Faculty Reporting and Intervention

FACULTY REPORTING

The Office of Undergraduate Studies utilizes GradesFirst software to track, report, and send notifications for the Early Alert Service.

Instructions for faculty utilizing the software are as follows: 

• All faculty teaching first-year students will receive an email on Monday, January 26 through the GradesFirst software with the subject title, “Early Alert Notification.”  
• The email will include a link to access to the GradesFirst reporting program. Only first-year students enrolled in your courses will be listed for reporting.
• Please only identify students who are at-risk (i.e. unsatisfactory work or performance) at this point in the semester. This process is not punitive. We want to help students before they begin to fail, so please report students who exhibit any warning signs, even if they have not failed a formal assignment.
• Faculty who have no at-risk students should not mark any students but should still submit the information by clicking on the Submit button. The system will record your entry as 'no student at risk.'
• GradesFirst also allows faculty to make comments about individual students. An indication of your concerns about the student will be helpful to the retention team.
• Providing the student’s grade and number of absences is optional; however, reporting the student’s grade and/or number of absences is encouraged to obtain a comprehensive view of the student.
• Please submit Early Alert report no later than Friday, February 26, 2013. This timeline will allow the retention team adequate time to contact students for appropriate interventions prior to the semester midpoint.  
• The Office of Retention & Undergraduate Studies will contact all students identified by your reporting information and will conduct appropriate interventions.
• Students will be notified for which courses they received an “early alert notification” and will be encouraged to meet with you during your office hours, in addition to utilizing services and resources in the Office of Undergraduate Studies. Students may be nervous to approach you. Please encourage students to meet with you during office hours to discuss strategies on how to improve in your course.
• At the conclusion of the semester, each Department Chair will receive a comprehensive report of faculty submissions and student contacts. 
• Faculty members are encouraged to use the following statement in their syllabus to introduce students to teh Early Alert/iCare program:

Early Alert/iCARE Statement: As a commitment to your academic success this class uses the Early Alert Service provided by the Office of Undergraduate Studies.  By week six of the semester, I will notify the Office of Undergraduate Studies if you have struggled with writing and language skills, excessive absences, incomplete work, or difficulty with the course content.  This notification indicates concerns about your progress that need to be addressed immediately so that you can continue your college career at Georgia State.  If you receive an Early Alert notification during midpoint of the semester, please respond to those individuals immediately.  You are also welcome and encouraged to visit us during our office hours, so we may talk about strategies for how you can be successful in this class.

PLAN FOR INTERVENTION

There are two categories for students identified by the Early Alert Service: Low Risk and High Risk.  Based on the risk level there are various intervention strategies to reach students.

ASSESSMENT

The Office of Undergraduate Studies is committed to the continual process of enhancing services provided to both faculty and students. As a result of our commitment and as we seek to expand and further develop the Early Alert Program: iCare we will contact you to participate in evaluations of the program.

 EARLY ALERT PROGRAM: iCARE CONTACT

Jolayna Palm
jpalm@gsu.edu
Office of Undergraduate Studies