Early Intervention Strategy
Schools’ Parenting Toolkit
Summary Information, Outcomes
Star Tools
The Outcomes Stars
Outcomes Stars can help parent and family workers and schools
in three ways:
1. A user friendly tool that empowers parent and suppor ts
them to make changes.
2. Promotes a holistic, strengths based approach in 1:1 work
3. Provides meaningful measures to evaluate the
effectiveness of interventions.
The Family Star Plus (an example of the chart is in this toolkit)
is most commonly used for families with a variety of needs,
however other stars can be used alongside these such as the
My Star for children. It is essential to use this with the user
guide.
(The following information has been downloaded from
the Outcomes Star website. Further details on
www.outcomesstar.org.uk)
The Outcomes Star is a unique suite of tools for supporting and
measuring change when working with people.
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There are more than 15 versions of the Outcomes Star adapted for
different client groups and services, including older people, mental
health, families, work and more.
It is widely used and endorsed. Versions have been funded by the
Department of Health, the Big Lottery, Camden Council, NESTA, and
over 30 other organisations including several NHS Trusts
It is free to try out on paper. If you decide to implement fully, there
is a licence fee for use online or within your paperwork
Training is essential - find out about the Outcomes Star training
available
The Star Online web application and implementation packages are also
available
About the Outcomes Star
The Outcomes Star both measures and supports progress for service users
towards self-reliance or other goals. The Stars are designed to be completed
collaboratively as an integral part of key work. They are sector wide tools different versions of the Star include homelessness, mental health and young
people. All versions consist of a number of scales based on an explicit model
of change which creates coherence across the whole tool and a Star Chart
(pictured below) onto which the service user and worker plot where the
service user is on their journey. The attitudes and behaviour expected at each
of the points on each scale are clearly defined, usually in detailed scale
descriptions, summary ladders or a quiz format.
An Outcomes Star reading is taken by the worker and service user at or near
the beginning of their time with the project. Using the ladders or other scale
descriptions, they identify together where on their ladder of change the service
user is for each outcome area. Each step on the ladder is associated with a
numerical score so at the end of the process the scores can be plotted onto
the service user’s Star. The process is then repeated at regular intervals
(every three, six or 12 months depending on the project) to track progress.
The data can be used to track the progress of an individual service user, to
measure the outcomes achieved by a whole project and to benchmark with a
national average for similar projects and client groups.
In the mental health version of the Star (called the Recovery Star) shown
above, the green line represents the service user’s initial scores, the blue line
is their most recent score.
Free to try out before you implement fully
We make the Outcomes Star tools available free of charge in pdf form on this
website to enable you to try them out before deciding whether to implement
fully within your organisation. However Training is essential to ensure that the
Star is used effectively within keywork and that the outcomes data you collect
is reliable. If you do decide to implement the Star fully, licences are available
to integrate the Star into your IT systems or paperwork. Full details are given
below.
Copyright control to maintain quality and consistency
We retain the copyright of the tools and the terms of publication do not allow
organisations to make changes to the wording of the Outcomes Star™ or the
scales. While we understand the desire to customise the Star to meet the
needs of individual services, wide consultation and discussion has indicated
that allowing this would not serve the wider needs of sectors as a whole, for
the following reasons:
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The official versions of the Outcomes Star have been tested and retested many times within their sector to create tools that are coherent
and practical. Changes are often made without a full understanding of
the issues that have been considered in ensuring the overall integrity of
the tool and therefore undermine the quality of the tool
A number of unofficial versions of the Outcomes Star™ in circulation
would damage the credibility of the tool – particularly if some of the
versions are of poor quality
When clients move to different projects it is confusing if different
versions of the same tool are used
One of the benefits of the Outcomes Star™ is that all users who use
the Star Online contribute to the development of a national outcomes
evidence base. If there are different versions in circulation then the
outcomes measured on each version are not comparable and it is no
longer possible to develop an evidence base.
For all of these reasons the making of derivative works of any version of the
Outcomes Star is not permitted. This means that you cannot modify any
version of the Star in any way, or use the Star or ladder graphics, the text from
the tool or the name of the tool in another application. Permission is also
required to translate any of the tools into other languages.
The Star is a trademark symbol and name so it is not available to others to
use in the context of outcomes, impact or related work.
Triangle Consulting is working hard to make official versions of the Star
available for all client groups. Find out the Outcomes Star versions that
currently exist and others in development, or contact us on 020 7272 8765 or
email [email protected] if you would like to discuss collaborating
with us to create a new version of the Outcomes Star.
Outcomes Star training
Research has shown that using the Outcomes Star can significantly improve
the quality of keywork and that appropriate training makes a big difference to
the consistency and accuracy of the data collected while increasing workers'
confidence and skill in using the Star to support their clients.
Triangle offers a range of training and implementation support and can tailor
packages to the needs of your organisation, or it may be accessible locally
from a trainer based in the local authority.