Supporting At-Risk Students in Fulton County Schools

A teenage boy sitting on the curb in front of a school

Problem

The effectiveness of Fulton County Schools risk-reporting tools was unclear.

Because the Fulton County Schools (FCS) District in Atlanta, Georgia, is committed to identifying and supporting students at risk of falling behind and not graduating from high school, it collects student at risk data in three reports: the Academic Risk Report, Attendance Report, and Behavior Report. Each of these reports present information to FCS staff regarding students’ academic performance, their attendance and tardiness, as well as suspension (in and out of school). These reports are intended to help staff identify and support at-risk students who are more likely to drop out, including those with inconsistent attendance, poor behavior outcomes (such as suspensions), and low academic performance.

Solution

NORC examined each tool’s use and utility using mixed methods.

To provide FCS with a broad description of who was using the tools and how, and a deep understanding of tool utility, NORC conducted a mixed-method study, utilizing administrative data provided by FCS and surveys of district staff as well as interviews with staff who utilize the district’s risk reporting tools—the academic risk, attendance, and behavior risk reports. We collected 131 surveys and conducted 11 interviews with school staff to understand how they used and perceived these particular risk reporting tools. In addition, we analyzed administrative data to better understand the information available in each report.

Result

Many school staff find the reports useful and essential in their work supporting students.

FCS staff reported that all three reports are essential to effectively supporting students who risked falling behind or not graduating. School principals, graduation coaches, and other members of multi-tiered support teams were the chief users of the three tools. They were also the ones primarily responsible for identifying at-risk students and determining how to support positive student outcomes. Study participants did, however, recommend the following improvements to the reporting tools:

Add details, such as student characteristics and course performance over time, to make reports more useful.
Expand report access to Early Intervention Program and Multi-Tier Support System team members.
Streamline the reports by developing and using a template to combine data exported from each report into one data file.

Fulton County Schools hopes to use the information provided by NORC to improve the three reports for staff and ultimately improve student outcomes.