When Should An Instructor/Advisor Submit an Academic Alert?
Course instructors and academic advisors are expected to submit academic alerts to Student Success when they have concerns about a student in one of their courses, or about one of their advisees. Student Success partners with the student’s advisor(s) to respond appropriately.
Please send an Academic Alert if you observe any of the following behaviors:
- Two or more class absences within the space of two or three weeks.
- Failure to attend class for ill-defined reasons (e.g., “I didn’t feel well so stayed in bed”), suggesting that a student is having other difficulties.
- Poor performance (C- or below) on tests, essays, assignments, or in class activities.
- Failure to submit assignments.
- Sudden negative changes in the quality of a student’s work.
- Disengagement from the course or other behaviors, suggesting that the student may be in need of assistance.
Please note that you can submit more than one Academic Alert for the same student. If you have already submitted an Academic Alert for a student in your course and then have further reason for concern (for example, failure of a second major examination or continued class absences), please submit a second Academic Alert, or a third, or a fourth! The information in Academic Alerts is an important tool in our efforts to retain students and support student success at Allegheny.
Please send an Academic Alert by September 30 in the Fall semester for any student who is consistently completing less than C level work.
Another important deadline is the deadline for a student to request a Student-Initiated Withdrawal (“X”) from a course. Please speak directly with students who are unlikely to pass your course prior to this deadline and then follow up with an Academic Alert. Please allow enough time for the student to have additional conversations with their advisor(s), Class Dean, and/or the Student Success professional staff.
How Should Advisors Respond to Academic Alerts?
Academic Alerts are an indication that there is cause for concern about a student’s academic performance. Hopefully, the scale and nature of that concern will be conveyed by the Academic Alert comments. How an advisor responds depends on the nature of the circumstances, what the advisor knows about the student, and what the instructor suggests as a recourse. Having said that, there are several guidelines that we ask advisors to please observe.
- First-year students probably need more direct attention than upper-class students (please see below).
- Students who are on Academic Warning, Academic Probation, or Poor Academic Standing probably need more direct attention than students who are in Good Academic Standing with the College.
- Students who appear to not be communicating with their instructor(s), Class Dean, or Student Success probably need more direct attention than those who are communicating, but in those cases, e-mail is unlikely to be effective.
- If a student is receiving multiple Academic Alerts, either in multiple classes, or in the same class, they probably need more direct attention than a student who receives a single Academic Alert.
- Please make sure to copy studentsuccess@allegheny.edu on your e-mail messages, so that the Class Deans and the professionals in Student Success are aware of your outreach and so that everyone is having the same conversation.
- If you see the student regularly, in class or in some other setting, a personal interaction is often more effective than an e-mail. However, those personal conversations still need to be briefly documented so that everyone is having the same conversation.
In every case, these are suggestions, not strict rules. Again, how an advisor responds depends on the nature of the circumstances, what the advisor knows about the student, and what the instructor suggests as a recourse.
Academic Alerts That Suggest a Student “X” a class
- When any student receives an Academic Alert recommending the student take a Student-Initiated Withdrawal (“X”) in the class, the advisor should follow up since the advisor will need to fill out the Advisor portion of the X form and is responsible for monitoring a student’s academic progress toward graduation.
- Before approving a Student-Initiated Withdrawal, the advisor should consider the following:
- Is the student a senior?
- check the Degree Audit to see if the student needs this particular course or the credits to graduate
- Is the student on any type of academic warning or probation? Check the terms of their warning. Will dropping this course affect this?
- Will the X drop a student below 12 credits (full-time status)?
- athletic eligibility is based on full-time status
- financial aid is NOT recalculated mid-semester
- Please make sure you copystudentsuccess@allegheny.edu on your message to the student, so that everyone is in the loop.
End-of-Semester Academic Alerts
End-of-semester Academic Alerts can be vitally important. You should submit an Academic Alert for each student who earns the following grades in one of your courses: C-, D+, D, F, or NC.
You should also submit an Academic Alert for every grade of Incomplete (IN) and for every instance in which you granted a “Withdrawal for Extenuating Circumstances” (W). For grades of IN, you should report the grade to which the record will default if the student fails to complete the work. For grades of IN and W, you should briefly report the circumstances that lead you to award that grade.
For those students who are facing Academic Suspension or Dismissal, the Academic Alert record is included in the materials reviewed by the Academic Awards and Standards Committee. It is vitally important, therefore, that Academic Alerts for students be submitted NO LATER than one week after the final grading deadline for the semester.
Record Keeping and Student Privacy
Academic Alerts are part of a student’s educational record and are subject to FERPA. The contents of Academic Alerts are confidential and should not be shared outside the circle of school officials with a legitimate educational interest to know the information. Students do not receive a copy of the instructor’s comments and you should not share the verbatim comments with them. It is acceptable to paraphrase, but instructors may include notes for professional staff that are not for students. HOWEVER, please be aware that a student has the right to inspect their educational record so long as they follow published guidelines, so please write in the knowledge that a student COULD one day read what you write. Instructor comments and observations should be kept to academic and associated matters.
What Academic Alerts cannot do
The Academic Alert is a useful tool, but it has limitations. Academic Alerts go to the Class Deans and Student Success staff (and coaches where applicable) only. They do not go directly to the Dean of Students, Residence Life, the Counseling and Personal Development Center, the Registrar, Career Education, Public Safety, etc. The Class Deans and Student Success staff reroute matters of concern during business hours as appropriate. In the case of emergency safety and concern situations, faculty should call Public Safety (814-332-3357)
Questions concerning Academic Alerts should be directed to:
Erin O’Day-Frye, Senior Associate Dean for Student Success, eoday@allegheny.edu
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