Statewide Evaluation

The Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts is seeking $1,500,000 over 4 years from the
Adult Drug Court and Veterans Treatment Court Discretionary Grant Program (BJA-0-2021-
46003), Category 4: Statewide. Kentucky Specialty Courts (KSC) proposes to conduct a statewide
outcomes evaluation and to enhance the existing statewide Management Information System
(MIS) with technology updates to assist programs with automation and case management
innovations.
This grant will not address individual programs nor direct services. KSC programs are both preplea
and post-plea. The number of participants who will benefit from the project is 100%
(currently 1,894), because the results will inform stakeholders about information compliance to
Best Practice Standards (BPS), and performance measures results with statewide benchmarks.
The last expansive evaluation was in 2011. Since then, drug courts have changed considerably,
with the establishment of Best Practice Standards (BPS) and meta-analysis research. The MIS has
only had slight changes since it was built in 2006, and with enhancements could become more
helpful to staff and programs.
Minimum average time in all KSC programs for exited participants in CY 2019-2020 was 5.26
months; maximum was 22.0 months, and the average was 11.7 months. Targeted participants are
high risk/high needs individuals with nonviolent felony or misdemeanor offenses who are
statutorily eligible for diversion or probation. Medication assisted treatment (MAT) is not denied
to any participant before admission or after completing the program. KSC agrees that MAT
participation is a medical decision between the participant and medical provider. Most programs
have local access to MAT. MAT training is provided to staff, team and judges annually.
Opioids and methamphetamines overdose prevention and use reduction plans are described on
Attachment: Substance Use Reduction Plan. Trainings occur at the state, region and local level.
Goals are based on the NADCP BPS and are found on pages 8-9. Goals include conducting a
statewide outcomes evaluation to determine program effectiveness, which addresses BPS 10; and
enhancing MIS performance to develop tools that will automate processes and tracking. (BPS 9,
10).
Goals and objectives will be independently evaluated via outcome data based on KSC MIS and
external data. The proposal conforms to the framework of the Administrative Procedures of KSC
and the Statewide Strategy for Substance Abuse Treatment.
KSC has participated in several previous BJA projects. There are no current KSC statewide grants
from any federal funding sources.