States should hold agencies and contracted providers accountable for meeting identified outcome measures. They should reward those that meet or exceed outcome targets and penalize those that consistently fail.

Drug courts in Oklahoma have received increases in funding because they have measured and reported on their success. Drug court graduates are two times less likely to return to prison than probation offenders and four times less likely than released prison inmates. The annual per-person cost of drug court is $5000, while the annual cost of keeping that person in prison would be $16,000. Do you know of other good examples of state-level action on measurement and accountability? Email your stories to us.