Early Warning Systems – Dropout Prevention

State of the Nation:

·  Every 9 seconds a student dropouts out of school (7,000 dropout each day)

·  The death rate of high school dropouts is 2.5 times higher that graduates

·  Each class of dropouts cost $55 million in healthcare

·  Dropouts make up close to half of the households on welfare

·  Every year a class of dropouts will cost $200 billion during their lifetime in lost earnings and unrealized tax revenue.

·  12 million students who will drop out over the next decade will cost the nation $3 trillion dollars

·  8 out of 10 dropouts end up in prison
(We spend $40 billion every year on prisoners incarcerated)

·  US graduation rate is 18th in the nation.
(Forty years ago, we were number one)

·  Students with emotional, behavioral or learning difficulties are much more likely to dropout of school.

·  74% of dropouts report they would have stayed in school if they could do it over.

West Virginia:

·  1630 inmates in prison in 1991 and 6,870 inmates in prison in 2011

·  Highest rate of prescription drug use in the US

·  The second highest in drug overdose death rate

·  Only state to increase the teen pregnancy rate 17 percent from 2007 to 2009

·  Dropouts from the class of 2008 will cost WV almost $1.7 billion in lost wages over their lifetimes.

·  9-12% of jobs are available to high school dropouts.

·  1 in 4 ninth grade students do not graduate from high school

Other Indicators for Student Alerts:

·  Low socioeconomic status

·  Reading at grade level

·  Individual Background Characteristics

·  Has a learning disability or emotional disturbance

·  Early Adult Responsibilities

·  High number of work hours

·  Parenthood

·  No extracurricular participation

·  High family mobility

·  Low education level of parents

·  Not living with both natural parents

·  Family disruption

·  Low educational expectations

·  Sibling has dropped out

Implementation of an Early Warning
Intervention and Monitoring System

Implementation of an Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System

Step 1: Establish Roles and Responsibilities

ü  Determine stakeholders

ü  Determine protocols for handling the data

ü  Determine data entry regulations

ü  Determine professional development needs

Step 2: Review & Interpret the EWS Data

ü  Teams members need to understand the use of the indicators.

ü  Reports should be accessible and used to make decisions about students’ needs.

ü  Team members need to be willing to gather more/outside data when available.

ü  Team members need to verify data when appropriate to do so.

ü  Look for school level patterns and student level patterns

Step 3: Assign and provide interventions

ü  Dig deeper into the “Reason Why?”, before assigning interventions.

ü  Individualize the interventions to address specific issues. (Avoid delivering same for everyone).

ü  Recommend a tier approached to assigning interventions based on individual needs

Step 4: Monitor Student Progress

ü  Determine who will be monitoring student progress

ü  Determine how often student progress will be monitored

ü  Add new interventions as needed

ü  Sometimes multiple interventions are necessary

Step 5: Evaluate & Adjust EWS Process

ü  Create a process to continually evaluate the student outcomes

ü  Evaluation should occur during and at the end of the school year

ü  Evaluate student needs and school needs

ü  Seek student and parent feedback

Early Warning System on WOW Screen Shot

Comprehensive Plan for Student Supports

Type of Intervention / Currently in Place / Data shows student needs / Plan to Put in Place / Roles & Responsibilities
School-wide Preventative
Targeted Interventions
Intensive Interventions