Data Systems

This article from Balfanz, Herzog, and MacIver discusses the early identification and intervention system for middle-grade schools that can be used to combat student disengagement and increase graduation rates. The authors used longitudinal analysis to demonstrate how four predictive indicators can be used to identify 60% of students who will not graduate from high school. They provide recommendations on combining effective whole-school reforms to increase graduation rates. This resource may be particularly useful to districts or schools looking to improve graduation rates.

This brochure details what early warning systems are and how they can be used to identify and support students who are at risk of school dropout. It provides a brief overview of the EWS High School and Middle Grades Tools, as well as the Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System (EWIMS) process.

This document extends the National High School Center’s Eight Elements of High School Improvement: A Mapping Framework and offers specific school-level benchmarks that provide a deeper level of detail for each indicator of effectiveness and describe school-level practices that can be implemented to support high school improvement at the local level. High school improvement teams will find this tool useful once they have already identified areas of strengths and concerns through the use of the Center’s self-assessment tool.

This online self-assessment tool is a starting point for identifying high school improvement priorities and enables users in schools and districts to a) identify the strengths and weaknesses of their current high school reform efforts, and b) align and build on these current and planned reform initiatives to develop a comprehensive high school improvement plan that will result in rigorous and high-quality teaching and learning for all students.

Implementing response to intervention (RTI) in high schools requires educators to work across traditional boundaries. This brief presents a portrait of RTI implementation in three Colorado high schools as well as the state and district practices that support implementation at the school level.

This document states the need for statewide longitudinal data systems that can help facilitate sharing of student-level data across the education spectrum. The brief notes that doing this could help schools answer policy questions critical to increasing college and career readiness among students. Example questions include the number of high school graduates that have taken the required coursework to prepare for college, how many students are "on-track" for future success, etc.

This brief from Achieve identifies the key areas that state policymakers should consider in order to implement the new Common Core State Standards with fidelity. The brief provides suggestions for aligning these new standards with their existing standards and course requirements, as well as aligning assessments for collecting data and measuring achievement. The brief lists steps each state can take to ensure they are implementing the standards effectively.

This policy statement from the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) provides reasons why the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) should be reauthorized. The authors include recommendations for ESEA reauthorization in the four core areas of reform: standards, assessments, and accountability; data and reporting; teachers and leaders; and supports for next-generation learning.