The Smith Family recognised for its innovation through 'game-changing' data sharing initiative

The Smith Family is honoured to be recognised as one of Australia and New Zealand’s most innovative companies in the 2022 AFR Most Innovative Companies List – having ranked 3rd in the Government, Education and Not-for-Profit industry top 10.

The Smith Family was chosen for its innovative work on the Education Dashboard SA (EDSA) – a new data-sharing initiative between the children’s charity and the South Australian Department for Education, which Smith Family CEO Doug Taylor says could be a real game-changer for how support is provided to students experiencing disadvantage.

“This dashboard gives our frontline workers real-time access to education information on students sponsored through our Learning for Life scholarship program. This includes live data on attendance and numeracy and literacy grades – and with it, our staff can intervene early if problems arise, and better respond to a child’s specific needs,” he said.

“At The Smith Family, we know that providing children experiencing poverty with extra support for their learning from the earliest years of school is an effective way to help children break the cycle long-term. 

“Until recently, our team might only have had access to certain educational information for the children they’re working with once a year. For example, students’ school attendance data and literacy and numeracy grades are often only available from the end-of-year school reports. If issues are left unaddressed the impacts can compound, but thanks to our data-sharing partnership with the South Australian Department for Education our staff can now offer even more timely and targeted support to families as issues emerge.”

The Smith Family worked with families to secure their permission to access student data. Families were overwhelmingly positive about being involved.
“Of those families we contacted, 95% gave consent – which means more than 4,000 South Australian students The Smith Family supports are involved – a tremendous result that demonstrates the value families also see in this initiative,” Mr Taylor said.

The dashboard and data-exchange arrangement between an education department and a non-government organisation is a South Australian first. Mr Taylor said the highly collaborative partnership continues to be driven by the common objective of improving the educational outcomes of children and young people experiencing disadvantage. 
“We take great pride in being innovative in our work, to provide the most effective support for Australian children living with disadvantage, that helps them succeed at school and in their lives beyond the school gates,” Mr Taylor said.

“The Education Dashboard SA is a strong example of getting innovation into the hands of our team members working on the ground, which then flows on to directly benefit the students and families we continue to walk beside.”

It is hoped that the success of the data partnership in South Australia will prompt education departments in other states and territories to consider similar data-sharing arrangements.

“At The Smith Family, we believe that education is one of the most powerful change agents, so we’re passionate about embedding innovation to continuously refine and improve our work supporting children’s learning. With the known link between poverty and educational outcomes, the dashboard is another highly effective tool that can be applied to help improve educational outcomes,” said Mr Taylor.

For more on the further potential for using data to reduce educational inequality, read our Data for Purpose article.

About the AFR’s annual Most Innovative Companies list

The AFR’s annual Most Innovative Companies list – published by The Australian Financial Review BOSS – is based on a rigorous assessment process managed by Australia’s leading behavioural science consultancy, Inventium, in conjunction with a panel of industry expert judges. More than 700 organisations were assessed on a top innovation implemented in the past two years – including its impact and scale – as well as their innovation culture, strategy, resources and process.

Media Enquiries:
Michael Tarquinio, Acting National Media Manager | 0481 903 439 | michael.tarquinio@thesmithfamily.com.au