The Early Alert Program – Promoting Student Success and Retention

The Early Alert Program is designed to identify students who are having academic difficulty.  Students are referred to the Advising Office by Faculty.  An Academic Advisor will then attempt to address the student’s needs, thereby increasing the likelihood of their success.

The primary goal of the Early Alert Program is to identify students that are having difficulty with enough time to avoid a low mid-term grade.  Generally, identification by the fourth week of the semester is best.   

The program is not designed to penalize students, but rather to address academic problems or difficulties early on in the semester so that a student can successfully complete the course.

How does this work?

·        Faculty completes the referral form and submits electronically to the Advising Office.  Be sure to include the Student ID #, the course they are having difficulty with, Faculty’s name and contact information, reason for referral, and how the student might improve.

·        Once the notice is received, an Academic Advisor will contact the student to discuss how the student might improve their performance.

·        Early Alerts are entered into Banner as well as an Excel Spread Sheet for tracking purposes.

·        The Academic Advisor will contact the Faculty person to report what action was taken with the student.

 When should an instructor use the Early Alert Program?

• Any Faculty member who is concerned about a student’s failure to attend classes and/or a student’s poor performance in class is encouraged to submit names at the Early Alert Site.  Some instructors submit names after the first test, some wait for two tests to see if there is a pattern.  Instructors have submitted student names who have scored below a C on the first test, while other have preferred to only send in names of students with failing grades.

What should I tell the students in my class about the Early Alert Program? 

• It is recommended that Faculty that plan to utilize this service place information on the Early Alert Program in your syllabus and also announce it as part of the class introduction.  For example:

I will be participating in the Early Alert Program at CCA.  This is an excellent program that is designed to identify students that are having difficulty and intervene early to increase the student’s potential to achieve academic success.  I will report students to the Early Alert Program who score less than a 70% on the first exam and then again any student less than 70% overall at midterm.  Students that are referred to the Early Alert Program will be contacted by an Academic Advisor to discuss how to improve their academic performance.

 To contact us:
Community College of Aurora
Enrollment Services
16000 E. CentreTech Parkway, Suite A106B, Aurora, CO 80011
Phone – 303-360-4753
Email – Belinda.marshall@ccaurora.edu
www.ccaurora.edu/alert