Policy research established that it is possible to predict a student will drop out of school based on academic, attendance, behavior indicators. Little is known about the processes that put Early Warning Systems (EWS) in place. This case study of the Montana EWS describes the characteristics of a statewide implementation, the efficiency of the EWS…

The Forum Guide to Early Warning Systems provides information and best practices to help education agencies plan, develop, implement, and use an early warning system in their agency to inform interventions that improve student outcomes. The document includes a review of early warning systems and their use in education agencies and explains the…

In today's economy, a quality public education is the key to economic prosperity for young people. When Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau took office in 2009, there were 2,272 public school students who dropped out of school, and Montana had a dropout rate of five percent. For a state with a school population as small as Montana,…

According to the Alliance for Excellent Education (AEE), nationally one-third of students, 1.3 million each year, fail to graduate. The AEE suggests that these low rates have for too long been "obscured... by inadequate accountability systems at state and federal levels." Montana's accountability system is a case in point. Dependent on…

This report analyzes the economic and social costs of the high school dropout problem in Montana from the perspective of a state taxpayer. The majority of the authors' analysis considers the consequences of this problem in terms of labor market, tax revenue, and public service costs. In quantifying these costs, the authors seek to inform public…