Where and how does the NC Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) need to develop more rigorous research and evidence for leadership, managers, and front-line staff to inform decisions about the agency’s program, policies, and operations over the next two years?
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Project Overview
Summary
The mission of the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) is for all Divisions of the Department to protect the public by collaboratively focusing on rehabilitation, protection, innovation, accountability, and professionalism. Its mission seeks to work collaboratively with the whole community to create a safer North Carolina upholding the core values of Protect-Respect-Integrity-Diversity-and Excellence (PRIDE). NCDAC is one of the largest North Carolina state government agencies with almost 20,000 positions and an annual budget of approximately $2 billion. NCDAC is responsible for approximately 30,000 individuals who are incarcerated in state prisons and more than 84,000 individuals who are on supervised probation, parole, or post-release supervision.
NCDAC is a newly created Cabinet Agency in North Carolina established in the 2021-2023 budget that was passed by the North Carolina General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Roy Cooper in November 2021. NCDAC split from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) and officially started operations on January 1, 2023.
NCDAC and the NC Office of Strategic Partnerships (OSP) undertook an initiative to develop NCDAC’s Priority Questions Research Agenda (PQRA). The aim of the PQRA was to set and define key areas in which the agency will research and develop evidence to inform its policy, programmatic, and operational decisions. Developing NCDAC’s PQRA came at an opportune time as the agency worked to hire staff, formalize policies and procedures, and further its use of data and research to inform rehabilitation and reentry services to currently and formerly incarcerated individuals.
The primary motivation for NCDAC to develop a PQRA was to develop more rigorous research and evidence for leadership, managers, and front-line staff to inform decisions about the agency’s program, policies, and operations.
The NCDAC PQRA outlines potential approaches to address the agency's identified Priority Questions over the next two years (2023-2025).
Deliverables
- In March 2023, the NC Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) and OSP initiated a partnership to develop a Priority Questions Research Agenda (PQRA) to define key areas for NCDAC to research and develop evidence to inform policy, programmatic, and operational decisions. The partnership process included convenings of internal and external stakeholders as well as listening sessions, interviews, and online surveys with NCDAC staff to identify potential Priority Questions. Through this partnership, OSP and NCDAC developed the NCDAC PQRA Action Plan to help answer the priority questions and began to identify external research support for the projects.
- In June 2023, NCDAC published its 2023-2025 Agency Strategic Plan that identifies Priority Questions aligned to its Strategic Goals and Objectives to develop evidence over 2023-2025 time period.
In early 2024, NCDAC identified research partners to answer three of the following agency Priority Questions. For more information on the projects, click the links below:
- How effective are NCDAC rehabilitation, programming, and reentry practices at reducing recidivism and improving post-release outcomes?
- What are NC Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) staff needs related to peer and behavioral/mental health supports? How can the SHIELD program provide these supports to improve employee mental health?
- What steps can the NC Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) take to improve the methodology and data collection activities it uses to measure employee engagement, morale, job stress, and other factors related to staff decisions to stay with or leave the agency?
- In January 2024, NCDAC completed development of the NCDAC 2023-2025 PQRA Action Plan that lays out the agency's Priority Questions organized by strategic goal. The PQRA Action Plan provides a description of each of the 10 Priority Questions identified by NCDAC and proposed evidence building activities the agency will complete to answer each question. The PQRA Action Plan is a living document NCDAC will update regularly based on stakeholder feedback, evidence generated through research activities, and emerging agency needs.
- In June 2024, OSP and DAC published an article describing the development of the PQRA and launch of DAC research projects: “A Partnership to Enhance the Use of Evidence in Government Decision Making: The NC Office of Strategic Partnerships and the NC Department of Adult Correction.”
- OSP and NCDAC will update this page with new deliverables as appropriate.
Planned use of results
The NCDAC PQRA guides the agency’s research and evidence building activities over the next two years (2023-2025). OSP’s Evidence Advisor is advising and helping to execute some initial research and evaluation projects identified in the PQRA Action Plan. Some examples of work OSP might complete include conducting evidence reviews for specific Priority Questions, developing research designs for potential evaluations, and conducting analysis of NCDAC data to try answer emergent questions.
Data
NCDAC and OSP collected data from internal and external stakeholders on NCDAC Priority Questions reflected in the PQRA.
Project Team
NC Department of Adult Correction
NC Office of Strategic Partnerships