The framework for the North Carolina Scorecard was developed incrementally over a six-year period.

We began with the eight imperatives, or issue areas. With much discussion and consultation, we created a vision for each imperative, followed by specific goals for each vision, then measures — quantitative indicators — for judging whether the goals were being reached, with targets for where North Carolina should be on each measure at a given point on the calendar.

Most targets are set for the year 2020.

We imposed tough limits of the number of goals and measures, to keep the total number to a manageable size. This means we left out far more than we included, and sometimes an omission was a painful one. Even 100 indicators cannot draw a complete roadmap showing where North Carolina is or is going, but we hope they do serve as critical indicators of our progress.

As we implied, we did not develop this Scorecard on our own. Through the years, it has involved thousands of people: average citizens across the state, administrators and policy makers, representatives of advocacy groups, scholars, and public-policy specialists. They gave us their ideas, telling us what they thought was important and why. They critiqued our proposals and helped us refine the end product.

Except there is no end product. The Scorecard is and always will be a work in progress. We will need new goals to meet new challenges. Targets will change as we look further into the future and learn what truly can be accomplished. And if we work hard enough and consistently enough, one day we may be able to stamp "Goal Accomplished" on one or more.

Over the years, we have released printed versions of the Scorecard as the goals, measures, and targets were selected and updated. With this online version, we will be able to update our progress continuously, as new data are released. We hope you will refer to it frequently.

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