# Awareness to Action: Student Knowledge of and Responses to an Early Alert System
### Academic Status Reports: A Human-Driven Early Alert System  
In this study, we build upon prior work by investigating student experiences with and perceptions of Academic Status Reports (ASRs) at Arizona State University (ASU). The ASR system is an early alert reporting system designed to give students feedback about their progress throughout the semester from their instructor ([[https://students.asu.edu/](https://students.asu.edu/)]([https://students.asu.edu/](https://students.asu.edu/)) academic-status-report, accessed on 12 May 2025). A unique goal of ASRs is to facilitate a \"triangle\" of connections between students, instructors, and support staff [10]. Within the ASR system, instructors have the option to submit positive or negative ASRs. Positive ASRs act as \"kudos\" to students for doing well in class; for example, earning a high grade on coursework. Negative ASRs act as a warning to students, signaling that their instructor has concerns about their academic behavior (e.g., not attending class) or performance (e.g., currently holding a failing grade in the course).  
The ASR system is not automated (in contrast to 15, 20). Instead, like other human-driven early alert systems, it is set in motion via instructor reports [12; 33] and ASRs are intended to go beyond the classroom by facilitating intervention by university staff [10; 21; 33]. The ASR system is also different from initial early alert systems in higher education that focused solely on attendance [10]. Rather, ASRs can be submitted by instructors for a variety of reasons, and the system allows for the provision of feedback and recommended actions. When submitting an ASR, instructors input a status (either a letter grade or a \"satisfactory/unsatisfactory\" designation), and then have the option to (but are not required to) enter a reason code (i.e., \"low class participation\", \"no contact with instructor\", or \"poorgrades on assignments\"), recommend student action (e.g., \"contact the instructor or TA\", \"meet with advisor\"), and/or write an open-ended comment. ASRs are then displayed as an alert on a student's academic portal. This display is coupled by a centrally managed email and text message informing the student that they have an ASR to view on their academic portal, with some academic units sending additional follow-up emails or texts to their students. Also depending on the instructor's academic unit, ASRs are sometimes shared with student support staff (e.g., academic advisors) who can then contact the student.  
For ASRs to function properly, there are many stakeholders continuously involved in the system. The Vice Provost's Office, in collaboration with Enterprise Technology, oversees the maintenance of the system, maintains university websites describing the system and its goals, and sends regular communications to instructors encouraging them to submit ASRs, particularly early in the academic term. It also centrally manages follow-up emails and texts to students informing them of their ASR. Instructors set the system in motion by choosing when, why, and for whom to submit an ASR. Staff continue communication by reaching out to a student who has received an ASR, though not all ASRs are followed by staff contact (follow-up from an academic unit's staff is guided by each unit's own processes and procedures). Finally, and perhaps most importantly, students decide how to respond to the ASR. For this reason, the current study focused on students' knowledge of and reactions to the ASR early alert system.