december 7, 2010 presenter susan bowles therriault lindsay fryer national high school center

©2010 American Institutes for Research®

December 7, 2010

PresenterSusan Bowles Therriault

Lindsay Fryer

National High School Center

Introduction to Technical Aspects of the Virginia Early Warning System (VEWS)

Tool

www.betterhighschools.org


Objectives

• Provide an overview of early warning systems

• Discuss the evolution of the VEWS Tool

• Demonstrate the VEWS Tool

• Provide an overview of technical aspects of the VEWS Tool

• Practice using the VEWS Tool

www.betterhighschools.org2


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



Evolution of the VEWS Tool



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

5 www.betterhighschools.org


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)

– Integrated behavioral indicators (referrals and suspensions)



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



Risk Indicators in the VEWS Tool

8 www.betterhighschools.org

Indicator Time Frame Benchmark (red flag)

Pre-High School Before 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


VEWS Tool Demonstration



Anticipated Technical Needs



Technical Support Timeline

• Before the school year begins– Saving the tool

– Setting up the tool

• School information

• Tool settings

• Intervention settings

– Preparing the source files

• Student information

• Pre-high school data

– Importing data




• First 20 or 30 days of the school year

– Preparing source files

• First 20 or 30 days attendance

• Student information (enrollment status)

– Importing data




• Each grading period of the school year

– Preparing source files

• Student attendance, course performance, credit accrual

• Student information (enrollment status)

– Importing data

– Manually entering changes to enrollment status

• Throughout the school year

– Assigning students to interventions



Troubleshooting Common Technical Issues

• Saving the tool

• Importing data: Tab-delimited vs. comma- delimited source files

• Student Information: Enrollment status

• Tool Settings: Categories of Disadvantaged and ELL, blank fields are “no”

• Dates in the tool

– Tool settings

– Student Interventions

– Enrollment status



Practice Using VEWS Tool



Practice Exercises

• Prepare VEWS Tool

– School information and logo upload

– Tool Settings

– Intervention Settings

• Import source files for a full academic year

– Before the school year begins

– First 20 or 30 days of school

– Each grading period



Practice Exercises

• Assign interventions to students

• Change student enrollment status

• Manually enter a student


december 7, 2010 presenter susan bowles therriault lindsay fryer national high school center

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