CCR Part 5 - Early Warning Indicator System
This video is Part 5 of a series of College and Career Readiness resources available on
the websites of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education.
In this video we'll cover where you can find information about the Massachusetts Early
Warning Indicator System, or EWIS.
This data is available through Edwin Analytics.
For guidance on using Edwin, see Part 1 of this video series.
The Early warning data predict the likely success of your current students - absent
any interventions.
You may want to look back, too, to see the success of your past students.
To look at graduation & dropout rates, see part 2 of this video series; to see how your
students are performing to other milestones across K through grade 12, see part 3.
And see part 4 to understand the postsecondary success of your past high school graduates.
MA DESE has early warning risk data available for students in grades 1-12.
Early Warning data are used to predict and monitor students who are at risk of missing
important academic milestones if steps are not taken for students to get 'back on track'.
The risk levels are generated using student data from the previous year's statewide collections.
Together, these data form a collective risk level.
We recommend you use the Early Warning risk data alongside other local data and additional
context you may have about your students.
There are seven EWIS milestones.
Four of the milestones are across the academic trajectory - Reading by the end of 3rd grade,
middle-school ready, and high school ready - and culminate in high school graduation.
These are shown in five reports in Edwin.
See resources on the department's Early Warning website at doe.mass.edu/ccr/ewi to learn more
about the Early Warning Indicator System and to watch videos about using the K through
12th grade reports.
New for the 2017 school year, the Postsecondary EWIS includes risk levels for students in
grades 10, 11 and 12, and predict students' likelihood of missing three college success
milestones: enrolling in college, being academically ready for college - or taking credit-bearing
courses rather than developmental or remedial courses - and persisting, or enrolling in
a second year of college.
These risk data are available in a student-level report on EDWIN.
From the student-level page in EDWIN, select the Early Warning Indicators and then chose
the second student list, the postsecondary EWIS report.
Fill out the prompt page for your school or your district.
You can also select data for specific grades or specific risk details.
And then click Submit.
You'll receive back a student level report.
In this student level list, each row is a student and each column is a data point about
the student.
You'll notice that some students are listed as low risk for high school graduation.
This means they're on track for high school graduation.
However they may still be at moderate or high risk for missing postsecondary outcomes.
All the data fields listed under 'EWIS information' are used in the postsecondary EWIS models
to predict students' risks.
Use these details to understand the nature of your students' risk.
For example, are there any patterns in demographics, or student language or learning needs?
Are there patterns in state assessment results, course performance, or the courses taken?
Studying the indicator data - under 'EWIS Information' in the report - may shed light
on the nature of students' needs.
You may also compare it to data you have available from your local data systems, or additional
context you have about your students, as you diagnose or determine underlying causes of
risk.
College enrollment risk levels are available for students in grades 10, 11 and 12.
Academic readiness and college persistence risk level are currently available for student
in grades 11 and 12.
You may decide to download this report into an Excel spreadsheet.
To do this, go to the top right and select the globe icon, then select Excel.
This downloads a spreadsheet to your browser, which you can open in Excel and analyze.
You may choose to color-code, sort and make pivot tables as you look for patterns in the
indicators that point to students' needs.
Once you've examined the EWIS reports on Edwin, move on to the next step in the Early Warning
implementation cycle: exploring underlying causes of risk.
Then, consider adjusting interventions - targeted to address the underlying causes - to bring
students back on track.
You'll find more about the EWI cycle on the ESE Early Warning website, and in the Early
Warning Implementation Guide.
Stay tuned for other videos about the College and Career Readiness resources available on
the websites of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.