An Early Warning System to Prevent High School Dropouts
3.15.10 – Nearly one-third of students attending public high schools fail to graduate. While discouraging, this outcome is not inevitable. Research suggests that ninth grade is a
crucial year for determining whether students will complete high school
An Early Warning System to Prevent High School Dropouts
Updated version http://www.sedl.org/new/newsitem/20100316_221.html
This article credits the work of the National High School Center and research conducted by the Consortium on Chicago School Research and Johns Hopkins University.
Nearly one-third of students attending public high schools fail to graduate. While discouraging, this outcome is not inevitable. Research suggests that ninth grade is a
crucial year for determining whether students will complete high school. High absenteeism, course failures, a low grade point average, and disengagement in the classroom, including behavioral problems, can be early indications that a student is not on track to graduate. It is therefore crucial that educators support students in the transition from middle school to high school.
To help educators identify these early signs, SEDL’s Texas Comprehensive Center has developed the Early Warning System (EWS) Tool, a desktop database application that is available to school and district leaders at no cost. Using a school’s readily available data on student academic performance, attendance, and behavior, the EWS Tool calculates students’ on-track status and flags students who are at risk of dropping out. Schools can then provide appropriate dropout prevention strategies, thereby helping students succeed in and ultimately complete high school. The resource is based on research from the National High School Center on the identification of potential high school dropouts through early warning systems.
Additional information about the EWS Tool is available on the Texas Comprehensive
Center Web site.
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Comments
I think that an early warning system is a great idea. Students need to know that there are alternatives to dropping out. Students often feel stuck because they are behind academically. I have made a similar commitment to reducing the drop out rate. Thanks.
I agree an early warning system is crucial to preventing the problem before it happens. It much tougher to get a student reengaged after once they have dropped out.
Schools also do not realize that many of their "drop outs" are the same students they identified as Gifted way back in first or second grade. What happened? Did they somehow lose thier intelligence? No, they became disengaged in their learning and were never followed up with. How sad that even capable students feel the need to drop out.