About Us

Milestones

Since its founding in 1969, The Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL) has defined the vision and practice of services for people with intellectual disabilities and people with mental illness. We have seen many challenges, successes and changes and we look forward to providing vision and leadership for many years to come. We welcome you to discover and explore this timeline of our history and milestones:

1952
The development of standards for agencies serving people with developmental disabilities begins with American Association on Mental Deficiency (AAMD)‘s publication of the report of a special committee of standards for institutions.

1964
AAMD publishes its “Standards for State Residential Institutions for the Mentally Retarded“. It then establishes a committee to review and revise the Standards and encourage implementation.

1966
AAMD, together with the National Association of Retarded Citizens (ARC), the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and United Cerebral Palsy Associations (UCPA), forms the National Planning Committee on Accreditation of Residential Centers for the Retarded, a group that includes representatives of both consumer-advocate and professional organizations.

1969
The National Planning Committee accepts the invitation of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAH) to establish the Accreditation Council for Facilities for the Mentally Retarded (ACF/MR). As the first of several Accreditation Councils within JCAH, ACF/MR has the responsibility and authority to develop accreditation standards and procedures, make accreditation decisions, and conduct an accreditation program in its area of concern. In this year, we are formally established.

1971
CQL publishes the Standards for Residential Facilities for the Mentally Retarded and conducts surveys using these standards.

1973
CQL publishes the Standards for Community Agencies Serving Persons with Mental Retardation and Other Developmentally Disabled Individuals.

1977
With the input of more than 600 professional and consumer representatives, CQL combines the two sets of standards into the Standards for Services for Developmentally Disabled Individuals.

1979
JCAH terminates its agreements with its Accreditation Councils, and replaces them with professional and technical advisory committees. Member organizations vote to establish The Accreditation Council for Services for Mentally Retarded and Other Developmentally Disabled Persons (ACMRDD), an independent accreditation program designed to:

Preserve consumer participation in the accreditation process;
Maintain the developmental model, normalization and the interdisciplinary approach as bases for providing services; and
Assure that decisions regarding standards and accreditation for developmental disability services would be made by persons having the requisite knowledge and concern.

1980
CQL’s standards on habilitation planning, team process, rights and behavioral intervention define contemporary practice. Revised Editions of the Standards are published and accreditation surveys are conducted on a national basis.

1986
CQL’s Training and Consultation Department is established to assist organizations preparing for accreditation and interested in learning more about the Standards.

1987
ACMRDD’s name is changed to The Accreditation Council on Services for People with Developmental Disabilities (ACDD). CQL publishes the 1987 edition of the Standards for Services for People with Developmental Disabilities.

1988
The Standards Field Review Edition is developed, published and distributed for national review and comment. The 1990 edition of the Standards for Services for People with Developmental Disabilities is published.

1990
CQL adopts a new mission statement. As a “National Quality Enhancement Program,” CQL begins to re-examine the role of accreditation and standards and form the base of system for quality improvement and measurement grounded in responsiveness to personally defined outcomes rather than compliance with organizational processes.

1991
The organization broadens its mission to include organizations that serve all individuals with related disabilities and adopts a new name, The Accreditation Council on Services for People with Disabilities.

1992
CQL inaugurates the Quality Plus conference series, translating Total Quality concepts from the business sector to human service organizations.

1993
CQL is the first to develop and implement Outcome Based Performance Measures, signaling a shift from a focus on organizational process to a new definition of quality based on person-centered outcomes.

1994
The Quality Consortium is introduced for organizations engaged in long term efforts to improve quality. Through CQL, participating organizations join a national networking and information exchange.

1995
CQL expands to establish collaborations and partnerships with both public and private organizations, systems, and coalitions both within the U.S. and internationally. Collaborative efforts include accreditation and training models.

1996
Trainer certification is developed for organizations seeking to enhance their internal capacity for training.

1997
The Council on Quality and Leadership in Supports for People with Disabilities is the new name for the diversified quality enhancement organization, reflecting the growth and further inclusion of people and organizations served.

The National Center on Outcomes Resources (NCOR) is established through a $1.2 million agreement with the U.S Administration on Developmental Disabilities. The Center emphasizes personal outcome measures such as self-determination, independence, productivity, integration, inclusion, personal responsibility and choice to examine the status of people with disabilities throughout their everyday lives.

Personal Outcome Measures ^SM are published following a study that demonstrates their validity as a quality measurement tool.

CQL awards its first Australian accreditation to a service provider in Wodonga, Australia.

1998
The National Outcomes Database now includes personal interviews with over 2,500 people with disabilities in the U.S.

The Foundation for Quality and Leadership is established to support and extend the work of CQL.

1999
The Center for Monitoring and Evaluation provides services in monitoring, evaluation, technical assistance, and investigation to state regulatory and administrative bodies, parties to judicial action, as well as service providers in an effort to promote protections in health, welfare, safety, and the rights of people with disabilities.

2000
CQL publishes four new applications of the Personal Outcome Measures^SM^:

Personal Outcome Measures ^SM – 2000 Edition
Personal Outcome Measures ^SM in Consumer-Directed Behavioral Health
Personal Outcome Measures ^SM for Children and Youth
Personal Outcome Measures ^SM for Families with Young Children

CQL is awarded a contract by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (formally HCFA). This National Quality Review contract will allow CQL to conduct Federal comparative (look-behind) surveys, complaint investigations and crisis assignments in order to protect the health, safety, and welfare of individuals living in ICFs/MR.

With support from the Administration on Developmental Disabilities and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other national disabilities organizations, The Council on Quality and Leadership co-sponsored an invitational conference at the Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, Wisconsin on October 19-21, 2000, entitled “Measure for Measure: Person-Centered Quality Assurance.” During the conference, thirty-five leaders — self-advocates, family members, service providers, governmental officials and representatives of national consumer, trade, and professional organizations — identified action strategies to support quality in services and supports for people with developmental disabilities. The proceedings were published: Measure for Measure: Person-Centered Quality Assurance

A contract was secured with the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services to conduct Personal Outcome Measures ^SM interviews with more than 300 people participating in the waiver program, including people with developmental disabilities, mental illness, the elderly, and children.

2001
CQL awards its first European accreditation to a service provider in County Bray, Ireland.

In July, CQL earns a contract for statewide training from the Georgia Department of Human Services. The project was designed for staff of agencies and companies providing services and/or service monitoring/coordination under the state’s Home and Community Based Waiver Services.

A four year contract with the Delmarva Foundation, Inc. begins to provide training and monitoring in the use of Personal Outcome Measures ^SM as a key component of the evaluation of Florida’s Medicaid program.

2002
CQL earns a contract to establish a Southern Maryland Training Institute. This project will increase the Institute’s ability to provide broad based training specific to the needs of the local community.

CQL hosts its inaugural Leadership Conference focusing on Social Capital for people with disabilities, their families, volunteers and employees and how it builds and expands personal and reciprocal relationships in the local community.

CQL and partner Speaking for Ourselves obtain a grant from the Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council to develop an assessment and interview tool designed to accurately analyze Pennsylvania’s self-advocacy efforts.

A partnership agreement with Accreditation Ontario is renewed for an additional five years.

2003
CQL’s Personal Outcomes Database grows to over 5,000. Findings appear in professional journals.

CQL becomes a founding member of the Alliance for Full Participation.

2005
CQL releases the new standards – Quality Measures 2005. Quality Measures 2005 ^SM combines CQL’s previous personal outcomes approach to quality definition and measurement with the lessons of social capital and the growing importance of Community Life ^SM.

2006
CQL launces Community Life ^SM initiatives with a new and unprecedented conference experience where exploration of community took conference participants outside the conference room into downtown Charleston to learn about quality of life, community data, Community Life ^SM, and how to make collective decisions from different perspectives.

The Council on Quality and Leadership continues to evolve and grow. We hope you will join us on our journey to continually shape and improve the services and supports provided to people with disabilities world wide.