Vera staff interviewed top DYRS administrators and research staff about existing efforts to measure agency performance. Vera also interviewed other professionals within the juvenile justice system, such as members of the Metropolitan Police Department and staffers in the Office of the Attorney General, gathering information about performance measures their agencies were collecting and reporting, as well as about the successes and challenges they have faced in conducting this work. The information gathered was summarized in a data diagnostic report that integrates a literature review of best practices in performance measures and laid the groundwork for DYRS to develop and refine its performance measures. In addition, Vera staffers held three strategic planning meetings with DYRS, juvenile justice agencies, and community-based organizations to collaborate on final performance measures to be used by DYRS.

Responding to chronically substandard conditions of confinement for youth held at the now-defunct Oak Hill Youth Center, and the lack of community-based alternatives to secure detention, DC’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) started a comprehensive reform strategy to improve its services and achieve better outcomes for youth, families, and the entire juvenile justice system. In order to know if the agency’s reforms are succeeding, it is essential that DYRS establish sound performance measures across its initiatives. Vera and DYRS are developing them, to permanently enhance the DYRS’s service delivery and data-collection capacity.