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Early Alert

Campus

About Early Alert

South Dakota State University participates in an Early Alert program to identify undergraduate students who need assistance from academic and student service offices. The purpose of this program is to employ a collaborative effort through which faculty, advisors, and staff notify and support students who are demonstrating characteristics that hinder academic performance. Providing support to these students early in the semester is important to their success.

The Early Alert program allows faculty to identify students who need assistance throughout the semester. When faculty issue alerts in ConnectState, students are notified through email about the faculty member’s concern. Academic advisors, athletics advisors, residential life staff, and other campus departments are informed about these alerts. Staff from these programs then contact students to talk with them about their progress in the identified course(s) and to help them create a success plan to improve their performance.

Most 100- and 200-level courses at SDSU are supported by the Early Alert program. Please refer to the Early Alert page on InsideState for a list of courses supported by the Early Alert program. This program helps to identify students who need support for various reasons including:

  • Poor class attendance
  • Personal or behavioral concerns
  • Low level of class participation
  • Low test or quiz scores
  • Missing or incomplete work
  • Other measures of academic performance

Goals of the Early Alert program are to:

  • Increase communication between students and faculty
  • Increase communication between students and academic advisors/staff
  • Increase student utilization of services
  • Increase student academic success
  • Improve student persistence and graduation rates

Faculty, staff, and students who have questions about the Early Alert program should contact Meghan Peterson or Jody Owen, 605-688-4155.

Additional Early Alert resources are available on InsideState.