Early Alert

Everyone at Suffolk University has a vested interest in students doing well in their courses. The Early Alert Project exemplifies how Suffolk is an academic community, in every sense of the word. We come together to support those who are in need of assistance and to support student learning.

Please follow these instructions [PDF] for how to use SSC-Campus for Early Alerts.

Faculty advisors can now run a report to see if their advisees have been alerted. Follow these instructions [PDF] for how to do this.

Please also refer to the Early Alert Decision Tree [PDF]. Please use our faculty referral process [PPTX] to refer students when Early Alert is over.

Program Description

The Early Alert Project is a university-wide collaborative effort designed to support student learning by identifying and warning students who may be in danger of failing one or more courses.

Week five through the end of week seven, faculty is asked to identify undergraduate students in their classes who could benefit from support services. The Early Alert recommendations include: recommend writing support, Math/Stats support, content tutoring/study groups, English language workshops, and academic coaching.

Important Early Alert Dates

Early Alert codes can be submitted week five (February 12) through week seven (March 8). Students receiving early alerts will be contacted by email once an alert is submitted.

Suggestions for Administering Early Alerts

  1. Include in your syllabus a statement about Early Alert. Here is a sample statement that you can insert in your syllabus or place on BlackBoard:

    "This class uses the Early Alert Service. Week five through week seven, I will notify the Center for Learning and Academic Success if you are not making adequate progress in your class(es). This warning is not an official grade; it's a recommendation to use a specific academic support service. If you are contacted about an Early Alert, please respond to those individuals and also visit me during my office hours so we may talk about strategies for how you can be successful in this class."
  2. Before submitting Early Alerts, communicate to your class why you are submitting them and your expectations for students who receive them.
  3. Students who are issued an alert will receive an email message that encourages them to speak with their professor and seek out resources. Be ready to provide specifics as to how each student you alerted is performing in your class. Alerted students need to know if they can feasibly pass your class, or if they need to withdraw.
  4. Once Early Alert is over, log in to SSC to review the outreach outcome for each student you alerted.

Contact Us

Orla Downey

Division of Student Success
617-573-8099

Faculty FAQ

Early Alerts are issued week five through the end of week seven. Faculty are sent reminders and an email explaining the procedure for sending an alert as the deadline approaches. In the email, steps will be outlined as follows.

Faculty will be sent an email with a link to their roster. Early Alerts can be issued by clicking on the link. The Early Alert reasons are as follows:

  • Recommends content tutoring/study groups
  • Recommends English language workshops
  • Recommends writing support
  • Recommends academic coaching- excessive absences
  • Recommends academic coaching-missing assignments
  • Recommends academic coaching-time management/study skills

Alerting a student at this point in the semester allows more time to change these behaviors and access helpful resources.

 

Faculty can always refer a student to the appropriate tutoring services or an academic coach in the Division of Student Success by using the faculty referral process [PPTX]. Before making this referral, faculty are encouraged to inform students that a referral is being made and explain why.

This program is a collective, campus-wide effort to identify students in need of assistance. Some students receive multiple alerts, and this indicates a higher and more urgent need to contact the student from multiple services.

The most common error message is a result of submitting an alert for a graduate student. Early alerts are only processed for undergraduate students. Other error inquiries should be directed to the help desk at extension 2000.