Early Warning Signs

Early Warning Systems


According to Florida House Bill 7069, a school that serves any students in kindergarten through grade 8 shall implement an early warning system to identify students in such grades who need additional support to improve academic performance and stay engaged in school. CCPS expands the use of early warning systems through 12th grade as it is considered to be best practice.​

  • When a student exhibits two or more early warning indicators, the team, in consultation with the student's parent, shall determine appropriate intervention strategies for the student unless the student is already being served by an intervention program at the direction of a school-based, multidisciplinary team​

  • Data and information relating to a student's early warning indicators must be used to inform any intervention strategies provided to the student.

Does an Early Warning System Really Work?

Research studies have indicated significant improvements in both school attendance and course passing rates.

​ Faria, A. M., Sorensen, N., Heppen, J., Bowdon, J., Taylor, S., Eisner, R., & Foster, S. (2017). Getting students on track for graduation: First-year impact of an Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System (REL 2017–272). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs.​

Early Warning Systems are better predictors of student outcomes than demographics or even test scores!

It is important to begin tracking these indicators and providing intervention as early as kindergarten. One study, involving 20,000 children in kindergarten through fifth grade in 900 schools across the country found high rates of chronic absenteeism and a strong link between early absenteeism and later struggles in school. Another study of nearly 4,000 students found that those who could not read proficiently by third grade were four times more likely to leave school without graduating than were proficient readers. The research is abundant in support of the use of Early Warning Signs throughout K-12 in order to identify, intervene, and improve student outcomes and graduation rates.


Early Warning Systems - CCPS District Procedures

  1. Early Warning System Data is reviewed by School-based Core Teams at a minimum of three times yearly. Students identified as having 2 or more indicators are targeted for intervention. Interventions may be academic, behavioral, and/or social/emotional. See Secondary - Guide for Pulling EWS reports in EDIS and Elementary - Guide for Pulling EWS reports in EDIS. The excel template can also be used to easily review, sort, and filter EWS data for secondary schools.

  2. Interventions are documented and progress monitoring data is tracked in the EDIS database.

  3. School-based Core Teams and/or grade level/departmental teams review progress monitoring data and intervention effectiveness.

  4. Intervention data is used to determine next steps. See problem-solving process.