The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists SLCN Outcome Project Web-based application specification

Background The Business need: RCSLT members and other children’s services report difficulties in local data collection around the measurement of outcomes.  lack of analysis/reporting  data not aggregated at a national level  difficulty integrating data from multi-agency sources  prevents effective evaluation and benchmarking of interventions for children and young people (CYP) with SLCN The Business Solution:  To develop a web-based application to:  support professionals and services working with CYP with SLCN to improve integrated data collection, measurement and reporting of outcomes

Background continued The project will build upon 3 strands of existing work: The RCSLT Outcomes project  Working on application of existing core tool: Therapy Outcome Measures (TOMs) to enable the speech and language therapy profession to aggregate reliable and valid data to demonstrate impact of intervention at local and national level The Council for Disabled Children (CDC) [DfE strategic reform partner]  Looking at how to support children and families to articulate outcomes. Aim to explore how current project could add value to this (Christine Lenehan, Director of the CDC supportive of CDC involvement) Children and Families Outcome Framework (CFOF) and report card (Carol Salt)  Tested and proven effective in Children’s Centres and Primary Schools (Supporting Information Pack - Appendices A & B)  Developing tools to measure existing outcomes: Outcome Wheel to capture and measure the journey of change for children and families using the UCL Children’s centre outcome assessment tool (Supporting Information Pack - Appendix C)  Theory of change framework (Supporting Information Pack - Appendix D)

Data collection requirements - the big picture To enable services/organisation who work with SEND SLCN CYP 0-25 Years to: Make a clear link between activities, outputs, personal outcomes and national level outcomes Provide a coherent structure for the collation of data Understand their population needs and where they need to target services and resources Examine their outputs and be responsive to meeting the needs of their community Examine and use the national evidence base for ‘what works' to inform and review what services are required to improve life chances at a local level Track the impact of the services they provide or that partners provider on their behalf Track and measure individuals against: developmental milestones, CYP communication, learning and social and emotional development Contribute through action research to a growing evidence base for current and future interventions Evaluate outcomes in relation to their aims and objectives ensuring that services are responsive to local and national priorities Self-evaluate against Ofsted Inspection Judgements, and gather a robust evidence base for Inspections, plan their journey of change to meet Ofsted ‘Good’ criteria (where applicable) Identify and address gaps/areas of development and areas of innovation related to improved outcomes (benchmarking) Engage partners, including governors, advisory boards, and parent forums in evaluation, service design and planning at a local level Demonstrate the value they add and their value for money - incorporating social value/ return on investment Provides a robust evidence base for commissioners

Key barriers to be addressed: Information governance and security considerations Costs Information sharing across agencies and systems (government level) Duplication of data with existing systems

System characteristics required by users Data collection system that:  Is user friendly and flexible – easy to input data and withdraw/create reports  Is quick  Can stand alone as data input system  Can extract and amalgamate data from existing systems to avoid duplication (e.g. take population datasets from ONS)  Can extract data from a variety of paper-based and electronic systems  Can aggregate individual (child/parent) datasets into cohort datasets  Is accessible regardless of setting and web connection (inc. schools, children’s centres, private/voluntary childcare settings, NHS, voluntary and independent sectors) e.g. webportal  Has system permanence (future proof)  Will be cost-effective long term  Has potential scalability and flexibility  Can produce a web-based report card

Specification of web-based SLCN Report Card Template Introduction to CFOF including CFOF Theoretical Model Local Picture – Local key population datasets Big Picture – National policy context narrative on latest research in the field Growing our evidence base for what works locally – developing the business case Social Return on Investment –financial model Case studies (case study template for settings to populate which showcases individual Journey of Change) Summary:  SLCN Dashboard – Linking SLCN Outcome to: School/centre/service development plan Local Authority KPI’s Ofsted Grade Descriptors/Quality Standards Interventions offered (Local Offer) Is anyone better off?  Journey of Change for Children and Families (Aggregated population and performance datasets for reporting period)

Technical specification web-based SLCN Report Card needs to: Be able to aggregate anonymous setting level, Cluster/District level, Local Authority level, regional and national data by setting by vulnerability factors i.e. Free School Meals, EAL, BME, summer Born, attendance, living in workless household by interventions accessed by area of child development:  communication and language  social and emotional by clinical condition / need Have the capacity to amend fields easily for ongoing evolution of dashboard /report card Provide an evidence base which is ‘future proof’ i.e. not transient or dependent upon political or structural reorganisation ■ Provide a data collection system that will be compatible/adaptable with data collection by members of wider workforce

Technical Specification Web-based SLCN Report Card needs to: Essentials (populating the Report Card): Securely store service user information  Name, D.O.B., address, Unique identifying number  Profile of vulnerability/risk factors within family  Profile of interventions accessed  Child Development Tool – assessments – communication, language and social and emotional development  Outcome Tool – Journey of Change for CYP and families Populate outcome measures (Supporting Information Pack - Appendix D)  Aggregate individual datasets from service user information into cohort datasets to facilitate the population of Journey of Change and calculation of Social Value created Import or facilitate the collation of Population data (Supporting Information Pack - Appendix D)

Technical Specifications: data reports required (1) Performance data Reporting level SettingLADfE IndividualYY Link Family membersYY Intervention (Single)YY Interventions (Group/Theme)YY Access to other interventions/settings in their area (tracking children/safeguarding)YY Local Super Output Area (LSOA)YYY Vulnerable GroupYYY SettingYYY District/Cluster YY Local Authority YY Region Y National Y

Technical Specifications: data reports required (2) Population data Reporting level SettingLADfE Local Super Output Area (LSOA)YYY Vulnerable GroupYYY SettingYYY District/ClusterYYY Local AuthorityYYY RegionYYY NationalYYY