Florida Schools Use Early Warning System To Identify At-Risk Students
Florida school districts now have access to digital
tools designed to help them identify the early warning signals that students may need
additional support to improve academic performance or stay in school.
New Florida state laws dictate that all schools that
include
students in grades 6-8 must implement an early warning system to
identify
such students. Performance
Matters, a company
that provides digital assessment tools, has come up with an early warning system that will integrate with its Unify
assessment platform.
School districts in Indian River, Brevard and Marion
counties
have already signed on to the system.
According to new state requirements, when a student in grades 6-8 triggers any two of the following indicators, a
school-based team
must convene to decide on an intervention strategy:
- Attendance below 90 percent;
- Suspension;
- Course failure; and
- Level 1 score on state tests in English or math.
Performance Matters' system is a customizable
reporting module
that districts can use to filter in their own policies on attendance
rates,
absences, truancies, behavior, GPA targets, course failure, retention
and
standardized test performance. Educators can then use the measures to
quickly
find the at-risk students, monitor their progress and possibly take
action.
"In the past, we would've had to go to four different
systems
to get this information," said Brian McMahon, a performance data analyst
with
the School
District of Indian River County. "Now it's in one system. When you
can see this data side by side, it's very eye-opening."
The Indian River County district has already used the
digital
platform to launch a system-wide initiative to improve attendance.
"We've already seen increases in student attendance
in every
school and grade level," McMahon said.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.