The Outcomes module is a flexible visual tool to track IEPs, EHCPs and Learning Aims, as well as most custom methods used for progress in both special and mainstream school/care settings.
Contents
- Introduction
- Setting Up
- Entering Outcomes Data
- Tips and Tricks
Introduction
Outcomes helps you to design, action, and monitor a student/young person’s objectives, aims, and aspirations. Whether the young person has Special Educational Needs, is working towards an academic achievement, or is in need of behavioural guidance, Outcomes is a self-manageable work-space within SchoolPod and BehaviourWatch which lets you set a target and define the steps that are required to help achieve it.
You can use a series of connecting cells to show the route which needs to be followed in order for the student/young person to reach their target.
This allows you to easily track progress and make connections to related actions.
The Columns and Rows can be customised in the Admin section for you to create the layout you need; add up to 10 columns and 12 rows in the order you require.
Choose to add Attachments, assign Qualifications, and set an Achieved Status.
Keep everyone informed by adding a Review Date and notifying relevant staff whilst adding it to their SchoolPod Calendar.
If an Outcomes cell is no longer relevant, instead of deleting and losing your data, simply hide it from view by using the Archive tool instead.
Commonly used Outcomes can be saved as Templates or created in Admin for you to use later, saving you time when creating plans for multiple students/young people.
Add notes and keep track of any changes via the Notes section.
Setting Up
Outcomes begins as a blank template whereby you can translate your own setup for tracking students/young people.
Please note that if you currently use the older version of this module called Learning Aims, the new Outcomes feature has superseded this module. To move over Outcomes make sure that you have exported or retained all of your Learning Aims data. Once your data has been exported please get in touch with Support to switch your system to the new Outcomes module.
To begin your setup, go to Admin – Outcomes – Sets. Here you can set up your Columns and Rows which put in place the basics of your Outcomes layout.
Click on Add in the bottom right to create your first Set. A Set is essentially the name for your defined way of tracking progress. For example, if you are translating an EHCP to our Outcomes module, you would probably call the Set ‘EHCP Outcomes’ or something similar. However, you can be more specific than this, and define different types of EHCP based on which staff member is going to be carrying these out, which groups of students/young people will be monitored, or even down to a specific students/young people. If the columns and rows are the same for everyone you will only need one Set, and this will be a much easier way of working going forward if your intentions for tracking allow it.
Rows and Columns
A key aspect of the setup is choosing what to have as a Column, and what to have as a Row, and this will impact on how the module can be used. It is not too different to how an Excel sheet is commonly set up.
Columns: We recommend you set the Columns as the different stages at which a student/young person is to be assessed. For example on an EHCP these might start with the previous year outcome, then this year’s baseline, then finally the end of term evaluations for this year. In another example, this might include headers such as Key Issue, Target, When Does It Need To Be Done By etc.
Rows: These should be set as the areas of learning you are looking to assess. For example an EHCP might have columns such as Cognition and Learning, Communication and Interaction etc. In another example, the outcomes may be Independence, Literacy etc.
When choosing how to set up your Columns and Rows It’s important to remember that the module works from left to right. If you try to set up the module to run from top to bottom you are likely to run in to some issues. On the data-entry side of Outcomes, your information is entered beginning from the left-hand side, and data in the same row is dependent on what is entered to the left.
When this setup is completed, you should be ready to enter some data on your students and young people.
Access
You’ll want to make sure the correct staff members have access to the data-entry part of the module, including yourself! To do this, go to Admin – Staff – Manage Slip Access. From the Element dropdown choose Outcomes, set your staff using the checkboxes, and finally click Save in the bottom right. If you need some further help setting access, make sure to check out our Managing Access Walk-Through Guide.
Entering Outcomes Data
How you enter your Outcomes data will largely be dependent on how you’ve tailored the setup to your needs.
In this part of the guide we’ll run through some basics to get you started.
Head to Outcomes, which should be along the main list of tabs in Home. This is where any customised slips you have will be (e.g Incidents, Accidents).
From here, you will firstly need to use the Student dropdown to select a student/young person that you are looking to view or amend the Outcomes information for. This will then unlock the Set drop down where the outcome(s) can be selected. Upon selection, the existing outcomes will load, including your previously set up Rows and Columns. It may look a little like the image below.
To add data, select the Add buttons located at the bottom of each Row to the left side of the report. This will then open up a new frame where you can enter the target information. This frame allows for a title, a description of the target, the ability to add attachments such as images, as well as a Notes area which also acts as an audit trail for the individual target.
Along with this, you are also able to link the target to a qualification, set a review date and an achieved status – defaulting to ‘no achieved status’.
In addition to this, there is also a drop down called ‘More Actions’ which contains a number of useful functions. The first option is Save as template which enables you to save your current data entry as a reusable template for the future. This particular function would be used when entering details that are a bit more generic and can be applied easily to multiple students/young people in the same target area. The next option is Select a template where you can use previously saved templates.
There is also the option to select who to notify regarding the review date of the target so that staff can be provided with a reminder when a target requires a future action.
The final option in this section is to ‘Archive’ a target. This feature can be used when a target has been met and a new target is going to be created in its place. When archiving it’s important to note that this action will also archive any targets attached to the right of the one you are archiving as well.
Tips and Tricks
Collapsing Rows and Columns
It’s worth remembering that the Rows and Columns are collapsible, meaning that for increased ease of use you can hide data that you don’t want see. To do this, click on the arrows attached to the headers of the Rows and Columns.
Printing/Exporting as PDF
In the bottom left corner of the Outcomes module, you’ll find the Print button. This offers advanced options for filtering then printing your recorded Outcomes data.
Choose your Set, and then you can filter your selection of student/young people using the Category, Year Group and Form dropdowns to then select the student(s) on the right.
There is a checkbox to let you choose whether to Include Notes.
When you’re ready, click the Print button. The printout is useful for taking to meetings with parents, social workers, guardians etc….
In browsers such as Google Chrome and Internet Explorer, you can also change your destination from a printer to Save as PDF. This will enable you to save your chosen printout as an electronic document instead.
Exporting to CSV Format
Using the Report Writer tool, you can export your Outcomes data to a CSV. To do this, go to Reports – Report Writer. If you do not have access to this tab, speak to a colleague with Admin access to amend your access rights.
In Report Writer, make sure to click on the folder called Outcome Set Cell, and this will display the various areas you can add to your report to extract the relevant data.
