Assessing the Perceived Effectiveness of Early Intervention Action Plans in Improving Outcomes for At-Risk Learners in the Arabic School

Abstract

Early intervention (EI) rests on the assumption that learners who are identified early, advised proactively, and supported with tailored follow-up are more likely to recover academically than those who are left to self-correction after repeated failures. The project applied a mixed-methods approach and examined the implementation and perceived usefulness of EI action plans provided to 75 at-risk learners in the Arabic School (UAD) who were placed in EIs between September 2025 and March 2026; of these, 65 learners responded to the six-question survey instrument. Results showed that 55 learners (84.6%) reported receiving and implementing a written action plan, while 10 (15.4%) reported never receiving or implementing an action plan after their EIs. Perceived usefulness was strongly positive: 27 learners (41.5%) rated the plan very helpful, and 33 (50.8%) rated it helpful, meaning that 60 out of 65 respondents (92.3%) described the intervention as beneficial. Qualitative analysis showed that learners most often described authentic listening practice, vocabulary review using digital tools, reading practice, and structured study routines as effective. The respondents also credited zero, seventh, and lunch hours, along with 1-on-1 mentoring, as the enabling conditions that made the action plans workable. The findings support the conclusion that EIs are most powerful when diagnoses are followed by a written plan, repeated mentor contact, and modality-specific strategy instruction that learners can implement immediately. The inquiry offers practice-based implications for EI follow-ups, self-regulated learning, and foreign language support systems in fast-paced instructional settings.