Early Feedback to and from Students

Hi everyone,

I recently participated in a conference call with a grant provider who was advocating an early check-in session for students as a best practice for retention.  However, the presenter didn't give specific examples of what this looked like or sources we could turn to if we wanted to implement it.  I know about early alert systems that contact students with poor attendance or low grades at universities and have some idea of how effective those programs are.  And I'd be interested to hear about your experiences with them- but I'm also interested in information you might collect from students to see how their classes are going, if they like their teachers, if they feel like they're learning, if they're facing any challenges outside of school that might make it difficult for them to continue attending class.  This information would be useful, but we already have a lot of interruptions to our classes for administrative functions (e.g., testing, end-of-term course evaluations, various school-wide events), so we'd like to get it in the least burdensome way possible.  How do you guys communicate with students early on to catch the ones that need extra support- or to support a teacher whose class might be getting off to a rough start?