This document provides information about training and technical assistance provided by the Florida Problem solving/Response to Intervention Project to support districts and schools with implementation and utilization of early warning systems.

(i) "Early warning system" or "EWS" is a system used in any school that serves students in kindergarten through grade eight used to identify students who need additional support to improve academic performance and stay engaged in school pursuant to Section 1001.42(18), F.S.

(18) IMPLEMENT SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY.—Maintain a system of school improvement and education accountability as provided by Statuteand State Board of Education rule. This system of school improvement and education accountability shall be consistent with, and implemented through, the district’s continuing system of planning and budgeting required by this section and ss. 1008.385, 1010.01, and 1011.01. This system of school improvement and education accountability shall comply with the provisions of ss. 1008.33, 1008.34, 1008.345, and 1008.385 and include the following:

• (b)  Early warning system.
• 1. 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. The early warning system must include the following early warning indicators:
• a. Attendance below 90 percent, regardless of whether absence is excused or a result of out-of-school suspension.
• b. One or more suspensions, whether in school or out of school.
• c. Course failure in English Language Arts or mathematics during any grading period.
• d. A Level 1 score on the statewide, standardized assessments in English Language Arts or mathematics or, for students in kindergarten through grade 3, a substantial reading deficiency under s. 1008.25(5)(a). A school district may identify additional early warning indicators for use in a school's early warning system. The system must include data on the number of students identified by the system as exhibiting two or more early warning indicators, the number of students by grade level who exhibit each early warning indicator, and a description of all intervention strategies employed by the school to improve the academic performance of students identified by the early warning system.
• 2. A school-based team responsible for implementing the requirements of this paragraph shall monitor the data from the early warning system. The team may include a school psychologist. 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.

(c) A student shall be identified as being eligible to receive services funded through the dropout prevention and academic intervention program based upon one of the following criteria: 4. The student is identified by a school’s early warning system pursuant to s. 1001.42(18)(b).