Data: Put early warning indicators to use.
Early warning indicators tell you which students are drifting off track while there is still time to act. I help systems define them, build the tools that carry them, and build the professional learning that turns them into action.
Who I work with
Districts building or rebuilding 9th Grade On-Track and early warning systems. Charter networks and nonprofits with their own college access indicators to sharpen. Funders supporting a cohort of schools or districts doing this work together.
What I do
Most engagements start with a question the system already has: which students are off track, how early we can tell, and what the adults closest to them should do about it. From there the work has three parts, and I can take on one or all of them.
Defining the indicators
Which measures predict graduation and college-going in this system, at what thresholds, and how early. I draw on the on-track research out of Chicago and on what each district’s own data shows.
Building the tools
Rosters, dashboards, and reports that put the indicators in front of counselors, teachers, and principals in a form they’ll use, built with the district’s data team.
Professional learning
Communities of practice, team meetings, and professional development that get school teams and central office looking at the data together and acting on it.
Examples of the work
9GOT Resource Hub School District of Philadelphia
The reference library for the district’s 9th Grade On-Track work: data tools, professional learning materials, learning pathways, and artifacts from schools across the city. Built with Philadelphia Academies and the School District of Philadelphia.
To&Through Milestones Tool University of Chicago
Public data on how Chicago Public Schools students move from 9th grade through college, for every high school and community area, by race, ethnicity, and gender. I led the tool’s design at To&Through.