Early identification getting easier — but must come with compassion and hard work

We were pleased to learn recently that the Greater Southern Tier Board of Cooperative Education Services, a cooperative of 21 school districts in southwestern New York state, had implemented CohortTracker in 14 of its districts.

The early warning web application allows schools to monitor students’ progress toward graduation — giving education leaders the ability to identify students who are getting off track.

And that, of course, gives them the ability to intervene before it's too late. 

The plan is to roll-out the system statewide by the end of the school year.

The concept is simple — by tracking factors that research shows are key indicators of dropout risk —   credits, commencement exams, attendance, discipline referrals and out-of-school suspensions — school leaders can keep a bird's-eye view of each cohort of students and more easily identify those who need extra support to get to graduation day.

Of course, once schools leaders have a better idea of who is most at risk, there is simply no substitute for good, old-fashioned compassion — and good, old-fashioned elbow grease.

The students who are most at-risk are often those with the toughest out-of-school lives. Identifying them early is a start — but the next step has to be identifying the interventions that will most successfully help each individual student stay in school and succeed in school. 

For more information on CohortTracker, visit www.prismdecision.com/