title: Achievement for All: improving psychosocial outcomes for students with special educational needs and disabilities.
abstract: Students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are at a greatly increased risk of experiencing poor psychosocial outcomes. Developing effective interventions that address the cause of these outcomes has therefore become a major policy priority in recent years. We report on a national evaluation of the Achievement for All (AfA) programme that was designed to improve outcomes for students with SEND through: (1) academic assessment, tracking and intervention, (2) structured conversations with parents, and (3) developing provision to improve wider outcomes (e.g. positive relationships). Using a quasi-experimental, pre-test-post-test control group design, we assessed the impact of AfA on teacher ratings of the behaviour problems, positive relationships and bullying of students with SEND over an 18-month period. Participants were 4758 students with SEND drawn from 323 schools across England. Our main impact analysis demonstrated that AfA had a significant impact on all three response variables when compared to usual practice. Hierarchical linear modelling of data from the intervention group highlighted a range of school-level contextual factors and implementation activities and student-level individual differences that moderated the impact of AfA on our study outcomes. The implications of our findings are discussed, and study strengths and limitations are noted.
authors: Educational Support and Inclusion, School of Education, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom. neil.humphrey@manchester.ac.uk
authors: Neil
authors: N
authors: Humphrey
authors: Ann
authors: A
authors: Lendrum
authors: Alexandra
authors: A
authors: Barlow
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Wigelsworth
authors: Garry
authors: G
authors: Squires
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D058445:Bullying / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004519:Education, Special / Q000379:methods*; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012572:School Health Services; D012931:Social Environment; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome