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National Database Statistics Updated: Measuring Performance Remains CQL Hallmark

Throughout our 35-year history, The Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL) has developed unparalleled expertise in measuring organizations’ direct impact on the lives of people receiving services. With a unique ability to measure the performance of organizations that provide services and supports to people with disabilities and people with mental illness, CQL leads the field of human services.

The foundation of our quality measurement and enhancement are our innovative Personal Outcome Measures ^®. These measures shift the definition of quality from organizational processes and services to the impact of those services on the lives of the people supported. We were the first to develop the concept of Personal Outcomes, and we continue to be the only accrediting body to use Personal Outcomes today.

Another thing that sets us apart is our ground breaking international database of more than 6,000 interviews with the very individuals whose lives we seek to improve. Conducted with the only validated and reliable measurement tool for Personal Outcomes, these interviews shape our definition of quality of life for people with intellectual disabilities and people with mental illness. We are the only organization worldwide to possess such a database, which continues to evolve and grow as we learn more about outcomes and how organizations can make them possible.

National Data Base on Outcomes Grows to 6,000

The Council on Quality Leadership (CQL) has been committed to rigorous and reliable data collection since 1991, enabled through the introduction of the Personal Outcome Measures ^®. CQL collects and analyzes data through interviews with people with disabilities. The National Personal Outcome Measures ^® database now contains information drawn from over 6,000 people during interviews with over 6,000 individuals receiving services and supports from CQL accredited organizations between 1993 and 2005.

Published in scientific journals and presented internationally, findings from these data furnish organizations and policy makers usable criteria for benchmarking their services and supports against national results. CQL also uses the database to study what is going well and where additional supports and evaluation methods are still needed.