As public organizations, courts are expected to hold themselves clearly accountable to the public, whether to the public as a whole, funding bodies, or court users including attorneys and litigants, victims and witnesses, jurors, and others. Performance measures provide a means to measure and drive the success of any organization. In court systems, a clear and unambiguous set of performance goals, combined with a system of performance measurement, not only provides a method to improve court programs and services but can also drive policy development and organizational change.

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) is the leader in the area of court performance measurement. In the mid 1990s, the NCSC promulgated the Trial Court Performance Standards (TCPS), a set of standards to develop measurable standards for state trial court systems in key areas of performance. The NCSC has worked with courts from across the country to implement TCPS, measurably improving the performance of courts in the areas of access to justice; expedition and timeliness; equality, fairness and integrity; independence and accountability; and public trust and confidence. The NCSC continues to focus on the development of standards that provide courts with meaningful and practical tools to ensure the highest level of public service. In 2005, the NCSC promulgated CourTools, a set of 10 core court performance measures, including practical and transparent processes to gather key performance information and data, analyze it, and clearly present findings and measurements of court performance.

The NCSC’s Court Consulting Division is ready to provide consulting services to assist courts in developing performance goals designed specifically to meet their needs, to design and implement performance measurement systems modeled with these goals, and to develop systems to improve court performance.