Redefining Residential: Performance Indicators and Outcomes AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CHILDREN'S RESIDENTIAL CENTERS

This is the fourth in a series of papers being disseminated by the American Association of Children's Residential Centers (AACRC) regarding the transformation of residential treatment. AACRC is the longest continuously active national association with a focus on clinical issues and programming for youth in 24-hour group treatment settings. The first three papers examined the preconditions for transformation, the redefinition of the role of residential treatment in the service continuum and the implementation of family-driven care in residential treatment. This paper will discuss the importance of performance measurement and benchmarking, organizational issues and systems related to data collection and analysis, and potential categories of indicators and outcomes for measurement.