Best Practices for Effective Caseload Management in Education

For academic advisors, effectively managing caseloads is crucial for providing personalized support critical to student success. Recognizing each student’s distinct goals, needs, and challenges, and developing targeted support strategies, are fundamental to their role.

With the right tools and processes in place, effective caseload management allows advisors to monitor student progress across their cohort, collaborate with faculty and other staff, and spend time working directly with students who need the most direct support.

In this guide, we’ll explore the ins and outs of advising caseload management and share some best practices.

5 Steps of Proactive Caseload Management

1. Prioritization

Effective caseload management begins with the advisor proactively identifying key factors that may indicate a need for extra support. Those factors might include:

• Low high school or cumulative GPA
• First-generation status
• Financial aid status or financial risk
• Low midterm grads in key courses

2. Planning

Next, the advisor identifies critical times for outreach across the academic year (i.e., registration, midterms, and drop/add dates).

3. Student Outreach and Follow Up

Then, the academic advisor executes outreach, tracks student responses, and follows up as needed – using student communication best practices. Maintaining open lines of communication with students, faculty, and other support staff is vital for managing caseloads successfully.

4. In-Person Support

The previous step is designed to persuade certain students to come in for in-person support. The academic advisor guides the student in person, building a relationship and offering resources, and referring them to other offices as needed.

5. Monitoring and Documentation

After conducting outreach and supporting students in person, the advisor closes the loop and monitors whether students improve. Caseload management – and this step in particular – is much easier with the proper tools and technology in place. Look for digital tools with the following features:

• Progress tracking
• Reporting and insights
• Early alerts
• Campaigns

EAB Makes Caseload Management Easier for Advisors

Traditional advising models can hinder student success. Proactive Caseload Management empowers advisors to proactively support students and ensure their success.

EAB’s Navigate360 CRM makes managing your student caseloads easier by offering features that allow advisors to provide efficient, effective, and scalable student support.