Research - Outcomes, Parental Involvement and Evidence-based practice

[StarkAndWitchesWillFindYou]

I need (as do we all actually) quotes, policies, documents, references, guidelines, reports etc. that say the following things:

1. Parental involvement in their child's education is paramount.

2. Outcomes for children are increased when agencies work together.

3. Evidence-based practice is the responibility of ALL professionals working with children (particularly with SN)

The documents will guide SALTs, Autism Outreach, LAs in general, Teachers, TAs, SENCos, EPs etc. in their work and approach.

I'll do my own research too and post what I have here already and what I find.

I see you don't mention anything about pay (although I'd probably work for free)

here I go again......

Removing Barriers to Achievement
The Government?s Strategy for SEN

CHAPTER 1

Improving support for children with special needs from birth

1.1 Children develop and learn from the moment they are born.The first few
years are a crucial developmental phase,which do much to shape a child?s
life chances. The role of parents in supporting their child?s learning in the
early years, more than any other phase, is absolutely critical

CHAPTER 3

Where we want to be
We want to see:

? improved data giving parents and teachers a clearer picture of how well children working below age-related expectations are progressing

Personalising learning - children with SEN

The principles of learning and teaching underpinning personalised learning

Good learning and teaching should:

? set high expectations and give every learner confidence they can succeed

? establish what learners already know and build on it

? structure and pace the learning experience to make it challenging and enjoyable

Improving our understanding of ?what works?

3.6 There is a wealth of research evidence surrounding children with SEN and
strategies for raising their achievement. However,much of the research is
short-term and small scale, giving rise to disputes about its validity, and mainly based on the learning of younger pupils. We are determined to learn from the available evidence, commissioning new research where there are gaps in our knowledge.

3.7 We have already begun to develop a framework of evidence-based strategies and effective teaching approaches for pupils with particular needs, across all age groups

Developing a flexible curriculum and recognised qualifications for all

3.31 Young people learn in different ways, at different paces and have widely
varying interests and aptitudes.

The National Curriculum Inclusion Statement
? ?Inclusion ? providing effective learning opportunities for all pupils? provides statutory guidance on planning and teaching the curriculum.
It requires teachers to set suitable learning challenges for all pupils, tailor the curriculum to provide all pupils with relevant and appropriately challenging work, and to overcome potential barriers to learning, including those arising
from SEN and disability

Building parents? confidence in mainstream education

4.14 The acid test for the success of this strategy will be if children with SEN are
doing better in school. But it will also be if their parents feel more confident
about this. Parents of children with SEN are often much under pressure and
relationships with local services can be difficult, particularly where views
differ about what provision would be most appropriate.

The SEN Code of Practice makes clear that we expect all professionals to work actively with parents and value the contribution they make

Thanks Sancta

And wassuup

Stark you should train all senco's it would make us parents lives easier. I am just starting my fight and will read it all thoroughly when I get an hour to myself.We need people like you because nobody tells or advises you. You feel so alone and I myself can't believe how much info you need. I have only found out about sn,senco,iep's ect...even though my daughter as been getting this for the last number of years (in yr 4 now). I need knowledge and advice and I myself applaud you and thank you. I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders when I was assigned a Parent Partnership Officer,I felt great help at last. Waste of time, feel they are not impartial from my experience. So my point is...if we didn't have people like your good self and other mumsnetters we would allow schools to continue failing our children...thanks again

SUPER BLOODY DOOPER - that's what you are Stark!! Well done indeed. This will super helpful for my anticipated appeal against statement refusal!

Willow - would definitely like a copy of the article.

Mreid It doesn't matter how much knowledge and information I have. My LA are of the 'hard to reach' variety.

Attainment and achievement is low as are aspirations.

They won't engage and they don't really know how to. They are very poorly educated.

They can only ever be made to move on something if another agency gets involved and quotes statutory legislation.

Whenever I offer support it is refused.

Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage May 2008

Setting the Standards for Learning, Development and Care for children from birth to five

Meeting the diverse needs of children

1.7 Meeting the individual needs of all children lies at the heart of the EYFS. Practitioners should deliver personalised learning, development and care to help children to get the best possible start
in life

1.8 You must promote positive attitudes to diversity and difference within all children. In doing this you will help them to learn to value different aspects of their own and other people?s lives.

This includes making sure that all children and families feel included, safe and valued; that all children and adults are treated as individuals and are not discriminated against; and that all children are listened to and respected.

Partnership working

1.11 Early years practitioners have a key role to play in working with parents to support their young
children. This should include identifying learning needs and responding quickly to any difficulties.

Wherever appropriate, practitioners should work together with professionals from other agencies, such as local and community health and social services, to identify needs and provide the best learning opportunities for children.

Partnership working may be required in particular for a child with disabilities or a child who is looked after in care.

Flexible provision

1.13 Many children will receive education and care under the EYFS framework in more than one setting. Some may attend part-time, while others may attend full-time and also use extended services, such as breakfast or after-school clubs. These patterns of attendance will be a key factor in planning.

For children who attend more than one setting, practitioners must ensure effective continuity and progression by sharing relevant information with each other and parents.

1.14 You should also take into account the differing needs of individual children within the setting and tailor your approach to each child?s needs. For example, some children may find it very tiring to
concentrate for long periods and need frequent pauses and rests, while others may benefit from longer sessions.

1.15 Providers who care for children over relatively short periods of time are responsible for delivering the EYFS in an appropriate way that meets the needs of the children.

They should make sure that what they provide complements the education and care the child receives in other settings.

1.19 The EYFS requires providers to ensure a balance of child-initiated and adult-led play-based activities. Providers should use their judgement and their knowledge of the children in their care in deciding what the balance should be.

Quality improvement ? a continuous process

1.23 Research shows that high quality experiences in the early years, including a good home learning environment, have a significant positive impact on children?s social, emotional and cognitive
development and, therefore, their progress at school and into adult life.

1.24 At a basic level, high quality early years provision can be defined as a provision which:

■■ improves outcomes for every child through high aspiration and effective practice;
■■ provides personalised learning, development and support ? tailored to the needs of individual children
■■ builds the foundations for future success;
■■ involves parents in their children?s learning and development

1.27 A continuously improving setting will have well-qualified and experienced staff who:

■■ engage in regular cycles of planning and review, informed by accurate record keeping, including information on children?s learning progress, and the EYFS Profile;
■■ understand and engage in informed reflective practice ? both individually and in groups;
■■ work collaboratively within the setting to share knowledge, question practice and test new ideas ? with high aspirations for every child;
■■ support quality improvement processes in the setting ? recognising how these processes can extend effective practice and help improve outcomes for every child;
■■ are keen to share best practice with other practitioners through local, regional and national networking;
■■ work together with other practitioners and parents to support transition, both between settings and between setting and school;
■■ work in partnership with parents ? sharing information and involving them in their child?s continuous learning and development

1.28 Practice will be inclusive, where:

■■ children are valued as unique individuals and diversity is respected;
■■ provision is personalised ? offering support tailored according to individual needs, taking into account children having English as an additional language, special educational needs or disability and the gifted and talented

2.8 Good planning is the key to making children?s learning effective, exciting, varied and progressive.

It enables practitioners to build up knowledge about how individual children learn and make progress. It also provides opportunities for you to think and talk about how to sustain a successful learning environment.

Assessment

2.10 All effective assessment involves analysing and reviewing what you know about each child?s development and learning. You can then make informed decisions about the child?s progress and plan next steps to meet their development and learning needs.

This is called assessment for learning.

?? Formative assessment is the type of assessment based on observations, photographs, video, things children have made or drawn and information from parents. It informs or guides everyday planning.

?? Summative assessment is a summary of all the formative assessment done over a long
period and makes statements about the child?s achievements. The EYFS Profile is the
summative assessment completed by practitioners at the end of the EYFS. It summarises children?s progress towards the early learning goals. It can also be formative in that it informs
and guides the medium- and long-term planning done by Year 1 teachers in order to support and extend children?s learning as they move into KS1.

National Standards for
Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators

(who'd have thought eh?)

2. Key outcomes of SEN co-ordination

Effective co-ordination of SEN results in:

a. pupils on the SEN register who
make progress towards targets set in their individual education plans;

b. teachers who communicate effectively with the parents, the SENCO and all other
staff with responsibilities for SEN, including those from external agencies; have
high expectations of pupils? progress, set realistic but challenging targets which
they monitor and review, and provide appropriate support;

d. parents who understand the targets set for their children and their contribution to
helping their children achieve them; feel fully involved as partners in the education process;

SENCOs should have knowledge and understanding of:

c. the purpose of individual education plans and how they are formulated,
implemented and reviewed;

d. the resources which can help pupils with SEN and how they can be used
to best effect;

f. relevant legislation, including the SEN Code of Practice and equal opportunities legislation and how these apply to pupils with statements as well as those without;

h. the requirements to communicate information effectively to LEAs, external agencies, parents and other schools or colleges on transfer;

i. the scope and role of external agencies in support of work with pupils with SEN and how to interpret specialist information in support of teaching programmes;

j. the implications of information and guidance documents from LEAs, the
DfEE, WOED, and other national and specialist bodies/associations;

SENCOs should be able to:

i. contribute to senior management team decision-making in respect of issues involving pupils with SEN;

ii. make decisions based on analysis, understanding and interpretation of relevant data and information;

c. Communication skills ? the ability to make points clearly and to listen to and understand the views of others

SENCOs should be able to:

i. communicate effectively, orally and in writing, to the headteacher, other staff, parents, governors and external agencies, including the LEA;

ii. negotiate and consult with parents and external agencies;

iii. explain to pupils the objectives of any interventions;

B. Teaching and learning

SENCOs seek to develop, with the support of the headteacher and colleagues, effective
ways of overcoming barriers to learning and sustaining effective teaching through the
analysis and assessment of pupils? needs, by monitoring the quality of teaching and
standards of pupils? achievements, and by setting targets for improvement.

They:
i. support the identification of, and disseminate the most effective teaching
approaches for pupils with SEN;

ii. collect and interpret specialist assessment data gathered on pupils and use
it to inform practice;

iii. work with pupils, subject leaders and class teachers with tutorial/pastoral
responsibilities to ensure that realistic expectations of behaviour and
achievements are set for pupils with SEN;

iv. monitor the effective use of resources, appropriate teaching and learning
activities and target-setting to meet the needs of pupils with SEN;

v. develop systems for monitoring and recording progress made by pupils with SEN towards the achievement of targets set

SENCO

x. maintain effective partnerships between parents and the school?s staff so as to promote pupils? learning; provide information to parents about targets, achievements and progress;

xii. develop effective liaison with external agencies in order to provide
maximum support for pupils with SEN

SEN COP 8:39 (Thanks Ampers missed this)

c the third sub-section should describe the arrangements to be made for setting shorter-term educational and developmental targets for the child.

The targets themselves should not be part of the statement but should form an integral part of their IEP. By their nature such targets will require regular review and revision while the longer-term objectives in sub-section 1 will not.

The child?s school should devise the first IEP, in consultation with their parents and, where appropriate the child, within two months of placement at a different school, or immediately the statement is finalised if the child remains in the same school.

The child?s achievements, in the light of the IEP, should be reviewed at least twice a year by the school, and fully considered at the first annual review of the statement when further targets can be set.

The Impact of Parental Involvement, Parental Support and Family Education on Pupil Achievements and Adjustment:

A Literature Review - Professor Charles Desforges with Alberto Abouchaar

Executive Summary - This research consistently shows that:

• The most important finding from the point of view of this review is that parental involvement in the form of ?at-home good parenting? has a significant positive effect on children?s achievement and adjustment

even after all other factors shaping attainment have been taken out of the equation.

In the primary age range the impact caused by different levels of parental involvement is much bigger than differences associated with variations in the quality of schools. The scale of the impact is evident across all social classes and all ethnic groups.

• Other forms of parental involvement do not appear to contribute to the scale of the impact of ?at-home? parenting.

• Research affords a clear model of how parental involvement works. This model is described in the report. In essence parenting has its influence indirectly through shaping the child?s self concept as a

learner and through setting high aspirations.

1.2 In England, the Government?s strategy for securing parental involvement was first set out in the 1997 White Paper, ?Excellence in Schools?. The strategy described there included three elements (a) providing parents with information, (b) giving parents a voice and (c) encouraging parental
partnerships with schools.

2.14.2 The technically high quality studies cited here showed that parental
involvement in the form of ?at-home? interest and support is a major force
in shaping pupils? educational outcomes

3.13 In summary, taken collectively the above studies using contemporary techniques of data analysis from large data sets have safely established that parental involvement in the form of interest in the child and manifest in the home as parent-child discussions can have a significant positive
effect on children?s behaviour and achievement even when the influence of background factors such as social class or family size have been factored out.

Ofsted - The special educational needs and
disability review

A statement is not enough

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Inspectors found poor evaluation by a wide range of public agencies of the quality of
the additional support provided for children and young people. Too often, the agencies focused simply on whether a service was or was not being provided rather than whether it was effective.

In particular, it was not enough for pupils to have a statement of special educational needs. The statement itself did not mean that their current needs were being met, but merely that they were likely to receive the service prescribed by their original statement

The key implication of these findings is that any further changes to the system
should focus not on tightening the processes of prescribing entitlement to services
but, rather, on:

• improving the quality of assessment

• ensuring that where additional support is provided, it is effective

• ensuring that accountability for those providing services focuses on the outcomes for the children and young people concerned.

Outcomes Key Findings:

• Across all the education providers visited, the keys to good outcomes were good

teaching and learning, close tracking, rigorous monitoring of progress with intervention quickly put in place, and a thorough evaluation of the impact of additional provision.

• High aspirations and a focus on enabling children and young people to be as

independent as possible led most reliably to the best achievement.

• The review identified weaknesses in transition planning for young people, and the

need for greater knowledge and professional expertise in relation to special educational needs and disabilities in information, advice and guidance services.

• What consistently worked best was a close analysis of their needs, often as they changed and developed, matched to a

clear view of the impact of intervention on outcomes for them.

Evaluation and accountability

• Over half the early years providers, schools, colleges and local authorities visited placed little emphasis on improvements in progress or other outcomes, including destinations, as a measure of the effectiveness or the quality of provision

• However, in the areas where there was close evaluation of the outcomes of

different types of provision, additional support for children and young people was correspondingly more effective. Evaluation of this kind also supported more effective initial assessments of need.

• While the annual review process for statements and School Action Plus should

focus sharply on the progress of the child and challenge the effectiveness of additional provision, this was not always the case.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Assessment and identification

• Any further changes to improve the system of assessment should focus on quality and improving outcomes for learners.

Evaluation and accountability

• Evaluation should focus on the outcomes desired for and achieved by children and young people with additional needs. It should not focus only on whether they have received the services prescribed.

• Good evaluation requires systems that track progress securely towards planned

outcomes and information that is used rigorously and regularly to evaluate the impact of interventions.

16. There were some common features of good practice in assessment and
identification:

• trust in previous assessments, built upon in a formative way

54. What consistently worked well were:

• high aspirations for the achievement of all children and young people

• provision based on careful analysis of need, close monitoring of each individual?s progress and a shared perception of desired outcomes

• evaluation of the effectiveness of provision at all levels in helping to improve

opportunities and progress

• swift changes to provision, in and by individual providers and local areas, as a result of evaluating achievement and well-being

99. Barriers to learning which were observed by inspectors included lack of careful preparation and poor deployment of adults to support children and young
people.

Where additional adult support was provided in the classroom for individuals, this was sometimes a barrier to including them successfully and enabling them to participate. In too many examples seen during the review, when a child or young person was supported closely by an adult, the adult focused on the completion of the task rather than on the actual learning.

103. When children and young people learned best:

• the staff understood clearly the difference between ensuring that children

and young people were learning and keeping them occupied

• respect for individuals was reflected in high expectations for their achievement

• the effectiveness of specific types of support was understood and the right support was put in place at the right time.

104. When children and young people?s learning was least successful:

• teachers did not spend enough time finding out what children and young people already knew or had understood

• teachers were not clear about what they expected children and young people to learn as opposed to what they expected them to do

• the roles of additional staff were not planned well or additional staff were not trained well and the support provided was not monitored sufficiently

• expectations of disabled children and young people and those who had special educational needs were low

• activities and additional interventions were inappropriate and were not evaluated in terms of their effect on children and young people?s learning

• resources were poor, with too little thought having been given to their selection and use

• children and young people had little engagement in what they were learning, usually as a result of the above features.

• 114. In the good and outstanding providers, alongside high aspirations for academic achievement there was a very well-understood view of how to help an individual

become as self-reliant and as independent as possible

• 130. In the less effective providers visited and in the case studies collected where children and young people had made less progress, monitoring and evaluation

and the subsequent challenge were usually absent.

A culture of excuses was common, as was a lack of drive and ambition to ensure that the pupils grasped every opportunity to learn. A number of comments to inspectors made by staff in a range of types of provision highlighted low expectations.

133. The best practice in evaluation seen by inspectors ensured that:

• there was analysis of outcomes for individuals and cohorts of children and

young people

• the views of young people and their parents or carers were taken into account

• there was regular challenge to the possible achievement and destinations of

children and young people

• all services ?signed up? to the provision and monitored resulting outcomes

• distinctive roles were recognised while understanding the need to work flexibly to achieve joint goals.

Accountability across services and the national indicators

138. The current system of accountability across services is problematic for three
reasons:

• Accountability focuses more on what is provided rather than the outcomes for disabled children and young people and those with special educational needs

Outcomes versus provision

149. In most examples where the local authorities visited had established smallerscale, local area-based systems for allocating resources and evaluating
outcomes, trust between providers and different services was better.

Influencing allocations and solving problems creatively together within an area led to a more positive outlook. It reduced suspicion that any one group might have a hidden agenda. Different services were clear about their contribution.

152. Too often, in the schools and early years provision visited, and in the case
studies undertaken, the annual review of statements focused on what had been
provided for the child or young person rather than on its actual impact.

The personalised targets seen as part of the case studies in this review often lacked
ambition.

Evaluation and the Code of Practice

157. There was a degree of confusion and duplication between the assessment processes within the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice, based in statute, and the development of the Common Assessment Framework, a nonstatutory system. Practice within the statutory framework focused, more often than not, on provision and not outcomes.

This review found that the statement of special educational needs was seen by parents, carers, professionals in schools and those in other services as the guardian of the provision rather than as a package of support that was focused on meeting the needs of the child or young person. Inevitably, this was linked to funding for the educational placement. The statement was seen by many as a suitable and necessary
document that allowed families to hold schools and the local authority to account for the quality of the provision.

However, this was not the case: inspectors observed that not only were the annual reviews focusing too little on outcomes, but the impact of provision from other services such as health was also not sufficiently represented.

Thank you Stark. Really useful information.

Yeah, that last one was actually Sept 10. I think it was what triggered the whole 'many SENs aren't SEN' thing. If you see what was actually written it was very poorly misinterpreted.

Good grief!!!