As courts increasingly rely on data to improve services and guide decision-making, the need for a data-literate workforce has never been greater. With support from the State Justice Institute, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) developed Data Literacy for Courts, a first-of-its-kind curriculum designed specifically for court professionals. The course equips the court workforce with practical skills in data quality, statistics, visualization, governance, ethics, and the data life cycle.
Piloted in Pennsylvania and Georgia, the curriculum was refined through collaboration with courts to ensure real-world relevance and impact. This evidence-based approach produced a scalable resource that is now offered nationally through NCSC’s education programs.
The project advances SJI priorities by promoting data-driven decision-making, supporting collaboration between court leaders and data professionals, and creating a sustainable workforce development model. NCSC highlighted the curriculum during its Data Dives webinar, Future-Ready Courts: Building a Data-Literate Workforce, where data literacy was presented as a response to a key vulnerability identified in the Future Ready Courts framework: a workforce that lacks the skills to effectively use data for decision-making. The webinar featured court practitioners, instructional resources, and a companion video illustrating how data literacy can strengthen transparency, innovation, and public trust.
“I can’t overstate the role of data in our world and the importance of having the skills to understand it.”
–Kelly McClain, Data Exchange Manager, Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System
The curriculum continues to grow in reach and impact. Following a live virtual national offering in August 2026, NCSC is adapting the curriculum to include an expanded data visualization program for Nevada courts.
February 1, 2024
Pretrial policies have undergone significant change and advancement over the last decade. In 2013, the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) endorsed the COSCA Policy Paper on Evidence-Based Pretrial Release. CCJ and COSCA also hosted five Pretrial Regional Summits between May 2016 and November 2018 to facilitate the …
January 1, 2024
Most states do not have specialized family court judges, let alone judges dedicated to delinquency cases. Even in states that do have a family court structure, juvenile justice often gets short shrift compared to child welfare in terms of court attention, resources, and improvement efforts. In addition, most states do not provide juvenile court judges …
December 1, 2023
The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) is applying the technical and business definitions of the National Open Data Standards (NODS) to resolve enduring, and common, obstacles to collecting good civil and family court data. Developed by the Conference of State Court Administrators and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), NODS is intended to …
November 1, 2023
The Access to Justice Lab at Harvard Law School and LaGratta Consulting LLC are conducting a randomized control trial examining the effects of in-person versus remote hearings for self-represented family law litigants in the 3rd Judicial District Court of Utah (Salt Lake County). The project intends to examine case outcomes and litigant experience in both …
October 1, 2023
In 2020, the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) was awarded a State Justice Institute (SJI) Technical Assistance grant to retain the services of Catalis by Court Innovations, Inc. (Catalis) to assist the AOC with developing and implementing an online platform to resolve medical debt disputes in Hamilton County, TN, before a lawsuit is …
September 1, 2023
Rural communities face unique challenges that impact their ability to deliver fair and equitable justice. Despite these challenges, rural communities rely on their many strengths to address the needs of their residents. In 2021, the National Center for State Courts, in partnership with Rulo Strategies, launched the Rural Justice Collaborative (RJC) to showcase the strengths …