viewed organizing strategies and back-
ground information that students would
need for upcoming lessons. I might, for
example, review with students how to
complete the bibliography section of
their research papers or find the implied
thesis of an essay. After one session in
which I went into differences between
rhetorical devices, such as anaphora and
ellipses, Keith stopped by my desk on
the way out and said, “Dr. Jackson, I
still don’t get it.”
I was flustered. I tried to reassure
him that he would get it eventually, but
I wasn’t so sure. He was missing a lot
of background knowledge, he didn’t
understand the vocabulary, and he took
so long to understand what I thought
were simple concepts that I worried he
might have been placed in the wrong
class. Maybe if he worked harder, I
mused. But then I suddenly realized that
Keith wasn’t going to put in that kind
of effort, especially when he was con-
vinced it wouldn’t make a difference.
The lunchtime acceleration and
remediation sessions were important for
Keith, but they weren’t enough. I started
to give him scaffolded assignments. For
instance, when I assigned an article or
an essay to read for homework, instead
of giving Keith the graphic organizer
I gave the other students, I gave him
one with additional clues, such as the
page numbers where he could find the
information he needed to fill in. I gave
him tiered homework assignments. I
also found a free tutorial online that
Keith used to help with his background
knowledge.
Yet Keith still struggled. I worked
hard to keep him from getting frustrated
and tried to give him as many quick
wins as I could. I also tried to manage
his workload so that he didn’t feel over-
whelmed, and I didn’t feel overworked.
These strategies helped, but because
Keith had started so far behind, he
was still triggering red flags. Although
I responded to each with progressive
supports, as we approached the sum-
mative assessment, I knew that Keith
still wasn’t ready.
Four Cardinal Rules for
Establishing Red Flags
Red flags should be unambiguous.
You don’t want to have to debate
with yourself or with a student about
whether he or she has triggered a
red flag. You want a clear signal—
like a cutoff classroom average
or a cutoff grade on a quiz—that
shows that a student is falling below
mastery.
Red flags should be hard to
ignore. You don’t want to have to go
hunting for red flags. Establish red
flags that are easy to recognize and
hard to miss.
Red flags should trigger action.
Once you see a red flag, you
shouldn’t have to figure out what to
do about it. The moment a student
triggers a red flag, you must be
ready to apply an intervention. If you
wait, you will lose the opportunity to
quickly get the student back on track.
Red flags should focus on academic concerns, not on student
behaviors. Your intervention plan
should be tightly focused on helping
students get back on track academically. Separate the interventions from
discipline or behavior management.
some sentence-combining strategies.
We practiced using them until he felt
comfortable.
On the day of the test, I’m not sure
who was more nervous—Keith or me.
When I collected the students’ papers, I
flipped anxiously to Keith’s and graded
it first. I noticed that he had used the
strategies I’d given him and that they’d
been relatively successful. I quickly
tallied up his points and found he’d
earned a solid C.
Keith never became an A student in
my class, but he didn’t fail either. In
fact, he finished the semester with a
strong C. Not only that, but things got
easier for Keith throughout the marking
period. As he got more comfortable with
the strategies I’d taught him, I began to
gradually remove supports so that he
could do the work on his own.
On the Mark
Red flags helped me more efficiently
target the right kids and get them what
they needed to meet the requirements of
the task instead of applying random and
general supports that may or may not
address students’ individual needs. Red
flags enabled me to catch students early
on and get them on track to success.
And because I’d planned my supports
ahead of time to correspond to the red
flags, I could intervene right away.
Triggers like these enable us to
intervene while students are still
resilient—before they’re mired in
failure. Moreover, when we use them,
we communicate an important
message to students—that we see
they’re struggling and we’re here to
help them get on course; that we’re
their allies for learning, and we want
them to succeed. EL
Robyn R. Jackson is president of Mind-steps and author of How to Support
Struggling Students (ASCD/Mindsteps,
2010) and Never Work Harder Than Your
Students and Other Principles of Great
Teaching (ASCD, 2009); robyn@mind
stepsinc.com.
