Using the Care Form
College comes with a great deal of experiences. It can be transformative, enriching, joyous, chaotic, and sometimes just plain hard!
The responsibility to support and care for one another is a core component of the Middlebury College community. The Care Form helps us provide guidance and assistance when students are facing challenges beyond the classroom.
Using the Care Form
What faculty see in the classroom can be fundamentally different from what a residence director sees in a residence hall, a coach sees during practice, a job supervisor sees at work, a Public Safety officer sees when doing rounds, or a trusted mentor hears from a concerned friend. The Care Form allows us to take in all of this information and utilize it to support students.
Once you submit the form, the Center for Student Success team can evaluate a situation and work collaboratively to develop an effective response.
Faculty might use the form to complete certain administrative tasks:
- Incomplete requests
- Course alerts
- Administration Committee petitions
Please note that information you report in the form does not go to students unless you specifically select “course alert.” This is an important distinction to make when contrasting Care Form reports with the course alert template. In some instances, it may be appropriate to use both, or to use each of these at different points in the semester.
Submitting concerns this way also allows us to see when multiple campus partners have concerns about the same student—something that can be difficult to see when single communications are being directed to different offices.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I report a concern about a student?
Whether you are a faculty or staff member or a student, you may use the Care form to report your concerns. The Care form will ask you for specific information and then share the results with our Student Affairs leadership team, who will make an assessment of what kind of support may be needed.
Who has access to information submitted through the CARE Network?
The same group of professionals, including deans, health and wellness educators, and student life staff who have always addressed student concerns will review the information provided in the Care Form.
Is my privacy protected?
Yes. One of the great improvements of the Care Form over our previous email process is enhanced data security when sharing potentially sensitive student information. The CARE Network software platform that powers the Care form features robust security.
Why are we changing to this system?
The Care Form centralizes information that was previously handled primarily by email and phone calls. By having information centralized on a secure server, professional Student Life staff can form a more complete assessment of what kind of support students need and take action accordingly.
How is the information used to support students?
In addition to facilitating certain administrative tasks, the Care Form allows professional Student Affairs staff to make timely, informed assessments of students who may be facing academic, behavioral, or health challenges. The centralized information helps staff plan the best, most appropriate support plan for students as needed.
Is the Care Form ever used to punish a student?
This is not a punitive system. Just as its name suggests, the Care Form is a system designed to support student success. By streamlining a system to report student concerns, Student Affairs staff are better able to respond quickly and try to address emerging issues before they become bigger problems.
Does this mean I should no longer contact a student’s dean if I have a concern?
Not necessarily. You should feel free to contact a student’s dean if you believe it would be helpful in a given situation. However, we ask that you first complete a Care form so that your concern is logged in the system.