EWIS Frequently Asked Questions

Important for 2024-25 School Year:

For more information on the data available in Edwin, please refer to Understanding the 2025 EWIS Student Level Files .

• Why do the reports look different?

  The Education Security Portal has been updated and the Edwin application has changed slightly. This new version looks and operates slightly differently. Some of the changes, especially in selecting prompts and running reports, as well as how to download data, are important to review to assist you in using Edwin. View the Using Edwin guide for help navigating Edwin.

• Why am I having trouble logging into Edwin?

  The Education Security Portal has been upgraded. Edwin users should have preregistered for the New Security Portal and received information on how to log on. Users who did not preregister will need to reactivate their account, visit Education Security Portal (ESP) Help.

• What reports are available this year?

  There are 5 EWIS reports, 3 aggregate reports and 2 student level reports. There are no longer separate post-secondary reports. Information about postsecondary risk are available in all reports except for the EW318 EWIS K–12 Subgroup Analysis.

• Why am I seeing only a few students — or no students — in my district or school?

  EWIS reports may be incomplete or blank if the student claiming process is not complete.

  Incomplete data occurs when 2023-24 students have been un-claimed and not re-claimed for 2024-25 School Year. SIF-enabled districts must rollover their Student Information System (SIS) and keep the SIF agent on for the 2023-24 school year in order to claim their current students and view their EWIS data. See the Student Claiming User Guide for details.

  For questions about whether all of your students have been claimed, ask your district office or the SIMS contact about the claiming process. SIMS contacts are listed on your district's Profiles page: look up your school or district, select People on the left menu, and search for SIMS contact.

• Why are all my students risk level N/A?

  Districts that do not meet the due dates for statewide collections will not have EWIS data in the initial release in Edwin Analytics in time for the start of the school year. If they have completed claiming but did not submit the statewide data collections (SCS, EPIMS, SSDR) in time, students will appear with a NA risk level.

  Once data is complete, a small portion of students may still have risk level NA. Most of these students were not enrolled in Massachusetts public school the prior year. No risk level can be determined since the Department does not have data about the students' prior school year. In some cases, high school students lacked course performance information (their courses were noted as complete, but no grades were provided). These students were also unable to receive a risk level due to insufficient information.

General FAQ:

• What is the Early Warning Indicator System, or EWIS?

  The EWIS is a tool to systematically identify students that may need additional attention in order to reach an upcoming academic goal.

• How do I use EWIS?

  Schools and districts use EWIS alongside local data to hone tiered levels of support needed for student-centered supports. Schools can use EWIS to identify and support high-risk students with school-wide strategies and targeted interventions. Districts and schools can also use EWIS to examine school-level patterns over time and address systemic issues that may impede a student's ability to meet academic goals. For more about using EWIS in a data inquiry cycle, see the Early Warning Implementation on-demand e-learning tutorial on the EWIS web page.

• How is EWIS developed?

  EWIS is developed by looking at the actual outcomes for Massachusetts students in prior years and statistically validating a wide range of student level data to predict whether our current students are on track to meet upcoming academic goals. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education created EWIS in direct response to educators' requests for an indication at early grade levels and throughout high school. The Department first released the Early Warning Indicator System (EWIS) data for grades 1–12 in 2012-13, and expanded EWIS to include postsecondary outcomes in 2016-2017.

• What does the EWIS predict?

  For students entering grades 1–12, EWIS shows the likelihood of missing relevant academic milestones throughout the academic trajectory — if no interventions are provided. For students entering grades 10–12, EWIS also provides the likelihood of missing college success milestones after high school — again, if no interventions are provided.

  The Massachusetts EWIS

  	Age Group	Grades	Academic Milestones: Expected student outcomes
  K–12	Early Elementary	1, 2,3	Reading by the end of third grade Meeting or exceeding expectations on the 3rd grade ELA Massachusetts State Assessment
  	Late Elementary	4, 5, 6	Middle school ready Meeting or exceeding expectations on 6th grade ELA and Mathematics State Assessments
  	Middle Grades	7, 8, 9	High school ready Passing grades on all 9th grade courses
  	High School	10, 11, 12	High school graduation Completing high school graduation requirements in four years
  Postsecondary			College Enrollment Enrolling in postsecondary education
  			College Persistence Enrolling in a second year of postsecondary education

• What are Early Warning Risk Levels?

  Risk Levels are calculated for students using data from the previous year. Risk Levels are the likelihood of missing an academic milestone without intervention.

  Massachusetts EWIS Student Risk Levels

  Risk Level	Based on data from last school year, the student is …
  High Risk	At risk for not reaching the upcoming academic milestone Approximately 25% of high-risk students meet the upcoming milestone. Example: A 7th grade student identified as High Risk in EWIS is at high risk of not passing all 9th grade courses
  Moderate Risk	Moderately at risk for not reaching the upcoming academic milestone Approximately 60% of moderate risk students meet the upcoming milestone. Example: A 2nd grade student identified as Moderate Risk in EWIS is at moderate risk of not meeting or exceeding expectations on the 3rd grade ELA state assessments
  Low Risk	Likely to reach the upcoming academic milestone Approximately 90% of low risk students meet the upcoming milestone. Example: A 5th grade student identified as Low Risk in the EWIS is likely to meet or exceed expectations on the 6th grade ELA & math state assessments.

• Where can I find EWIS Reports?

  EWIS data are available through EDWIN Analytics, a free tool for all public school districts in the state. There are five reports for the 2022-23 School Year.

  • EW301 EWIS District View
  • EW318 EWIS K–12 Subgroup Analysis
  • EW320 EWIS Risk Level Indicator Analysis
  • EW601 EWIS Student List
  • EW611 Attendance and Suspension Monitoring
  
  

  All reports may be filtered to look at a particular school, grade, and student population. Some reports are hyperlinked to other reports and to the Student Profile report (PR600).

• What information is in the EWIS Reports?

  EW301 EWIS District View

  This report is a good place to start your review. It provides a district-wide summary of student risk levels, by school and by grade, and is hyperlinked to the Student List (EW601).

  Use it to address questions such as —

  • Where can the district channel additional resources to get students back on track for meeting the next academic goal?
  • Where might the district prioritize support?
  
  

  EW318 EWIS K–12 Subgroup Analysis

  The Subgroup Report summarizes Risk Levels for demographic subgroups such as Racial/Ethnic groups, groups with High Needs and gender. Use this report to consider —

  • Is there a noticeable difference in risk levels for certain subgroups?
  • How do the Risk Levels within a district (or school or grade) vary across racial/ethnic groups and gender?
  • Are there student populations with similar characteristics — for example, African American students, or students formerly in EL — who might benefit from additional services or interventions?
  
  

  EW320 EWIS Risk Level Indicator Analysis

  This report can be used to analyze specific attendance, behaviors, and course indicators to provide nuance across and within risk groups, which is useful in diagnosing and planning interventions. This report is helpful to answer —

  • Do attendance and suspension rates vary across Risk Levels?
  • Which courses do High Risk students pass the least? Which do they pass the most?
  • Are there areas within a grade where universal (Tier I) changes may help students?
  
  

  EW601 EWIS Student List

  This report is useful for educators investigating particular students. The student list includes Risk Levels for each student alongside other information such as indicators used in the EWIS model, past Risk Levels and student characteristics. Clicking on hyperlinks in the District View (EW301) will take a user to this report.

  Use this when you are considering —

  • What are the current Risk Levels of my students? What are their Risk Levels from last year?
  • Who are my High Risk students?
  • What data points or indicators went into the calculation to determine the Risk Levels?
  
  

  This report is also hyperlinked to the Student Report (PR600), a detailed report with historical information for all the years that a student has been enrolled in Massachusetts public schools.

  EW611 Attendance and Suspension Monitoring

  This report in Edwin provides students' attendance and number of suspensions for the current school year as reported via SIF. It was updated for the 2020-21 school year to include overall attendance, in-person attendance and remote attendance information.

• How can I access Edwin?

  Edwin Analytics is available through the Mass/Edu Gateway/Security Portal. If you did not have access to Edwin Analytics, contact your district's Directory Administrator to request it or to see that you have an appropriate level of access for your role.

• What level of data access is needed to see the EWIS Reports?

  All Edwin users should have access to the aggregate EWIS reports. Student-level reports require "Administrator" reports are available to users who have access to student-level information within a school and/or district. Typically, there are several EWIS Reports available to users with access to school and district aggregate reports within Edwin.

• Will the EWIS reports be updated during the school year? What will change?

  Once calculated, the risk level for an individual student will not change (except for rare instances). However, the numbers, percentages and specific students appearing on reports may change throughout the year to reflect current school/district enrollment. Students who change schools and districts throughout the school year will appear in the appropriate reports once they are claimed by the new school/district. An individual student's risk level is not recalculated throughout the school year.

• Are there more EWIS Reports planned?

  No new reports are in development at the moment, but several of the EWIS reports have been developed based on feedback from users like you. Please let us know how EWIS Reports can be even more useful to you. mail EWIS@doe.mass.edu with your suggestions.

• Where can I learn more?

  The EWIS Team has compiled a variety of resources.

• I still have questions. Who can help?

  Email the EWIS team at EWIS@doe.mass.edu and the EWIS Team will get back to you with a response.

Last Updated: July 25, 2024