Futures Education

Customized Service & Cost Analysis

At Futures, we realize how important it is for school officials to understand how scarce dollars are spent in their school buildings. Not only do school leaders need to know how dollars are spent, they must ensure that dollars are spent effectively with maximum accountability

Has your school district experienced the benefits of a complete analysis of programmatic services? Have you considered the value of understanding how many resources are devoted to instructional programming, clinical services, transportation and other mandatory expenditures, and how you may be able to spend more scarce resources wisely and effectively?

Futures’ clinical and educational services analysis (CESA) provides real information, which allows for smart and sustainable decisions, and meaningful information to ensure you are providing special education services to the maximum benefit of the student and staff.

To help meet the specific programmatic review needs of special education administrators, Futures offers the comprehensive and flexible CESA. Futures staff has completed over 100 CESAs nationwide for a variety of urban and suburban districts that range in size from 1,500 to 30,000 students. This tool, which is a comprehensive review and analysis of clinical programs in school-based delivery systems, is composed of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies that focus on:

* A review of the current caseloads in individual sites to determine if students have been evaluated appropriately, that the treatment plans follow logically from the evaluation, that students are receiving services in accordance with their identified need and have been supported in the IEP process by entry and exit criteria. This review involves a sampling of clinical services in speech and language pathology, occupational and physical therapy services.

* A review of current documentation systems to ensure that both quantity and quality would support the services in any potential litigation or review process. In addition, the nature and quality of goals, objectives, and outcome data will be reviewed.

* A review of the current staffing patterns, schedules, and overall delivery systems to make general determinations regarding the ongoing need for therapy, overall student progress, therapists’ efficiencies, the relationship between direct and indirect therapy time, and the appropriate level and intensity of treatment.

* A summary of means and methods to improve the service delivery system, including staffing reviews, strategies for both expansion and retraction of appropriate clinical services, recommendations to improve services, and strategies to enhance efficiencies.

* An analysis of the financial costs to provide clinical supports that would include a review of the total costs for clinical supports in a selected subsection of an operational region and a review of potential costs involved in the redesign of the utilization of clinical resources.

Depending on the specific needs of your system, the outcomes of this analysis may include:

* The provision of detailed information regarding clinical program operations including outcomes, efficiencies, and the current allocation of clinical resources.

* Recommendations to modify or enhance clinical program models, and suggestions for strategies to provide high quality clinical services in the most cost-effective manner.

* The provision of a program template for non-clinical administrators to enhance their ability to manage clinical programs effectively.

* Strategies to design internal review procedures for components that are crucial to the success of clinical programs in school settings: documentation systems; pre-referral programs; entry and discharge criteria; integration into specific program philosophies, such as inclusion; outcomes; direct vs. indirect time; programmatic benchmarks for the achievement of successful clinical delivery.

In addition to the above, as you deem necessary and appropriate, Futures will communicate with the senior managers and/or clinical staff prior to beginning the study to introduce and explain the process. We will also be available to meet with you and your team to review the results in full.

“The comprehensive CESA report was and is used as a “vehicle for change” as well as a dynamic tool to assist in our decision making processes. The report clearly outlined several areas of positive programming strengths as well as several recommended areas needing improvement.”
--Lincoln Lynch III, Superintendent of Schools, Walpole, MA

We look forward to speaking with you about the unique needs of your district. Contact us today at 800-218-9280 or at info@futureshealth.com