Overview:
Always Alert is Gordon State College’s proactive early alert and academic intervention initiative designed to identify and support students who may be at risk of academic difficulty in one or more courses. The program aims to improve student persistence and success by providing timely, personalized outreach and targeted academic coaching.
Description:
Through the Always Alert program, faculty members play a central role in supporting student success by serving as volunteer academic coaches. These faculty coaches offer individualized guidance and encouragement to help students address academic challenges, develop effective study strategies, and stay on track toward course completion and degree progress.
The program operates through EAB Navigate360, which facilitates faculty-student communication, appointment scheduling, and comprehensive record-keeping. Faculty can raise alerts through two primary channels:
- Progress Reports issued during the 5th and 10th weeks of each semester.
- Ad-hoc Referrals, which may be submitted at any time based on faculty observation or student performance.
Each alert identifies one of four key reasons for concern, automatically generating an email notification to both the student and their assigned academic advisor. These communications are designed to be supportive rather than punitive, providing students with clear information about available campus resources such as tutoring, advising, and counseling services.
When an instructor selects “Poor Grades” as the reason for an alert, the system prompts the student to schedule a meeting with a faculty academic coach for additional one-on-one support.
By combining timely faculty engagement, structured outreach, and coordinated student support services, Always Alert strengthens Gordon State College’s commitment to improving academic outcomes and fostering a campus culture of care and accountability.
KPIs:
KPI 1. One appointment attended by a unique student who received an alert for Progress Report #1 appointment campaign.
KPI 2. The persistence of students (to the next semester) who attended appointments
versus those who received alerts and did not attend appointments.
KPI 3. Overall student success and retention (FTFT year-over-year comparisons)
KPI 4. Student perception of the program as it relates to the institution's interest in
their success.
KPI 5 (new for Fall 2024). Faculty participation.
KPI 6 (new for Fall 2024). Students are marked at-risk on progress reports.
Baseline measure (for each KPI):
KPI 1. Percentage
KPI 2. Percentage (Group A – Group B)
KPI 3. Percentage growth year-over-year in FTFT students.
KPI 4 (new for Fall 2024). The number of faculty who participate in progress reports
– 86% (average of AY 23-24 progress reports)
KPI 5 (new for Fall 2024). 12% for Progress Report #1 (average of FA 23 and SP 24
Progress Report #1) and 18% for Progress Report #2 (average of FA 23 and SP 24
Progress Report #2)
Current/most recent data (for each KPI):
KPI 1. 8.7% (Spring 25 P1 appointment campaign)
5.0% (Fall 25 P1 appointment campaign – current data)
KPI 2. 8.2%(Fall 24 P1 appointment campaign)
7.7% (Spring 25 P1 appointment campaign – current data))
Students who attended appointment in SP 25 persisted at 73.2%
Students who did not attend appointment in SP 25 persisted at 53.5%
Entire population of SP 25 persisted at 65.5%
Students who attended appointment in SP 25 persisted at 7.7% higher rate than all
Students
KPI 3. 48.8% for FA 21
49.7% for FA 22 = 0.9% increase
53.2% for FA 23 = 3.5% increase
64.5% for FA 24 = 11.3% increase (current data)
KPI 4 - Fall 2024 - 95% for Progress Report #1 and 91% for Progress Report #2
Spring 2025 – 94% for Progress Report #1 and 88% for Progress Report #2
Fall 2025 – 96% for Progress Report #1 and 95% for Progress Report #2
KPI 5 - Fall 2024 – 11% for Progress Report #1 and 13% for Progress Report #2
Spring 2025 – 10% for Progress Report #1 and 14% for Progress Report #2
Fall 2025 – 12% for Progress Report #1 and 15% for Progress Report #2
Goal or targets (for each KPI):
KPI 1. 90 per semester. This is roughly 3% of our total population. According to our
data, between 10% and 20% of students are "at-risk" starting after Week 5.
KPI 2. To be determined
KPI 3. 1% per year.
KPI 4. > 90%
KPI 5. < 11 for Progress Report #1 and < 13 for Progress Report #2
The Always Alert program continues to evolve in structure and effectiveness as we refine our early intervention and student success strategies. Building on earlier progress, the program now operates on a three-campaign model that aligns with major academic checkpoints throughout the semester. Each campaign is directly linked to Navigate alerts and appointment campaigns, ensuring timely outreach and opportunities for academic support.
- Campaign 1 (Weeks 1–7): Incorporates ad-hoc alerts and Progress Report 1 submissions.
- Campaign 2 (Weeks 8–10): Focuses on Midterm F alerts and ongoing ad-hoc alerts.
- Campaign 3 (Weeks 11–14): Draws from Progress Report 2 submissions and ad-hoc alerts.
This structure ensures that students can be referred for academic coaching up to three times during a term, improving sustained engagement with support services.
The move to this model follows prior adjustments that strengthened the program’s foundation—most notably, the shift of the second progress report to Week 11 to allow more time between midterms and updates, and the integration of automated appointment campaigns in Navigate, which helped streamline scheduling and contributed to a 30% increase in appointments in Spring 2024.
To further expand outreach, the tutoring referral alert introduced in Spring 2025 has been successful. When a student receives two referrals for tutoring in a specific subject, tutors now proactively contact them to schedule a session. This workflow has strengthened connections between academic coaching and tutoring, ensuring that referred students receive personalized support from multiple members of the success team.
Despite these advances, the program continues to face challenges in appointment attendance. While many students schedule sessions, a significant portion do not attend. During the Fall 2025 Midterm F campaign, for example, only about 29% of students who made appointments attended—roughly one in three. The reasons for this are not yet fully clear, but contributing factors may include limited awareness of the program’s purpose, unclear communication about the value of appointments, or competing student priorities.
As of November 11, 2025, the Always Alert program may fall short of 100 successful appointments across all three campaigns—slightly below the 110 appointments completed in Spring 2025. However, the tutoring system connected to early alerts has shown positive momentum. Tutoring appointments are expected to exceed Spring 2025 totals, suggesting that increased collaboration between early alert responders and the tutoring team is beginning to pay off.
The upcoming year for Always Alert will focus on strengthening coach training, improving student engagement, and refining campaign communication. While structural improvements have been made, the program fell short of its appointment and engagement goals, underscoring the need for targeted adjustments.
1. Strengthen Academic Coach Training
We will enhance training and process clarity for academic coaches through structured sessions each semester. Training will emphasize:
- Consistent use of Navigate, including detailed appointment summaries.
- Stronger coordination with advisors, tutors, and faculty.
- Regular check-ins to share strategies and address challenges.
Better preparation will lead to more consistent outreach and accurate documentation of student progress.
2. Expand Student Awareness and Participation
Many students remain unaware of Always Alert or its benefits. We will increase visibility and motivation through:
- New Student Orientation introductions.
- Targeted emails and texts featuring success stories.
- Workshops and classroom visits promoting early engagement.
These efforts aim to boost both appointment scheduling and attendance.
3. Refine Messaging and Nudge Strategy
Some students make appointments simply to stop automated reminders. We will review and revise the tone and number of nudges to encourage genuine participation rather than compliance.
4. Prioritize Early Interventions
Progress Report 1 continues to yield the best results for student improvement. Greater emphasis will be placed on early follow-up during Campaign 1 (Weeks 1–7) through faster response and closer coordination among faculty, coaches, and tutors.
5. Focus on Measurable Impact
Although Fall 2025 may end below 100 successful appointments, the goal remains to exceed past totals through improved training, communication, and student understanding.
CHALLENGES:
Several factors may affect our ability to fully achieve the goals outlined for Always Alert. The most significant challenge remains low appointment attendance—many students schedule but do not show up, often due to limited understanding of the program’s purpose or unclear motivation to participate. Additionally, the volume and tone of automated nudges may unintentionally prompt students to make appointments without genuine intent to attend.
A major operational challenge is staffing. Limited personnel resources make it difficult to maintain consistent follow-up, manage multiple campaigns, and provide timely communication with every referred student. This also affects our capacity to train and support academic coaches effectively.
Internally, inconsistent training and documentation practices can hinder data quality and reduce the impact of follow-up efforts. Limited coordination between coaches, advisors, and tutors can further dilute the program’s overall effectiveness.
Finally, student awareness and perception of Always Alert remain barriers. Without stronger visibility—especially early in the semester—students may not view the program as a proactive support system. Addressing these staffing, communication, and engagement issues will be essential to improving participation and achieving sustained progress.
SUPPORTS:
The University System of Georgia can best support Gordon State by providing comprehensive training resources for academic coaches that emphasize effective outreach, documentation, and student engagement strategies. Systemwide workshops or certification programs could help coaches build consistent skills in case management, motivational interviewing, and Navigate utilization. Access to shared best practices and model workflows from peer institutions would also strengthen coordination and efficiency. Ongoing professional development focused on early intervention and data-informed coaching would further enhance program impact. Additionally, grant funding for academic and success coaching would be instrumental in sustaining and expanding these efforts.
