Use school-level data systems to identify which students need which types of support for dropout prevention¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 review), q1 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

The chapter recommends that schools build systems for monitoring student data so staff can identify students at risk early and target support. It points to Chicago, which has "shown substantial progress in improving its graduation rates by developing systems at the school level for using data to identify which students need what types of support." The strategy pairs ongoing monitoring with differentiated outreach in the ninth-grade year.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Schools need data systems at the school level for monitoring which students need support

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• high school students, especially ninth graders at risk of dropping out

Target Learning Goals¶

• high school graduation; staying on track academically

Claims¶

• Students show signs of dropout risk early in high school, and schools that reach out in the ninth-grade year can keep them on track to graduate [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Focus school improvement efforts on the ninth-grade transition using real-time data to monitor and support at-risk freshmen
• Use an early warning system based on linked school and human services data to target resources and lessen risks before they become more serious
• Build early-warning indicators and leverage online-learning-system process data to support students before gaps widen in Grade 3
• Use longitudinal student-level data systems to diagnose dropout scope and identify at-risk students before key transitions
• Attend to both SEL status and SEL growth when identifying students who may need supports to stay on track to graduate
• Use dropout among siblings and same-age intimates as risk markers to target prevention resources and monitoring

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Prevention Science in School Settings chapter, edited by Kris Bosworth. (2015). Dropout Prevention: A Previously Intractable Problem Addressed Through Systems for Monitoring and Supporting Students. Springer. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/dropout-prevention-previously-intractable-problem-addressed-through-systems-monitoring