BrightBytes
Early Warning System
Beth Webb, Principal
Wayne Middle School
Lori Staley, Assistant Principal
Wayne Middle School
Who we are…


Beth Webb –

Taught English 10, 11 and AP English 10 Marsh Fork High School, Raleigh County
(2 years)

Taught Title I Reading / 8th Grade Reading Wayne Middle School, Wayne County
(7 years)

Taught English 9 & 10 Spring Valley High School, Wayne County (1 year)

Taught English 9, 10 and Honors English 10 Wayne High School, Wayne County
(1 year)

Assistant Principal Wayne Middle School, Wayne County (3 years)

Principal Wayne Middle School, Wayne County (3 years)
Lori Staley –

Taught English 9, 10, and Honors English 9 (1 year)

Taught Language Arts 6, 7, 8 and yearbook Wayne Middle School, Wayne County
(4 years)

Taught English 9, 10, 11, 12, and Honors English 9 Wayne High School, Wayne
County (5 years)

Assistant Principal Wayne Middle School, Wayne County (1 year)
Our school…
550 students – 6th through 8th
 5 feeder schools
 Low SES (approximately 45% directly qualify)
 No Title I funding
 High teacher turnover (approximately 33%
annually)
 Entering 3rd year of Priority School Status

Putting the system’s use in perspective
 I.
District Level Considerations

Identifying schools with academic and / or attendance issues

Quick rewards versus game changers
 II.
School Level Administrative / Counselor
Considerations

Identify specific students with truancy issues

Identify specific students with behavioral / social issues

Identify specific students with academic issues
 III.
Impact on Scheduling, Curriculum, and Teaching

Creating flexible schedules and structures for SPL

Meeting the academic needs of the bottom 25%
District considerations

District level personnel have access to every school
in the district and can drill down to specific schools
as needed.
 Information
is key to resource allocation and strategic
planning.
 Provides
a platform that is objective for conversations
with committees and schools.
 Reports
are customizable to allow data to reflect general
overviews or specific targets.

Quick Rewards Versus Game Changers
 One
of the strengths of the data results is the generation
of strategies for quick rewards and game changers.
 Eliminates
the “we’ve tried everything” mentality.
School Level
Administrative Considerations

Identify specific students with truancy issues
 Quick
wins
 Connect
 Hold
back to school workshops for parents
 Create
 Reach
 Game
frequently absent students with an adult mentor
school-wide incentives for attendance
out in September
Changers
 Set
the standard for attendance through lessons and
consistency in policies
 Create
a family-school communication plan
School Level
Administrator / Counselor Considerations

Identify students with behavioral / social issues
 Incorporate
 Reach
 Set
clear transitions
out to parents
a positive classroom tone
 Help
your students focus
 Reconfigure
 Prepare
 Focus
your classroom
students by teaching good citizenship
on interpersonal skills
School Level
Academic Considerations
Closing the achievement gap by identifying
students with specific academic issues
Academic data, such as test scores, one
consideration in the Early Warn system.
Two supplemental sources of information used to
identify the specific academic needs of students.
Benchmark scores
Report with average of all tests taken
Report with individual test records
Standards based report
Teacher recommendation
Impact on Scheduling
Resource Management and Priorities
 Targeting
a changing bottom 25%
 Flexibility
important as student needs change to
minimize disruption to their schedule of core classes
 Not all students will need to remain in targeted
SPL
 New at risk students will be identified
throughout the year
 Teacher
 Active
communication
monitoring
Impact on Curriculum and Teaching
 Meeting the academic needs of the bottom 25% to close the
achievement gap
 Through data analysis, needed basic skills embedded in Next
Generation standards addressed in targeted SPL classes
 Needs met in core and related arts classes through
communication
 Conversations in grade level and curricular meetings
 Meetings facilitates collaborative efforts for continued progress toward
closing achievement gap
 Discussions lead to increased use of best practices and overall student
successes
Summary

Districts


Use for identifying areas of concern for the district and individual schools

Objective data for justification of resource allocation

Platform for difficult conversations

Identify areas of need

Academics

Attendance

Behavior
Schools

Use for identifying students with difficulty

Use in planning

School level initiatives

Classroom interventions

Curriculum development

Identifying students in critical areas for SPL and counseling services