ROA = net income without paying interest / avg. assets
ROE = net income/avg. assets.
ROA measures the profitability of the firm's overall investment (the investment could be financed either from shareholders or debt holders.) while ROE measures the profitability of the shareholder's investment. The difference between these two is return on financial leverage (ROFL): ROFL = ROE - ROA, which is caused by the debt financing.
In the good scenario, when ROA is higher than the interest rate for the debt holders, ROE > ROA and the firm can further improve ROE by issuing more debt.
In the bad scenario, when ROA is lower than the interest rate for the debt holders, ROE < ROA.