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
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