RTI- Early Warning Indicators for English Language Learners/Bilingual Students in 9th Grade

Claudia is the Endowed Joan Wieler Arno 49 Professor at…

This recent article by the National High Schools Center looked at Early Warning Indicators (EWI) of English language learners to identify graduation trends for these students. Edweek has published a recent article on this report and it highlights :
1. How well 9th graders perform in their courses predict whether they will graduate– more telling that their English language profiency.
2. Grade point average
3. Attendance

These 3 indicators can accurately predict the high likely of dropping out of high school. As part of a multi-tier system of support (MTSS) or an Response to Intervention (RTI) model we can used this information to provide a strong core that engages students and keep them coming and completing their work at Tier 1 level. It can also serve to identify Tier 2 and Tier 3 needs and interventions so that they can perform in their courses and be successful in 9th grade thus increasing the probability that will graduate. This is a great link between this two frameworks with promising practices for teachers and administrators.
Here is a link to the article in Ed Week

Claudia Rinaldi, Ph.D.

Claudia is the Endowed Joan Wieler Arno 49 Professor at Lasell University. She is currently a full professor of education and chair of the Education Program. Claudia has been a teacher, researcher, consultant, and professor of special education.