Early Alert for Faculty

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

Important Early Alert Dates

Early Alert codes can be submitted week four through week six. Students receiving early alerts will be contacted once an alert is submitted.

Suggestions for Administering Early Alerts

  • 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 four through week six, 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."
  • Before submitting Early Alerts, communicate to your class why you are submitting them and your expectations for students who receive them.
  • Adhering to the Early Alert Decision Tree [PDF] will help you determine if an alert is warranted. 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.
  • Once Early Alert is over, log in to Navigate to review the outreach outcome for each student you alerted. See the following Outreach Outcome Instructions [PDF] for how to do this.
  • Our Faculty Referral Process [PDF] can be used to refer students to the appropriate office in the Division of Student Success when Early Alert is over, or at any other time during the semester.

Contact Us

Orla Downey
Division of Student Success

Faculty FAQ

Early Alerts are issued week four through the end of week six. Faculty are sent reminders and an email explaining the procedure for sending an alert.

Once Early Alert starts, faculty will be sent an email with a link to their rosters. Early Alerts can be issued by clicking on the link. Reasons to alert a student are as follows:

  • Recommends academic coaching- excessive absences (2 or more consecutive weeks)
  • Recommends academic coaching- missing assignments (25% of assignments)
  • Recommends content tutoring/study groups (earning less than a "C" grade)
  • Recommends writing support
  • Recommends English language workshops
  • 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 [PDF]. 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.

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.