Operationalization Drug Court Best Practices in Ohio's Specialized Dockets: Taking Equity and Inclusion and Data and Evaluation Full Scale

TITLE: Operationalization of Drug Court Best Practices in Ohio's Specialized Dockets: Taking Equity and Inclusion and Data and Evaluation Full Scale

The Supreme Court of Ohio, in collaboration with NPC Research and American University’s School of Public Affairs, requests $1,500,000.00 in funding under Category 4-Statewide. The funding will operationalize the National Association of Drug Court Professionals Best Practice Standards II-Equity and Inclusion (pages 3-5 and 11-12 of application) and X-Monitoring and Evaluation (pages 6-8 and 12-16 of application) within Ohio’s 161 Adult Drug Courts (ADC), including DUI and co-occurring dockets, and Veterans Treatment Courts (VTC). 

Treatment courts in Ohio may be pre- or post-adjudication and must undergo a certification process. The proposed application includes three overarching goals: 1-Institutionalizing American University’s Racial and Ethnic Disparities Program Assessment Tool (RED Tool) as part of Ohio’s certification process; 2-Administering the NPC Research BeST Practice Assessment statewide to assess best practice fidelity as well as adopting the BeST as the primary certification application for Ohio; and 3-Selection, implementation, and evaluation of a statewide case management system. 

Statewide training and technical assistance (TTA) is also a significant component of the application. American University will compile and analyze the data for all RED Tools deployed and compose an aggregated statewide report yearly; deliver trainings based on common needs; and present at the Annual Supreme Court of Ohio Specialized Dockets Conference. Ohio will develop and maintain a public-facing RED dashboard and conduct TTA with local courts, reviewing each Best Practice Standard, identifying opportunities, and outlining steps to improve policy and practice to enhance equity and inclusion.

NPC Research will disseminate the BeST to all Ohio treatment courts at two points in time, creating individual reports for each court with information on their adherence to best practices and an aggregated report of statewide adherence to best practices for the SCO to use in determining TTA needs, as well as assessing change over time. NPC will also provide virtual TA to the local courts, focusing on efficient data entry, how to leverage the new CMS, and review data entered into the CMS for quality and completeness, providing a written report of findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

This is a statewide application and all proposed projects and expenditures are related to statewide activities, not participant-level treatment and services such as medication-assisted treatment or opioid, stimulant, and other substance reduction interventions. To date, Ohio has not received a statewide drug court grant and has no pending grant applications. No additional federal funding is available to leverage for the project; however, the SCO will leverage significant staff involvement and available funds.