Success Programs

Starfish Flag Protocols

Success begins with Starfish at CSU​​​​​​​

Starfish Flag protocols

Below are the protocols for the various colleges and advising offices around the university. 

If you have any questions related to these protocols, please reach out to that area's advising administrator.
 

Athletics

Currently, each Athletic Advisor has their own approach to responding to Starfish flags.  Moving forward, the protocol will be:

  1. Contact the student via phone/email/text, directing the student to meet with advisor to address the flag
  2. Meet with the student to discuss nature of flag and assess best course of action
  3. Depending on the severity of the flag; 
    1. Notify the coach
    2. Contact the professor
  4. Clear the flag

*When it comes to Starfish flags regarding an attendance concern, all the athletic advisors first check the student-athletes travel schedule to verify that absence was not due to travel/competition obligations.  If the flag was raised while the student was involved in university authorized activity, the advisor notifies the professor within the comment section of the flag.
 

College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Advising Center

Every day CLASS advisors receive notices that their advisees have had flags raised in Starfish. Flags are generated by faculty who have a concern about a specific student. CLASS advisors take action within 24 hours of the flag notification (typically even sooner).
Dependent on the type of flag raised, the advisor will proceed with the prescribed CLASS Advising Center’s protocol.

Attendance:
Advisors email the student through Starfish (so that it is documented) concern about their class attendance. Advisors may use the template created by the CLASS Advising Center which they personalize for each student. See Template 1 below.  The advisor may also use their own wording which contains approximately the same information but is stated in their own words. As attendance flags progress, 2 days absent, three days absent, etc. the advisor will outreach with wording of more urgency. If this continues, the advisor will call the phone number listed in CampusNet to try to reach the student, inquire as to the reason(s) for missing class, and provide guidance. A detailed note in Starfish documentation is added for this action. Advisor guidance to the student can range from speaking with the instructor to see if work can be made up, inquire as to how attendance will affect grades, or even discussion, if necessary, about withdrawing from the class. Guidance provided is appropriate for the specific problems the student is facing. If withdrawing is discussed the advisor will provide appropriate information concerning effects on academic standing and will refer the student to Campus411/All-in-One to discuss potential effects on finances, i.e. financial aid.

Academic Concern: 
Advisors email the student through Starfish (so that it is documented) to address the specific concern the instructor has raised. Advisors may use the template created by the CLASS Advising Center which they personalize for each student. See template 2, 3, and 4 below. The advisor may also use their own wording which contains approximately the same information but is stated in their own words. As multiple flags are raised (either for one class or for multiple) the advisor will call the phone number listed in CampusNet to try to reach the student, inquire as to the issue(s) faced, and strategize with the student how best to address the area of concern. A detailed note in Starfish documentation is added for this action. Often speaking with the instructor is the first directive, followed by referrals to TASC/Math Tutoring Center/Success Coaching or even possibly to the Counseling Clinic/Counseling Center/CARE Team. 

Kudos:
Advisors receive notification for each Kudos flag raised. If the student has been struggling but now received a kudos, the advisor will piggyback on the flag, offering their congratulations on the student’s improvement. If time permits, the advisor will offer their congratulations to the student for each Kudos flag raised. 

Progress Surveys:
Multiple times per semester a Starfish generated survey requests feedback from instructors about academic success or distress of the students in their classes. Advisors address surveys just as if it is an individual flag raised for each student. If the instructor has indicated a great concern, phone calls are made to reach the student. A detailed note in Starfish documentation is added for this action. The same effort to reach each student is made just as if an individual flag had been raised and appropriate guidance is provided by the advisor.

Additional Information:
Due to the tremendous volume of flags generated by CLASS advisees (approximately 1400 flags both fall and spring semesters, and 600 during summer semester), CLASS advisors do not close flags. More often than not students do not respond directly to the advisor. Note however that past experience has proven that students do read and react to the outreach. This insight is corroborated by feedback instructors have provided to advisors after flags are raised and advisors do outreach. Instructors have stated that their student concerns have been addressed by the students themselves or that student is attending class with more regularity.  Also due to the size of the faculty, number of classes offered within CLASS, and the individual faculty’s preference for either closing or not closing their own flags, CLASS advisors leave the flags open but act on each flag. Faculty can look in Starfish documentation to see the action the advisor has taken. Faculty should feel free to contact the student’s assigned CLASS advisor should they have additional concerns or comments that they would like to share. Advisor contact information can be found in Starfish under the student’s Network tab.
 

College of Business

Monthly Starfish Flag Outreach Campaign 
College of Business Advisors will contact students based on their assigned caseload regarding raised Starfish flags each month. 

Actions and Outcomes 

First Raised Starfish Flag 

  1. Advisor sends one Starfish message to student even if multiple Starfish Flags are raised. 
  2. If student responds, Starfish Flag will be cleared by advisor 

Second Starfish Flag 

  1. Advisor sends Starfish message to students who have not responded to the first message. Message will provide student with tutoring information, COB Advising contact info for appointment, scheduling, etc. 
  2. Starfish Flag will immediately be cleared by advisor once second outreach attempted. 
     
College of Urban Affairs

Outreach and intrusive advising practices in the Levin College were informed by consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Programs in the Department of Urban Studies.  During students’ initial advising appointment, the Advisor informs them about the Starfish system and the proactive approach to advising employed by faculty and staff at CSU.  

When instructors flag students in Starfish, students are notified directly via CSU email.  Levin College processes prioritize additional student outreach based on students’ academic standing and flag type.  Flags on students on Academic Probation or Warning in particular are prioritized for outreach as quickly as possible.  

Students with flags of greatest concern are contacted by telephone and, if not reached, by email:
-    Academic Concern
-    In Danger of Failing
-    Attendance Concern
-    Three or more active flags
-    Attendance flags in multiple courses*

Students with the following flag types are contacted via email: 
-    Low class participation
-    Low quiz/test scores

*Individual flags for attendance are not prioritized for outreach unless they occur more than once, or in more than one class.  

Outreach attempts are documented as follows: 
-    Telephone calls/voicemails: Staff Advising Note: Advising Outreach – Phone
-    Email messages to students: Comment or Staff Advising Note: Advising Outreach – Email (with a copy to student)

Flag status is monitored and additional follow up outreach efforts are made when flags remain open after two weeks. 

Clearing Flags
Starfish flags are only cleared when substantive contact is made with a student: discussion during an advising session, a telephone conversation, or a returned email from a student.  When clearing flags, instructors are notified via a “closing the loop” comment – one per instructor, if multiple flags exist for an individual course.  

Multiple flags remaining open for students indicate that despite repeated outreach, a student has not responded.

 
College of Science and Health Professions
  • Whenever possible, a COSHP advisor will take action on every early alert issued.   
  • Our action typically consists of contacting the student by email to reinforce the message of the alert and request that they contact us to discuss any academic concerns.  
  • We typically only attempt to contact the student once.  
  • We generally do not close/resolve alerts. This is because Starfish has "milestone" alerts (when a student has 3 or more, or 6 or more active alerts).  This allows us to more easily track patterns with a student, or across multiple classes.  
  • When we are in high-traffic advising times (such as peak registration activity, midterm outreach, etc.) we are sometimes not able to respond to every alert and instead focus on the "milestone" alerts. 
  • When students interact with their advisor, we do cross-reference any alert activity (i.e. when they come in for course registration or for a petition, we discuss any alerts at that time as well). 
     
College of Education and Human Services

Flag Outreach Expectation

  • All flags should be responded to using a progressive mode of response.
  • Attendance flags are generated automatically and should be responded to immediately. Subsequent flags for the same course should be responded to based upon the student interaction after the initial outreach.
  • All flags for academic progress are generated individually by faculty based on academic progress issues (i.e. quiz/test performance, participation, etc.) and should be responded to immediately. Subsequent flags for the same course should be responded to based upon the student interaction after the initial outreach.

Advisor Expectation 

Progressive Mode of Response:

  • There should be a minimum of three different outreach attempts (i.e. phone call, email, generating a To-Do) to Starfish flags.
  • Outreach attempts should be spread out over several days to allow time for the student to respond. 
  • Flag Response Time:
  • The expectation is for advisors to respond to flags daily, but given fluctuating workloads, flags should be reviewed at a minimum twice a week.

    Clearing Flags:
  •  If contact is made with the student: close the flag, select appropriate reasons for clearing the flag (i.e. the concern was successfully addressed) and document student interaction including the plan for improvement (if applicable) in the comment box.
  • If contact was not made with the student after three outreach attempts: close the flag, select appropriate reason (i.e. the concern was not successfully addressed) and provide an explanation in the comment box (i.e. contacted student about attendance and student did not respond).
     
College of Engineering

Protocol for Starfish Flags 2 Parts

  1. Academic Advising (Department/Faculty—Chemical, Civil, Mechanical, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical, and Engineering Technology)
    1. Relies heavily on other programming advising offices (TRIO, Graduation Coaches, FYA, etc.) for courses at the 100 and 200 level to address flags
    2. Common practice amongst all academic departments for poor performance flag
      1. When advisors see flags (on starfish dashboard or in email) outreach is conducted via email and assistance is offered or guidance given
    3. Common practice for attendance flags 
      1. Outreach to students via phone or email to discuss options for 3 or more absences
        1. College advising make 3 attempts to reach student (email and phone call)
        2. Faculty will close the loop with student’s instructor
  2. Academic Advising (College)
    1. For students who are housed in College Advising (typically— Pre-engineering, PENGS, and students who phased out of first year but aren’t yet eligible to declare a major)
      1. i.    Flags are looked at with time permitting due to staffing (i.e. if an advisor is presently booked with appointments, flags are viewed/addressed if time permits)
        1. Kudo Flags are not used
        2. Attendance flags are viewed and outreach conducted if there are more than 3 absences in the same course, or multiple courses
        3. If there are multiple flags for the same student with various issues then outreach occurs
      2. Outreach is a combination of email/phone calls (three attempts are made to connect)
    2. Many faculty in the college reach out to college advising (either the academic advisor or assistant dean of student affairs & advising) if they have an issue with a student and do not necessarily put a flag in starfish
      1. Undergraduate and graduate student are both assisted
      2. College advising may refer to Care Team if necessary
         
First Year Advising, Exploratory Advising, CCP

A minimum of three flag outreach attempts are expected for my advising areas.  Those attempts are as follows:

  • Email the student
  • Call the student
  • Email or call the student

Students are given time to respond between each outreach attempt.  No more than one attempt per student is conducted during a day, and outreach is not to be spread out for more than two weeks.
 
Multiple flags for the same student can definitely be handled within one outreach sequence.
 
If the outreach is successful (some sort of two-way conversation/contact has occurred) during the three outreach attempts, flags are to be closed using the appropriate closure reason.  Comments can be added so the instructor is in the loop.  Reminder:  System raised flags for attendance or 3, or 6 or more flags do not have the close the loop functionality. 

If the outreach is unsuccessful after the third attempt,  flags are closed using the appropriate reason (the concern was not successfully addressed) and the instructor is looped in the process in the comment section.
 
New flags raised after resolving old flags (e.g. those generated in the week 9 progress survey) will restart the outreach protocol.

 
Graduation Coaches

Respond to every flag and will also do a classroom or home visit.
 

Honors College

In the Mandel Honors College our advisors do direct outreach to the students whenever there is a flag.  Because we provide an additional "layer" of advising, this may come in addition to outreach that academic college, athletics, and other advisors may be doing.

School of Nursing

Early Alerts are acted on in a timely manner. There are two different processes for Preparatory Nursing students and admitted students in the nursing major currently enrolled in the School of Nursing (SON).

Preparatory nursing/Pre-Nursing:

Flags are acted on within one to three days. Students are directed depending on the type of flag:

  • Attendance flag: first flag, student is sent an email message reminding them of the importance of going to class to enhance success, keeping their professor informed of extenuating circumstances, and offering an appointment with the advisor.
  • Attendance flag: second flag, or for multiple classes. Same message as above, but student is told they MUST come and meet with an advisor ASAP.
  • Missing Assignments: student is sent an email requesting an immediate appointment with their advisor and informing the student to meet with the professor ASAP.
  • In Danger of Failing flag: student is sent an email requesting an immediate appointment with their advisor and informing the student to meet with the professor ASAP. A reminder of the last day to drop is also included.

Students within the nursing major:

Flags are acted on within one to seven days (the longer time frame is to give students time to meet with the professor and wait for follow up from the professor):

  • Attendance flag: first flag.  The student is sent an email message reminding them of the importance of going to class to increase success, keeping their professor informed of extenuating circumstances, and offering an appointment with the advisor. 
  • Attendance flag: second flag, or for multiple classes. Same message as above, but student is told they MUST come and meet with an advisor ASAP and the advisor will inform the Undergraduate Program Director.
  • Missing Assignments: The student is sent an email directing them to meet with their professor.
  • In Danger of Failing flag: The student is sent an email directing them to meet with their professor ASAP. The advisor will also inform the Undergraduate Program Director. A reminder of the last day to drop is also included.

All flags are cleared after initial outreach is done.

TRIO/SSS
  • Block time every week for flag outreach.
  • Email the student/ Call the student
  • Call the student/ Email the student
  • Email or call the student
  • Give students time to respond between each outreach attempt.
  • If you have a scheduled meeting address flags with the student in person.
  • No more than one attempt a day, but don’t space the outreach out for more than two weeks.
  • Multiple flags for the same student can be addressed with one outreach sequence.
  • Clear flag after 3 attempts.
  • If the outreach is successful (some sort of two-way conversation has occurred), please close the flag with the appropriate reason and add a comment, so the instructor is in the loop. 
  • Reminder:  System raised flags for attendance or 3, or 6 or more flags do not have the close the loop functionality.  This is our old protocol.
  • If the outreach is unsuccessful after the third attempt, clear the flag (the concern was not successfully addressed) and close the loop. Include the instructor in with your efforts in the comment section of Starfish.