Early Intervention is a cooperative and collaborative program involving faculty, students, and staff.

How and when is a referral made?
As a member of the Tougaloo College faculty, you have the best – and earliest – perspective on a student's ability to complete the course work necessary to succeed in your class. When you observe any student struggling or not attending class at the beginning of the term, you can easily refer that student for Early Intervention. The sooner a referral is made, the more effective it will be. You can make a referral by using SAGE in TutorTrac (see instructions on how to create an academic alert).

You can create an academic alert that allows instructors to create student referrals with reasons and recommended actions for students enrolled in their classes. The reason for referral checklist includes behaviors that generally indicate a student's inability to succeed in the class. The other checklist includes recommended actions from the instructor. If a student misses two consecutive class sessions, the faculty member must submit an academic alert. The program provides a response to the instructor to let them know what action was taken by the OSPAS staff.

How and when is a referral made?
The OSPAS office will contact students to arrange for them to obtain the appropriate support. We attempt to reach the student by telephone initially, and if necessary, by letter. Since it is imperative that we speak to the referred student right away, we may ask faculty and staff to ask them to report to our office. If the student cannot be located through these means, we will take other steps such as contacting a parent or guardian for the student’s contact information or going directly to a classroom or other location where we are sure to make contact with the student.

Once we make contact we may be able to resolve the issue over the telephone. Still other situations require face-to-face discussions with the student. The OSPAS staff will discuss your referral with the student, will make them aware of your concerns for their academic success and provide them with options and resources for academic assistance, including:

• Tutoring
• Advising assistance
• Referral to the campus writing, language, and/or reading laboratories
• Study Groups and Academic Workshops as they are available

In addition, students may be referred to other campus resources such as Financial Aid or Counseling. Staff may continue to monitor a specific student's progress to assist them in meeting their academic goals in a particular course, or for all of their courses for the semester.

If we are unable to communicate with the student, we attempt to determine whether the student has unofficially withdrawn. Unofficial withdrawal means the student has left the college without officially withdrawing walked away, stopped attending classes or left campus with no indication of returning. The names are submitted to the bursar, the financial aid officer, the registrar and the Provost for further action.

Help us help you.
If you see that a student is in academic trouble, please utilize the rapport you have with the student to help determine the cause of the difficulty. If you can offer assistance to the student that can meet their needs, please do so. However, if there are any needs that they identify that you are unable to address, please complete the academic alert detailing the content of your discussion with the student. Our office will provide the additional support that is needed.