Implementation of Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring Systems
The National
High School Center has devised a seven-step Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System (EWIMS) implementation process to support the
establishment and implementation of early warning systems for identifying and monitoring
students who are at risk for dropping out of high school. The process, shown in
the adjacent diagram, is based on research about data-driven decision-making. The
steps guide users to make informed decisions about how to support at-risk students
and how to continue to monitor their progress over time. In addition to focusing
on individual students, the process guides users to examine the success of specific
supports or interventions and to examine possible systemic issues (e.g., school
climate) that may relate to dropout trends.
| Early Warning System High School Implementation Guide This guide is designed to build the capacity of school- and district-level practitioners to implement the National High School Center’s Early Warning System (EWS) High School tool. The guide and tools support the establishment and implementation of an early warning system for identifying and monitoring students who are at risk of dropping out of high school. (March 2013) |  |
| Early Warning System Middle Grades Implementation Guide This guide is designed to build the capacity of school- and district-level practitioners to implement the National High School Center’s Early Warning System (EWS) Middle Grades tool. The guide and tool support the establishment and implementation of an early warning system for identifying and monitoring students who are at risk of dropping out of the middle grades. (February 2013) |  |
Resources for Early Warning Systems
The National High School Center has created several products that explain the research behind early warning systems. Use these reports to familiarize yourself with the purpose and background of early warning systems, and how they can be used to support all students in graduating from high school.
| Training 1: The EWIMS Process and Team Formation: The Fundamentals (EWS Professional Development Training Series) |
The Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System (EWIMS) implementation process supports the establishment and implementation of early warning systems
(EWS) for identifying and monitoring students who are at risk for
dropping out of high school. This first of five 30-minute
professional development presentation provides an overview of the
seven-step process with a special emphasis on Step 1, Team Formation. (September 28, 2012)
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| Training 2: Introduction to the New EWS Collator Tools (EWS Professional Development Training Series) | This presentation is to provides a
demonstration of the new, free EWS Collator Tools and how they can be
used in conjunction with the National High School Center’s EWS Middle
Grades and High School Tools. Members of the National High School Center
EWS Team demonstrate how to load the EWS Collator Tools with
readily available student data, and explain how that data can be then
loaded into either the EWS Middle Grades or High School Tools. This process corresponds with step two – “Use the EWS Tool” – of the seven-step EWIMS Implementation Process described in the first EWS Professional Development Webinar. (October 10, 2012)
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| Training 3: Effectively Using Your EWS Reports: Hints and Tips (EWS Professional Development Training Series) | This third of five 30-minute professional development
presentation delivers an in-depth discussion of the various reports
that can be run using the EWS Middle Grades and High School Tools.
Members of the National High School Center’s EWS Team demonstrate
how to run the reports and suggest different ways that schools and
districts may use the reports to help inform their EWS decisions. This
process corresponds with steps three and four of the seven-step EWIMS Implementation Process described in the first Webinar. (October 25, 2012)
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| Training 4: Assigning Students to Appropriate Interventions (EWS Professional Development Training Series) | This fourth of five 30-minute professional
development presentation provides participants with an
understanding of how to use the EWS Tools to support at-risk students with effective interventions. Presenters
from the National High School Center’s EWS Team explain how to
identify root causes of student risk based on the EWS Tool reports and
other information sources. The presenters also provide
participants with resources to help them select appropriate
interventions to address root causes of risk. This process corresponds
with step five of the seven-step EWIMS Implementation Process described in the first Webinar. (November 8, 2012)
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| Training 5: Progress Monitoring with the EWS Tools (Professional Development Training Series) | This fifth of five 30-minute
professional development presentation provides participants with an
understanding of how to use the EWS Middle Grades and High School Tools to monitor students’ response to interventions. Presenters from the
National High School Center’s EWS Team discuss how to ensure that
an intervention has been implemented with fidelity and that it is
meeting a student’s needs. (November 27, 2012)
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| Webinar 1: Implementing an Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System to Keep Students On Track in the Middle Grades and High School (EWS Middle Grades and High School Webinar Series) | This November 30, 2011 Webinar, presented by Dr. Mindee O'Cummings and Dr. Susan Therriault from the National High School Center, provided an introduction to the seven-step Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System (EWIMS) implementation process, the new EWS Middle Grades Tool, and the enhanced EWS High School Tool, released in November 2011.
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| Webinar 2: How to Use the Early Warning System Middle Grades and High School Tools to Keep Students On Track for Graduation (EWS Middle Grades and High School Webinar Series) | This December 7, 2011 Webinar, presented by Dr. Mindee O'Cummings, Matt Hauenstein, Michelle Perry, and Laura Yerhot from the National High School Center, provided an in-depth demonstration of the EWS Middle Grades and High School Tools, introduced the EWS Community of Practice, and responded to questions.
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| Webinar 3: Stories from the Field: Putting Early Warning Systems into Practice (EWS Middle Grades and High School Webinar Series) | This December 14, 2011 Webinar, presented by Dr. Mindee O'Cummings, Dr. Susan Therriault, Lynn Sodat (Virginia Department of Education), Ellen Ringer and Johannes Troost (California Department of Education), and Ron Williams (San Bernardino County Schools), discussed experiences rolling out early warning systems in Virginia and California, and took questions.
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What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public Schools: A Focus on English Language Learners A report from the National High School Center and the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) found that ninth grade course performance is more predictive of high school graduation for English Language Learners (ELLs) in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) than other ELL-specific indicators, including English language proficiency level and whether students experienced interruptions in their education. The study also found that ELL students who were newcomers to CPS after age 12 were less likely to graduate than other students with the same grades and attendance. The most important factor associated with these lower graduation rates was the quality of schools these students attended, suggesting that ELLs who arrive in CPS after elementary school may struggle to navigate CPS’s system of high school choice. Read the complete press release. (May 2012) |
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What Matters for
Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public Schools: A Focus on Students with
Disabilities Freshman year course performance—more than background characteristics such as race, gender, socioeconomic status or prior achievement—predict which students with disabilities are most at risk for dropping out of high school, according to a new report from the National High School Center at the American Institutes for Research and the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. The report found that absences, course failures, course credits and GPA all can be used to accurately predict whether ninth-graders with disabilities will graduate from high school. Identifying these early warning indicators is especially crucial for students with disabilities, who drop out of high school at alarming rates. (December 2009) |
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Developing Early Warning
Systems to Identify Potential High School Dropouts This guide discusses the factors that help predict the probability that individual students will eventually drop out of high school prior to graduating and includes step-by-step instructions for building an early warning system. (July 2008) |
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Approaches
to Dropout Prevention: Heeding Early Warning Signs With Appropriate Interventions This report outlines steps that schools can take to identify at-risk students and provide the necessary support systems and relevant interventions to assist students in obtaining a high school diploma. Further, the report discusses the use of early warning data systems to target interventions for groups and individual students, offers a variety of best practice approaches undertaken by higher-performing high schools, and presents effective programs that are currently being implemented to stem the dropout problem. (October 2007) |
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Sounding
an Early Warning to Prevent High School Dropout (MP3 file) In this interview with Audio Journal, National High School Center Director Joseph Harris describes how school leaders can use the Center's Early Warning System Tool to uncover the issues contributing to high school dropout, and identify the students who have the most potential for dropping out of high school. (January 2011) |
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National High
School Center Early Warning System Tool v1.0 (Excel file) This tool allows educators to input student-level data and automatically calculate whether individual students are on track to graduate or at risk of dropping out. (Please maximize the document's screen in Excel in order to access all the spreadsheet tabs in the tool.) (July 2008) |
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Early Warning Systems for High School and the Middle Grades This brochure details what early warning systems are and how they can be used to identify and support students who are at risk of school dropout. It provides a brief overview of the EWS High School and Middle Grades Tools, as well as the Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System (EWIMS) process. (February 2012) |
![Developing Early Warning Systems to Identify Potential High School Dropouts [Early Warning System Guide]](images/ews_earlywrn.jpg)
Questions about early warning systems or the EWIMS process? Ask the National High School Center at EWS@betterhighschools.org.
