Research into the educational attainment of children in Find-a-Family, NSW.

1. Research into the educational attainmentof children in Find-a-Family, NSW.

2. New testing allows agencies to monitor outcomes • NAPLAN testing began in 2008 • Literacy and numeracy- Year levels- 3,5,7,9 • Educational needs assessment based on NAPLAN • Entry to school testing- Best Start etc BUT • How can we get the information? • What will it tell us about individuals? • What will it tell us about the program? • How should we be routinely collecting this?

3. Experimental Study asked the following questions: • How are children in Find a Family NSW program doing in terms of educational attainment? • Are particular children doing better or worse? • Are the current practices of spending on remedial education adequate?

4. Study undertaken in Find a Family • Children only after final orders: babies to 18 years • Parental Responsibility held by agency head • High level of behavioural disturbance • Bridging placements used until permanent carers found • One half of children ultimately adopted

5. Getting started- what information was available • Casework records- NAPLAN Department of Education routinely supplies band results to carers • Not all results getting to agency files • Negotiations begun to get results from DET • No centralised information from Catholic and Independent schools • No automatic info from DET • No capacity to routinely get scores • No information for entry to school tests. • More DET information is possible- ie educational reports

7. Method of the study • DET gave special access to scaled scores for some children in FAF • Identified minimum and average standards • Compared individual’s scores and characteristics of the child • Averaged literacy components- reading, writing, spelling, grammar- to compare with numeracy • Analysed individual literacy components • Looked at FAF children as a group

9. Study question 1 • How are children in FAF doing educationally?

11. Literacy Numeracy

12. Average age of entry into FAF 7.12 years

13. Literacy Numeracy

14. Reading Comparison over two tests Naplan scores Child

15. Numeracy comparison over two tests Naplan score Child

16. Study Question 2 • Are there particular children doing better or worse? • Children’s behaviour • Children’s experience of placement breakdowns • Children’s length of time in current placement • Children experiencing exclusion and suspension

17. Example of children in program • Into care at 6 mths, now 11 years of age, year 6 • Care level is now 2+ • 13 known placements • Current placement 2 years 5 months • 3 changes in school incl suspensions, currently in ED placement. • Multiple diagnosed disorders incl PTSD, ADHD, ODD & DID. • Above NMS for 2 years of NAPLAN • Tailored and specific educational interventions

19. Children de-identified: * denotes child with a diagnosed disability I/C denotes child who attends Independent or Catholic school respectively

21. Casestudy 1 • Came into care at 10 yrs of age, long history abuse and neglect. Low school attendance • No diagnosed disabilities • 1 placement change – planned intake to permanent • 9/10 NAPLAN below NMS • Introduce literacy & numeracy tutoring • Continues to struggle, enjoys school and is improving • “feels secure with everything around her, feels she doesn’t have to worry’

24. Placement changes NAPLAN achievement • No correlation in our study : • Some with less than two placement changes were below minimum • One with 18 placement changes was above minimum • Limited data showed unplanned changes had impact

25. Length of time in current placement and NAPLAN achievement • No correlation in our study • 8 years in placement still below minimum • Numeracy and literacy showed similar trends

26. Impact of suspensions on NAPLAN scores • No clear correlation in this study • Those with no suspensions were still ‘below minimum’ • No ‘above average results’ with high number of suspensions

27. Study Question 3 • Are the current practices of spending on remedial education adequate?

28. N.B: This only includes the 25 original children included in the study.

30. Findings of study • Most children below average but above minimum- many need help • Higher proportion below minimum than whole Australian population • Care levels, placement changes, suspensions not clearly associated with scores • Need for better data on $ spent for each child

31. Recommendation on use of NAPLAN • Caseworkers • Attention to collecting and analysing NAPLAN scores for individual children from schools/carers • Greater awareness of educational reports from NAPLAN • Agencies • Need to lobby for better information sent from Education Departments on scores • Need to investigate entry to school testing • Need to improve internal recording of educational expenditure • Incorporation of NAPLAN into Looking After Children Electronic system (LACES) : lowest 20% and average as key indicators

32. EXTRA SLIDES • For reference only

34. n = 16

35. n = 16

36. Number of Suspensions n = 30

37. Change in individual children’s literacy and numeracy results for those who have sat two NAPLAN in Barnardos care NAPLAN Scores Child