Scottish Attainment Challenge 2022 to 2023 - 2025 to 2026: child rights and wellbeing impact assessment

8. How will the impact of the policy/measure be monitored?

The impact of the ASF will be monitored by a range of reporting methods to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty, with a focus on reducing the poverty-related attainment gap will be through mechanisms which already exist within the education system or through current funding reporting processes.

National Improvement Measures

The National Improvement Framework (NIF) aims to ensure children and young people develop a broad range of skills and capacities, whilst supporting them to thrive, regardless of their social circumstances or additional needs. The national improvement framework and improvement plan for Scottish education is designed to help deliver the twin aims of excellence and equity in education.

The NIF will continue to form the key national measures of success. These measures alone however are not all that a local authority should consider in their local approaches to achieving the mission of the SAC.

Reporting

Schools and local authorities will use existing reporting processes which already exist within the education system.

For schools, in line with arrangements for Pupil Equity Funding since its roll-out in 2017/18, schools are expected to incorporate details of their Pupil Equity Funding plans and explicitly report on the impact on outcomes for learners impacted by poverty within existing reporting processes to their Parent Council and Forum, including in their annual Standards and Quality Reports.

These reports should be made publicly available so that parents can understand what is happening in their school.

Scottish Government and Education Scotland will sample these reports annually to continue to inform our understanding of the approaches to tackling the poverty-related attainment gap.

Key findings from this sampling will be made available to local authorities and schools.

Fore local authorities, reporting should be done through the existing requirement for local authority Education Standards and Quality Reports (or local equivalent reports). These reports, whilst covering the overall progress and impact of local authority service improvement plans and school improvement plans, should for the Scottish Attainment Challenge (considering the impact across all funding streams) have specific details on:

• the original stretch aims set out in the local authority education service improvement plan and the extent to which they have been achieved;
• the measures described in the local authority education service improvement plan and any additional data to report on the impact on children and young people affected by poverty. Both qualitative and quantitative data should be used to detail whether the expected impact was achieved – with clear quantitative progress against the NIF measures included; and
• examples of supports and interventions which have been effective.

There should be clear narrative on how Attainment Scotland Funding (PEF, SEF and CECYP funding) contributed to local approaches to meeting locally identified stretch aims. There should be evidence of strategic coherence and alignment to the use of these funding streams.

Local authority Education Standards and Quality reports (or local equivalents) should be published online on local authority websites (or if not fully agreed within local systems, shared with Scottish Government and Education Scotland) by the end of December annually.

For CECYP funding, arrangements will continue as they have done since its roll-out in 2018/19 as part of existing relevant authority reporting requirements, with reports shared with the Scottish Government and Education Scotland at the end of the academic year, highlighting evidence of impact through both qualitative and quantitative information. Separate CECYP guidance sets this out in full.

Those areas committed to the Children and Young People Improvement Collaborative (CYPIC) improvement collaborative are expected to measure data over time to increase understanding of what works, and share this to contribute to the broader national learning. Schools and local authorities with developing capability in quality improvement are encouraged to track their local stretch aims over time to enable real time learning and opportunities for improvement.

SAC Evaluation

The SAC Programme is evaluated through the Attainment Scotland Fund (ASF) Evaluation. The SAC Programme Logic Model underpins the ASF Evaluation Strategy. The current SAC Logic Model requires to be adapted for the SAC Refresh for 2022/23. It will be adapted to incorporate the refreshed SAC with the long term programme outcomes reflecting the mission, which encompasses child poverty, broader achievement and an increased focus on health and wellbeing and family and community support.

A logic model is a diagrammatic planning tool that shows how a programme produces change - they can help bring detail to programme goals, help in planning, evaluation, implementation and communication. They can't contain detail about everything that happens but summarise the aspects that are critically important in explaining how the programme produces the changes that it is aiming to achieve. They identify the resources required, the main activities that need to happen and the intended outcomes in the short, medium and long-term

Logic Model Review

A full review of the Logic Model has been carried out by Learning Research Analysts on a collaborative basis through a series of workshops and consultations with internal and external stakeholders.

The key aims of the review were to produce a new SAC Programme Logic Model which has been published. By engaging widely with stakeholders to develop this updated Logic Model, efforts have been made to build consensus and awareness of the new programme and its associated Logic Model.

The development of the SAC refresh Evaluation Strategy will follow on from the agreed Logic Model and will continue to be carried out internally by Learning Research Analysts, working closely with SAC Policy Unit and Education Scotland. This will provide an opportunity for all key stakeholders to share their views on the measures they would like to see, with wide communication and engagement with key stakeholders planned.