© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® January 5 & 12, 2011 Presenters Susan Bowles Therriault Amy Johnson National High School Center Introduction to Technical Aspects of the Virginia Early Warning System (VEWS) Tool

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® What You Need In preparation for the webinar, please download the following computer files from the Virginia Department of Education Website (click on the link to access the website and files): ( arly_warning_system/training.shtml). 1.Partially loaded VEWS Tool 2.Sample data file (grading period 4) 3.VEWS Reference Screenshots (printed copy) 4.VEWS Technical Manual (printed copy) As noted above, please make printed copies of the last two files for reference during the webinar. 2

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® Objectives Provide an overview of early warning systems Discuss the evolution of the VEWS Tool Demonstrate the VEWS Tool Provide a walkthrough of the VEWS Tool with practice exercises 3

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® Early Warning Systems Early warning systems (EWS) rely on readily available data housed at the school to: –Predict which students are at-risk for dropping out of high school –Target resources to support off-track students while they are still in school, before they drop out –Examine patterns and identify school climate issues 4

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® Evolution of the VEWS Tool 5

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® VEWS Pilot Team A team of school divisions, education organizations, and VDOE consultants assisted the VDOE with the pilot of the VEWS Tool –School divisions: Franklin City, Lee County, Richmond City, and Pulaski County –Organizations: Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center and the National High School Center –Development of an implementation guide based on the pilot divisions’ experience –Refinement of the VEWS Tool based on pilot divisions’ feedback and VDOE suggestions 6

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® VEWS Tool Based on this work over the past two years, the National High School Center in collaboration with ARCC and VDOE conceptualized the current VEWS Tool. This version allows users to: –Import data –Accommodate local contextual factors for high schools (e.g., semesters vs. trimesters vs. quarters) –Align with the Virginia pre-high school index –Modify the benchmarks/thresholds based on analysis of longitudinal data (i.e., indicator validation) –Integrate behavioral indicators (referrals and suspensions) 7

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® VEWS Tool Features, continued: –House an inventory of dropout prevention interventions –Assign students to intervention programs and monitor student response and progress in the interventions over the course of the school year –Create pre-set school-level summary reports, detailed student-level reports, and individual student reports –Create customized student-level reports 8

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® Risk Indicators in the VEWS Tool 9 IndicatorTime FrameBenchmark (red flag) Pre-High SchoolBefore school begins Virginia DOE validated pre-high school index Attendance First 20 or 30 days, per grading period, end of year (annual) Missed 10% or more of instructional time Course failures Per grading period, end of year (annual) Failed one or more semester courses (any subject) Grade point average Per grading period, end of year (annual) Earned 2.0 or lower (on a 4- point scale) CCSR “on track” indicator End of year (annual) Failed two or more semester core courses, or accumulated fewer credits than the number required for promotion to the next grade Referrals and suspensions Per grading period, end of year (annual) Locally validated

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® VEWS Tool Demonstration

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® VEWS Walkthrough

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® Technical Support Timeline Before the school year begins –Saving the tool –Setting up the tool School information Tool settings 12 PRACTICE EXERCISE Tool Settings Enter the following information on the Tool Settings page: Quarters (four grading periods) Each grading period is 45 days Use the following dates: Quarter 1: 9/1/ /15/2009 Quarter 2: 11/16/2009 – 2/1/2010 Quarter 3: 2/2/2010 – 4/15/2010 Quarter 4: 4/16/2010 – 6/30/2010 GPA scale: 4.0 Number of credits to graduate: 25 Referrals (per grading period): 3 Referrals (annual): 11 Suspensions (per grading period): 2 Suspensions (annual): 7

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® Technical Support Timeline –Setting up the tool (continued) Intervention settings –Preparing and importing the source files Student information Pre-high school data 13 PRACTICE EXERCISE – Intervention Settings Add an intervention to the list.

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® Technical Support Timeline First 20 or 30 days of the school year –Preparing & importing source files First 20 or 30 days attendance Student information (enrollment status) 14

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® Technical Support Timeline Each grading period of the school year –Preparing and importing source files Student attendance, course performance, credit accrual Student information (enrollment status) –Manually entering changes to enrollment status 15 PRACTICE EXERCISE Change student enrollment status Find Peter Andreou (ID ) and change his enrollment status based on the following information. Peter Andreou dropped out of school on February 2, 2010.

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® Technical Support Timeline Throughout the school year –Assigning students to interventions 16 PRACTICE EXERCISE Assign an interventions Assign intervention to two students using the following information: Assign Denise Boyles (ID ) to the Middle College High Schools intervention beginning in quarter 2. Assign Sharon Fanning (ID ) to the Double- Dosing: Algebra intervention beginning in quarter 3..

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® Troubleshooting Common Technical Issues Cautions –Saving the tool and source files –Dates in the tool (tool settings, enrollment status, and interventions) –Updating student information (adding students over the course of the school year) Update student information Re-import all source files Scenarios 1.Tool Settings: Categories of Disadvantaged and ELL, blank fields are “no” 2.Importing data: Tab-delimited vs. comma- delimited source files 3.Saving student interventions 17

© 2010 American Institutes for Research ® 18 More VEWS Information More information about VEWS Virginia Department of Education Website warning_system/index.shtml warning_system/index.shtml VEWS Data and technical questions Dr. Deborah Jonas, Executive Director of Research and Strategic Planning, Virginia Department of Education VEWS School improvement and intervention questions Dr. Kathleen Smith, Director, Office of School Improvements, Virginia Department of Education