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EARSS Fact Page
Purpose and Structure of the Program
The Expelled and At-risk Student Services (EARSS) grant program was established in 1997. It is described in Colorado Revised Statute 22-33-205.
The purpose of the EARSS grant is to assist in providing educational and support services to expelled students, students at-risk of suspension and expulsion, students at risk of habitual truancy as defined by unexcused absences, and students at risk or are chronically absent.
Funds are awarded annually through a competitive grant process to fund 4-year grants. Eligible applicants include school districts, alternative schools within districts, charter schools, Boards of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES), facility schools and non-public schools working through agreements to serve public school students.
Importance of Meeting the Needs of At-Risk Students
Without necessary support and intervention, expelled students, students at-risk of disciplinary action, habitual truant, and/or chronically absent frequently lack the skills, capacity and motivation to engage in school. When falling behind their peers, they may isolate themselves and stop coming to school, engage in delinquent behaviors, abuse drugs to self-medicate or become disruptive in class.
Research shows that expelled students and those that exhibit behaviors linked to disciplinary action and delinquency are at-risk of dropping out of school. The EARSS grant program directs resources to address the unique learning needs and challenges of these students.
Beneficiaries by the Numbers
| Years Served | Grantee Information | Individuals Served |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-2027 | 40 EARSS grantees | |
| 2025-2026 | 45 EARSS grantees | Unavailable at this time |
| 2024-2025 | 45 EARSS grantees (not including NCE schools serving students |
6,323 Students 4,172 Parents/Guardians |
| 2023-2024 | 48 EARSS grantees located in 25 counties (not including NCE schools serving students) |
6,209 Students 4,568 Parents/Guardians |
| 2022-2023 | 39 EARSS grantees located in 23 counties (not including NCE schools serving students) |
5,227 Students 3,411 Parents/Guardians |
Student Success Stories
Rural Alternative Education Campus example- The EARRS grant had a strong positive impact on our students, supporting both social-emotional growth and academic progress. Through targeted interventions and personalized support, many students re-engaged in school, improved attendance and behavior, and made progress toward graduation and post-secondary goals.
Urban-Suburban example - One eighth grade student was placed in the program where he learned leadership skills. One lesson he shared resonated with him was the lesson around saying thank you and introducing yourself with good eye contact and a strong handshake. When he visited the high school all of the deans and teachers noticed this, as he stood out as a leader. He has continued to thrive, building relationships with the counselors and deans, being a leader in classes, and attending school regularly.
Outlying City example – The EARSS program has demonstrated ongoing support that has significantly impacted academic performance and school engagement for our students. Students receive multiple layers of interventions, including individualized mentoring, outside school support, targeted tutoring support provided by professional teachers, and development of attendance support plans. The program also collaborates with outside agencies and court-appointed supports, including therapy services, to address underlying barriers contributing to the student’s absenteeism and struggles. The combination of academic support, relationship-based mentoring, accountability, and coordinated intervention services has helped students successfully re-engage in school and make meaningful progress toward long-term success.
STUDENTS SERVED IN 2024-2025
In 2024-2025, EARSS program grantees reported serving 6,323 students, less than one percent of students enrolled in Colorado.
- Among students at risk of expulsion, grantees reported specific behaviors students engaged in to be referred for EARSS services. The three most common were detrimental behavior (N = 513), disobedient/defiant behavior or repeatedly interfering with school’s ability to provide educational opportunities to other students (N = 430) and fights or other violent behavior (N = 296).
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Students served were primarily male (54.6 percent of students), Hispanic or Latino (52.4 percent - Chart 1) and in grades 6 – 12 (88.4 percent). The EARSS grant also served students in kindergarten through fifth grade (11.6 percent) and in preschool (less than 0.1 percent).
Note: Race/Ethnicity data were available for 97.1 percent of the 6,323 students served. Race data was taken from the 2024-2025 End of Year Collection using State Assigned Student Identifiers provided by grantees. Students served by two additional grantees operating under no-cost extensions from a previous grant cycle are included in this count.
Source: Colorado Department of Education, EARSS End-of-Year Reporting, 2024-2025.
SERVICES PROVIDED
Program Services Implemented
Various types of programming were utilized by grantees to better serve students, including academic and attendance strategies (e.g., credit recovery, online and technology-based learning), behavior supports (e.g., behavior plans, mentoring) and emotional supports (e.g., counseling, coaching). These grant-funded support services are primarily delivered by specialized staff (e.g., behavior interventionists, student attendance advocates and family liaisons).
Grantees were asked to select five strategies that were most effective in working with students from a list of 27 primary strategies and supports. Of the 27 strategies, grantees most consistently chose the following as effective:
- positive staff-student mentoring and relationship building (72.5 percent of grantees)
- counseling (67.5 percent of grantees)
- essential skills building (62.5 percent of grantees)
- behavioral plans (60.0 percent of grantees)
- multi-tiered systems of support (55.0 percent of grantees)
- individualized and relevant educational opportunities focused on student interests.
PARENT/FAMILY ENGAGEMENT
State statutes require schools to work with parents/guardians of expelled and at-risk students regarding the development of plans for serving their child. Common support services available to families included:
- communication between staff and families,
- involving parents/guardians in academic, attendance, and/or behavioral planning, and
- referrals to community services/social services.
STUDENT OUTCOMES
EARSS grantees reported the following outcomes:
- 93.2% of students served experienced positive outcomes such as school completion and continuation of education. These outcomes reflected school completion, continuation of education, completion of the expulsion term and return to school.
- 6.7 percent of students saw limited impact or negative outcomes, which includes dropping out, ageing out of services, transferring to a detention center, being expelled or exited to an unknown setting.
- 58.8 percent of students in the 2024-2025 four-year graduation cohort received a diploma, which is a 4.5 percentage point increase from 2023-2024.
- Of the at-risk students served through an EARSS program, 93.7% were not expelled, 84.4% did not receive an in-school suspension, 74.3% did not receive an out-of-school suspension and 93.7% did not have a truancy petition filed in court.