Secondary Early Warning Systems Shiawassee and Clinton Counties’ Implementation Journey Fall 2015 "Dropping out is not an event, it is a process as a student disengages " 1

Why Did We Begin the Work? Almost 100% of the elementary buildings in Clinton and Shiawassee County had been involved in an RtI model for reading and behavior and found it to be successful Approximately 50% of the middle school buildings had begun RtI activities for reading and behavior and wanted to expand to other subject areas High schools recognized a need to look at their system and fine tune their system to assure increased success of all students in the core subject areas as well as design supports that would assist students that are struggling. Districts wanted to identify additional systemic ways to meet the needs of all learners Using data (at the district, building, and student level) as the basis for decision making and monitoring were critical elements secondary buildings were seeking 2

Purpose of Training Provide middle and high schools from throughout Clinton and Shiawassee Counties an overview of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) and identify how the systems may appear in a secondary setting. Provide middle and high schools from throughout Clinton and Shiawassee Counties a tool to use that would allow them to identify students that are at-risk. Show participants how to use and expand the tool. Begin identifying MTSS/System best practices in multiple subject areas and behavior. Begin to identify interventions that would meet the needs of their at-risk students. Begin discussion of the next steps once students are identified as at-risk. Build a two county network of support. 3

Defining a MTSS System Response to intervention (RTI) integrates assessment and intervention within a school-wide, multi ‑ level prevention system to maximize student achievement and reduce behavior problems. Multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) also integrates assessment and intervention within a school-wide, multi-level systems that maximizing student achievement for struggling, advanced, and all learners and reduces behavior problems 4 (National Center on Response to Intervention, 2010)

The Training Focus… Identify factors that contribute to a student's dropping out Research on early warning indicators and how the indicators can be used to identify system and student needs  System-level challenges Focus on how a MTSS system needs to be implemented building and system wide and to identify system issues that need to be addressed to assure greater levels of students success.  School-level early warning systems Step-by-step instructions for how schools can calculate indicators and identify which students are on track to graduate and which are most likely to drop out while there is still time to intervene and prevent dropouts 5

6 Essential Components of the System (National Center on Response to Intervention, 2010)

Our Journey to Date August 2012 National High School Center trained MDE staff, MiBLSi staff, Shiawassee and Clinton local district teams, and ISD staff from throughout the state October 2012, 2013 & 2014 Shiawassee and Clinton districts will receive first 20 days of the school data. Additional training will be provided on systems review and targeted interventions. Feb/March 2013, 2014 & 2015 Districts met to review 1 st Semester Data and share intervention experiences. Program evaluation to assess impact was discussed May 2013, 2014 & 2015 Districts received most current data, Schools were creating Intervention Files School Year On Track Report was built in Illuminate for Shiawassee Schools School Year Further developing of Illluminate and online tools 7

Who Is On a Team? Teams should consist of: Principals, Counselors, Department heads, CTE teachers, School Social Workers/School Psychologists and School Improvement team members. A team for each building (middle and high school) is needed to address the tool at both levels. 8

What is Included Often referred to as the A, B, C’s, schools will focus on three general areas: A Attendance indicating Engagement B Behavior C Course Performance 9

Screening PURPOSE: Identify students who are at risk for poor learning outcomes FOCUS: ALL students TOOLS: Brief assessments that are valid, reliable, and demonstrate diagnostic accuracy for predicting learning or behavioral problems TIME FRAME: Administered more than one time per year (e.g., fall, winter, spring ) 10

Screening Answers the questions: Is our core curriculum working? Is instruction effective? Which students need additional assessment and instruction? 11

Early Warning Systems Overview

Early Warning Systems Early warning systems (EWS) rely on readily available data housed at the school or district to: Identify students who are underperforming through use of research based indicators Predict students who are at-risk of not graduating high school. Target resources to support off-track students while they are still in school Examine patterns and identify school climate issues Identify patterns of risk across student subgroups 13

Dropout Statistics 77% of 8th graders who failed either Math or English did not graduate 78% of 8th graders who attended school less than 80% of the time—equivalent to missing 5 weeks of school— eventually dropped out of school. (Neild & Balfanz, 2006) 14

Dropout Statistics 64% percent of elementary students who were retained did not graduate 63% percent middle school students who were retained did not graduate (Alexander et al., 2003) 15

High School Indicators of Risk Research from several U.S. school districts provides a strong foundation for defining early warning signs that students might drop out, but local adaptation is key. 16

Middle Grades Indicators of Risk Students who demonstrated at least one flag had a less than 1 in 4 likelihood of 4/5 year graduation Engagement Attendance Absenteeism Course Performance Failing math or English Behavior ◦Unsatisfactory behavior grade 17

EWS Indicators: Middle Grades and High School Thresholds Indicators Thresholds Middle Grades High School Incoming Indicator Previous year EWS Tool exit indicator or locally validated indicators of risk Attendance Missed 20% or more of instructional time Missed 10% or more of instructional time Course Performance Failure in an English language arts or mathematics course Failure in one or more courses Earned 2.0 or lower GPA (on a 4-point scale) BehaviorLocally validated thresholds End of year indicator EWS exit indicator or locally validated indicators of risk 18

EWS Implementation Process 19

EWIMS Seven-Step Implementation Process 20

EWS teams need to include individuals who have: Authority to make decisions Knowledge of diverse students Expertise to manage and analyze data EWS team are required to: Meet regularly Communicate EWS risk or dropout prevention issues to groups/individuals outside of the team Solicit feedback from stakeholders (leaders, staff, students, parents) Monitor students’ progress 21

(We currently use our own…) Important EWS tool (middle grades and high school) considerations: Data must be regularly entered throughout the school year At least one individual should be responsible for ensuring the EWS tool is loaded with the latest data EWS Team members must be trained to understand the use of the indicators within the tool Reports must be used and accessible in order to make decisions about students’ needs Student progress in interventions must be monitored 22

EWS High School Tool: Indicators and Monitoring Time Frame IndicatorTime Frame High School Benchmark (Flagged at Risk) Incoming indicator Before school begins EWIMS Middle Grades Tool Exit Indicator or locally validated pre-high school indicators Attendance First 20 or 30 days Each grading period End of year Missed 10% or more of instructional time (absences) Course failures Each grading period End of year Failed one or more semester courses (any subject) Grade point average Each grading period End of year Earned 2.0 or lower (on a 4-point scale) Behavior Each grading period End of year Locally validated thresholds On-track indicator End of year Failed two or more core courses, or accumulated fewer credits than required for promotion to the next grade 23

EWS indicators are reviewed and monitored to identify students at risk for dropping out and to understand patterns in student engagement and academic performance Questions to ask about EWS data: Student-level patterns: What do your data tell you about individual students who are at-risk? School-level patterns: What do your data tell you about how the school is doing? Are students who were flagged from the beginning remaining “off-track” through the year? Are students who were flagged at one reporting period back “on-track” at the next? Must determine how frequently and on what specific dates should the EWS team meet? 24

The EWS team must look BEYOND the indicators Indicators are just observable symptoms, not root causes Root causes emerge through examining additional data from a variety of sources beyond the EWS indicators (e.g., talking to classroom teachers, parents, individual students, other adults in the school) Looking at data beyond EWS Indicators can: Help identify individual and common needs among groups of students Raise new questions and increase understanding of why students’ fall off-track for graduation 25

The EWIMS team matches individual students to specific interventions after having gathered information about: Potential root causes for individual students who are flagged as at risk The available academic and behavioral support and dropout prevention programs in the school, district, and community A tiered approach can be used to match students to interventions based on their individual needs 26

Tiered Approach to Dropout Prevention ~15% ~5% Tier III/Tertiary Specialized individualized systems for students with intensive needs Tier II/Secondary Supplemental group systems for students with at-risk response to primary level Tier I/Primary School-wide instruction for ALL students, including differentiated instruction ~80% Academic Focus Behavior/Social Emotional Focus Students with disabilities Receive services at all levels, depending on need 27

The EWS team monitors students who are participating in interventions to: Make necessary changes by identifying students’ whose needs are not being met, and/or those students who may no longer be struggling Identify new interventions that will to meet students’ needs Use data to monitor the effectiveness of interventions offered Increase knowledge about the general effectiveness of interventions Improve the matching of students to interventions Communicate with appropriate stakeholders and solicit their involvement in the process (e.g., feeder schools, next grade level) 28

Refine the EWIMS Implementation Process During the school year At the end of a school year Identify short- and long-term needs and solutions Student needs School climate Organizational needs (school and/or district) 29

Let’s Look at the Tool and our Evolution away from the Tool 30

Sample Early Warning System Reports Created by the Better High School Tool 31

Types of Reports 1.School Level Reports 2.Student Level Reports 3.Detailed Student Report 4.Student Level Intervention Summary Report 32

Student Level Reports: Flagged Student Report Sample Questions to Answer 1.What are the four indicators for which students could be flagged? 2.What percentage of students are flagged as at risk for one or more indicators? 3.What does this report show you? 4.What school staff would use this report? 5.How would you use the information in this report to support individual students? 33

Detailed Student Reports Possible Questions 1.What interventions is the student enrolled in? 2.How many end of year flags does the student have? 3.What does this report show you? 4.What school staff would use this report? 5.How would you use the information in this report to support individual students? 6.Does the intervention appear to be successful – how do you confirm the impact? 34

Our Goal: Using Illuminate 35

Using Illuminate to Dig Deeper STUDENT PROFILE SEARCH 36

TOP TO BOTTOM REPORT 37

Plan, Explore and ACT Performance 38

On-Track Student List Report 39

Supplemental Spreadsheet Custom Report 40

Selecting and Tracking Interventions 41

Selecting Evidence-Based Practices 42

Identifying Needs Are there system issues that need to be addressed? If so, what are they? Are they curriculum based, programming based, subgroup patterns, etc? For what skills do we need a secondary intervention instructional program? Is there a specific academic outcome or measure for which we are interested in providing supplemental instruction? For what grades do we need an instructional program? Which sub groups? Gender? Economically disadvantaged? Bottom 30%, English language learners (ELLs)? Students with disabilities? 43

Identifying Priorities Is it a program that can be purchased for a reasonable cost? Is it a program with a reasonable implementation time? Is it a program that requires specialized expertise or lengthy training to administer? Is it a program that offers ready access to training and technical support for staff? Is it a program that has documented evidence of efficacy through the most rigorous research? Is it a program whose effectiveness has been studied and demonstrated in our district or state? 44

Selecting Evidence-Based Practices 45

Evaluating Evidence Where can I find evidence? What type of evidence exists? What is the quality of the evidence? What were the desired outcomes? What are the effects of the intervention? Is the sample population similar? 46

Evaluating Evidence: Where?  Curriculum websites  Peer-reviewed journals ERIC Google Scholar Education Abstracts (Education Full Text) Psychological Abstracts  What Works Clearinghouse  Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)  National High School Center 47

Selecting Evidence-Based Practices 48

Implement Practices  Provide initial recommended training and professional development.  Plan for initial implementation (e.g., scheduling, materials).  Provide ongoing coaching and professional development.  Monitor and evaluate fidelity of implementation. 49

Intervention Mapping Google Document 50

Intervention Tracking Google Doc and Possible Illuminate 51

From MiBLSi Documents 52

Any Questions???? 53

Early Warning Systems Moodle 1. Created to assist with creating a network of support. 2. The materials are listed in the order used during the training. 3. Serves as an online resource for potential instruction and intervention sites. 4. The Moodle is also being used a learning community with forms and surveys local buildings can use to monitor and document their activities as they work through Early Warning System Training. 5.Provides the ISD with a means to monitor and assist local districts with their efforts. 6. Sample Moodle url :

Once You See the System and Student’s Flagged, Now What??? Lets Look at a Great Resource…. IES Practice Guide Recommendations 55

EWS Implementation Guide Overview The guide briefly describes The step, The anticipated outcomes, Guiding questions to support Implementation of the step The role of the district. 56

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Several Resources for EWS Teams 58

Status Checks, MTSS Academic and Climate Surveys 59

Status Check Degree of Implementation Forms: Google Docs To track your school: Rename Tab: Right Click on new tab, choose rename. Rename August You are ready to start updating the data to reflect where you are at this point in time. 60

Possible Implementation Checklists PBIS checklist located at pbisapps.org 61

" The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -George Bernard Shaw 62

Communication Plan Sheet 63

What Districts Did and Continue to Do Use reports to identify at-risk and struggling students Shared EWS with entire staff Changed schedule to allow intervention time during seminar, additional support hour, home room hour, etc. Success Academy which was created for students who are behind in credits resulting in course failures. Students can make up credits through online courses. Implemented weekly Excel period to allow students to access help in academic areas. Implemented weekly homeroom school- wide. Homeroom is designed to support and encourage positive behavior expectations, establish ongoing relationships and connections between staff and students. Homerooms are established will continue all 4 years so as to cultivate important relationships and connections (progress monitoring toward graduation, social issues, grade appropriate topics...) Teams met numerous times to monitor students flagged in August. 64

Counselor met individually with all 92 students that received failing grades at 5 weeks. Letter sent home to 9 th grade parents. Building increased communication through set up of student Outlook addresses Went through list to make sure flagged student were receiving service and implemented home visits for student not attending school. Staff members received training in check in/check out system and informally structured a check-in/check- out style program with a small group of identified students. Teams attended Secondary PBIS training. Increased rigor of off-campus incentive by incorporating grades. What Districts Did and Continue to Do 65

Pulled absence data from Power School and have stayed on top of truancy issues. Tracking absences, student intervention for failures, calling home for those failures Pulled all students failing English or Math class and provided information to all of our staff. Talked about this information at a data review meeting. Team meetings every other Friday on at risk students. Met with middle school social worker to identify behavior tier supports. Met with high school EWS team to discuss and share the EWS tool. Started tracking down student transfer data to input as cohort groups. Share with staff on using tool as a screener and tracking device. Worked to improve school culture and climate through engagement activities. Specific Interventions: Examples –Next Slide What Districts Did and Continue to Do 66

▪Check In Check Out ▪CHAMPS ▪PALS Reading and Math ▪REWARDS ▪After School Tutoring ▪Guided Academics ▪LINKS ▪Skill Builders ▪Peer Mentors ▪Teacher Mentors/Silent Mentor ▪Second Step ▪Six Minute Solution ▪Read 180 ▪Math IXL ▪Direct Interactive Instruction ▪Freshman Support Network ▪Excel ▪Success Academy ▪Show Me Videos ▪Corrective Reading/Corrective Math ▪Skills for School Success Anita Archer ▪Language! ▪Read to Achieve ▪Essentials for Algebra ▪Wilson Reading Examples of Specific Interventions 67

Results So Far….  Significant student results in reductions of risk.  Some high school staffs report students seem to be taking more responsibility in seeking help and getting up once initial support has begun.  Grades have improved and motivation for some of the historically at-risk students seems to have improved.  Decrease in student failures  Truant students flagged early and truancy officer has taken family to court – result is student coming to school and engagement. Parents educated about research (truancy factor for drop out) and parents no on-board and firmer with own children 68

Next Steps Districts request additional support with identifying student and system needs and then selecting and monitoring appropriate, targeted, and evidence/research based interventions. 69

Any Questions???? 70