umbrella term for a data, survey, reporting, and quality-improvement system used by public agencies and their partners. Its central purpose is to collect reliable information about the experiences and outcomes of people who receive publicly funded services, while also gathering information from families, guardians, and provider organizations. The resulting evidence is intended to support state planning, policy development, quality assurance, advocacy, research, and improvements in service delivery. The program has historically been associated with intellectual and developmental disability services through National Core Indicators-Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (NCI-IDD). NCI-IDD seeks to obtain information directly from people receiving services and to measure subjects such as individual and family outcomes, health and welfare, rights, employment and community participation, staff stability, and broader system performance. Its portfolio includes an In-Person Survey for adults receiving paid services, several family surveys, and a State of the Workforce Survey covering provider agencies and the direct-support-professional workforce. NCI later expanded into aging and disability services through National Core Indicators-Aging and Disabilities (NCI-AD). NCI-AD assesses the performance of publicly funded programs serving older adults and people with physical disabilities. Its Adult Consumer Survey addresses quality of life, community integration, independence, decision-making, self-direction, person-centered planning, and service experiences, in addition to health and safety. Its workforce survey examines provider organizations and direct-support workers in areas including staffing, turnover, vacancies, wages, benefits, and service types. NCI surveys generally combine background information with interviews or questionnaires. In-person instruments are designed to hear directly from service recipients, although approved proxy responses may be used in limited circumstances when a person cannot or does not wish to answer independently. Participating states and project partners use standardized protocols, interviewer training, and secure online data-entry systems managed by HSRI. Family instruments are distributed to relevant family or guardian populations, while workforce instruments are completed by provider agencies. A defining feature of NCI is its emphasis on transparency and shared use of information. Results are aggregated into state and national reports, allowing participating jurisdictions to examine trends and compare their performance with national norms. NCI data have also supported specialized briefs and research on subjects including employment, dual diagnosis, self-directed services, and autism-spectrum disorders. Researchers may request access to data, and findings have been used in academic publications, conference presentations, policy discussions, and quality-improvement initiatives. NCI indicators have also informed external disability-service comparisons, including state-ranking work focused on inclusion. The initiative’s positioning is therefore evidence-based, person-centered, and improvement-oriented. Rather than treating service volume or regulatory compliance as the only measures of success, NCI seeks to capture whether systems help people achieve meaningful personal, social, health, employment, and community outcomes. Participation varies by state and survey year, so the available national picture is based on the jurisdictions and populations included in each reporting cycle. NCI remains an active infrastructure for public-sector human-services measurement, with NCI-IDD and NCI-AD forming its principal program areas.

National Core Indicators began in 1997 as a collaborative effort connected to state developmental-disability agencies, ADvancing States, and the Human Services Research Institute. Its founding objective was to address the difficulty of evaluating public human-service systems when states used inconsistent definitions, measures, and reporting practices. By establishing a common set of indicators, the program made it possible for participating states to monitor their own results over time and to place those results alongside broader national benchmarks. The early focus was intellectual and developmental disability services. The NCI-IDD approach combined administrative or background information with structured interviews and family questionnaires. A major methodological principle was to gather information directly from people receiving services wherever possible, rather than relying solely on agency records or provider assessments. The program also developed standardized processes for sampling, interviewer training, secure data entry, aggregation, and reporting. These practices were intended to produce data that were sufficiently consistent for comparison while remaining useful to individual states seeking to improve their systems. NCI-IDD developed a portfolio covering several perspectives. Its In-Person Survey examines adults receiving paid services and addresses individual outcomes, family outcomes, health, welfare, rights, staff stability, and system performance. Family instruments address adults living with family, adults living outside the family home, and children with intellectual or developmental disabilities living with family. A State of the Workforce Survey gathers information from provider agencies about direct-support-professional staffing, including vacancies, turnover, compensation, benefits, and service provision. Together, these instruments extend measurement beyond the experiences of service users to include families and the workforce responsible for delivering supports. Over time, NCI broadened its policy and analytical role. In addition to publishing state and national results, project teams and partners produced data briefs on selected issues, including employment, dual diagnosis, self-directed services, and autism-spectrum disorders. The multi-state dataset became a source for academic research and conference presentations. NCI information was also used in policy and advocacy contexts, including external efforts to compare state performance and inclusion. Public access to results and the program’s commitment to sharing information with stakeholders helped position NCI as both a measurement system and a mechanism for promoting accountability. The program subsequently expanded its scope through National Core Indicators-Aging and Disabilities. NCI-AD was designed for states assessing services for older adults and people with physical disabilities. Its creation reflected a broader understanding of quality in long-term services and supports: health and safety remain important, but they do not fully describe whether people experience independence, community participation, choice, self-direction, social connection, and a person-centered life. NCI-AD’s Adult Consumer Survey therefore collects information from service recipients about these wider outcomes, while its workforce survey examines organizations supporting the aging and disability population. NCI-AD and NCI-IDD operate as related initiatives under the wider NCI umbrella. Both use survey-based evidence, state participation, standardized procedures, and comparative reporting, although their populations and instruments differ. States do not necessarily participate in every survey each year, and annual findings consequently reflect the jurisdictions and respondent groups included in a given cycle. NCI project teams interpret results and prepare reports intended to support long-term-care policy, quality assurance, strategic planning, and practical improvement. In its current form, National Core Indicators is best understood as a continuing public-sector evidence infrastructure rather than a conventional brand. Its influence comes from the consistency of its measures, the breadth of its stakeholder perspectives, its focus on direct service-user experience, and the availability of comparative data. The program’s stated function remains to help public systems understand outcomes, identify weaknesses and strengths, establish benchmarks, and use evidence to improve supports for people with intellectual, developmental, aging, and physical disabilities.

• 1997

  National Core Indicators begins

  [1]National Core Indicatorsen.wikipedia.org

  The collaborative NCI program is established to give state human-service systems a standardized basis for tracking performance, comparing results, and developing national benchmarks.

• Expansion into aging and disability services

  [1]National Core Indicatorsen.wikipedia.org

  National Core Indicators-Aging and Disabilities is developed as a related initiative for assessing publicly funded services for older adults and people with physical disabilities.

• Development of public reporting and analytical resources

  [2]National Core Indicators: Aboutnationalcoreindicators.org

  NCI reporting expands beyond recurring state and national results to include data briefs, research uses, conference presentations, and resources for quality improvement and policy analysis.

A transparent, person-centered national measurement framework for evaluating public disability and long-term-services systems, with emphasis on lived experience, meaningful outcomes, comparative performance, and continuous quality improvement.

• Intellectual and developmental disability outcomes survey

  NCI-IDD In-Person Survey

  A face-to-face survey for adults receiving intellectual and developmental disability services. It combines background information with interview sections and is designed to capture more than 100 indicators across individual outcomes, family outcomes, health, welfare and rights, staff stability, and system performance. The instrument prioritizes direct responses from service recipients, with proxy participation possible in specified circumstances.

• Family and guardian outcomes surveys

  NCI-IDD Family Surveys

  A group of questionnaires for families and guardians of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The portfolio includes the Adult Family Survey, the Family/Guardian Survey, and the Children/Family Survey, covering differing living arrangements and age groups. The surveys provide family perspectives on services, supports, outcomes, and system performance.

• Disability-services workforce survey

  NCI-IDD State of the Workforce Survey

  A provider-agency survey focused on the direct-support-professional workforce serving adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It gathers information on turnover, vacancies, wages, benefits, service types, and related workforce conditions to help states understand whether staffing capacity supports reliable and effective services.

• Aging and disability consumer outcomes survey

  NCI-AD Adult Consumer Survey

  An in-person survey for adults receiving aging and disability services. Its indicators address quality of life, community integration, independence, decision-making, self-direction, person-centered services, and health and safety. The instrument is intended to fill gaps left by systems that measure compliance or safety without adequately documenting personal and social outcomes.

• Aging and disability workforce survey

  NCI-AD State of the Workforce Survey

  A provider survey covering organizations that support older adults and people with physical disabilities in residential, day, in-home, and community-inclusion settings. It examines direct-support-worker conditions such as turnover, vacancy rates, compensation, benefits, and the types of services delivered.

• Performance reports and research resources

  NCI Reports and Data Briefs

  Aggregated reports and focused analytical publications that present state and national findings, identify trends, support comparisons with national norms, and inform policy and quality-improvement work. NCI data have also supported peer-reviewed research, conference presentations, and data-request processes for researchers.

1. 1National Core Indicatorsen.wikipedia.org
2. 2National Core Indicators: Aboutnationalcoreindicators.org
3. 3Measuring Developmental Disabilities Services' Successgoverning.com