Using Starfish to Support Coordinated Care
A Few Things to Know Before You Begin
You do not need to solve every challenge a student may be facing. Starfish helps connect students with the people, resources, and support that may be able to help.
Coordinated care starts with sharing information, making connections, and working together.
Students often interact with multiple faculty and staff members throughout their time with us. A student may speak with an instructor, meet with a counselor, work with a Navigator, receive guidance from a Program Advisor, visit a Learning Center, and connect with other offices or services.
Starfish helps support these connections by providing a shared space for communication, referrals, recommendations, recognition, documentation, and follow-up. Through tracking items, faculty and staff can share relevant information, connect students with resources, coordinate support efforts, and help ensure students receive assistance from the most appropriate people at the right time.
This guide explains how we use Starfish to support coordinated care and how the various tracking item workflows fit together.
Students often work with multiple offices and support providers. Coordinated care helps ensure support efforts are connected, informed, and focused on student success.
A student may interact with many different people during their time at Montgomery College.
And these are just a few examples. Along the way, students may also receive support related to academic success, paying for college, finding employment opportunities, overcoming barriers, building a sense of belonging, supporting their well-being, and navigating the opportunities, challenges, and decisions that are part of the college experience.
Each interaction provides only part of the picture, and each role contributes a different perspective and area of expertise.
Why Coordinated Care Matters
Coordinated care recognizes that no single person is expected to solve every challenge
a student may face.
Instead, support works best when people share relevant information, contribute their expertise, and help connect students with the right resources and support providers.
Without coordinated care:
- Important information may remain isolated.
- Students may receive duplicate outreach.
- Support opportunities may be missed.
- We may not realize another office is already helping.
- Faculty and staff may feel pressure to address issues outside their role or area of expertise.
With coordinated care:
- Relevant information can be shared appropriately.
- Support efforts become more connected.
- Students can be connected with the right resources.
- Different support providers can contribute their expertise while remaining informed about the broader support network.
- Follow-up and next steps become easier to coordinate.
Warm Handoffs Matter
A warm handoff connects a student with the person, office, or service best equipped to help while providing enough context so the student does not have to start from scratch.
Supporting a student does not mean handling every issue yourself. Often, the most helpful action is helping the student make the right connection.
Examples include:
- Connecting a student with Counseling when a student would benefit from exploring options, identifying next steps, or connecting with appropriate resources.
- Connecting a student with a Program Advisor for program-specific guidance.
- Connecting a student with Financial Aid for aid-related questions.
- Connecting a student with a Navigator for help coordinating resources and support.
How Starfish Helps
Starfish provides tools that help faculty and staff:
- Share information
- Connect students with support
- Recommend next steps
- Recognize progress
- Coordinate follow-up
- Document support activities
Throughout this guide you'll learn how these tools work together to support students and the people working with them.
Flags, Referrals, To-Dos, and Kudos serve different purposes, but all help support communication, referrals, recognition, and follow-up.
When people talk about "tracking items" in Starfish, they are generally referring to four types of tools:
Flags
Used to raise awareness of concerns, observations, patterns, or situations that may
warrant review, outreach, follow-up, or documentation.
Referrals
Used to connect students with offices, services, programs, or support providers that
may be able to help.
To-Dos
Used to recommend or assign next steps, actions, resources, or important information.
Kudos
Used to recognize progress, effort, engagement, achievement, participation, or other positive outcomes.
These four tracking item types are the primary tools used to communicate, coordinate support, and document follow-up in Starfish.
While tracking items may look different, they all support a common goal: helping the right people have the right information at the right time so students can receive timely and appropriate support.
Tracking item descriptions provide important information about notifications, visibility, ownership, and expected follow-up.
Not all tracking items work the same way. Some communicate directly with students, while others support internal coordination, referrals, assignment, documentation, or follow-up.
Example: Reading a Tracking Item Description
Purpose
Why is it used?
Follow-Up
What happens next?
Student Communication
Will the student be notified?
Notifications
Who else is notified?
Routing
Where does it go?
When was it last updated?
You don't need to memorize how every tracking item works. Review the description before using an item so you know what will happen next.
Making Sense of Tracking Item Names
Many tracking items begin with a prefix that helps identify their general purpose
or area. You don't need to memorize them, but recognizing a few common ones can make
it easier to find what you need.
| Tracking Item Name | Definition |
|---|---|
| CLASSROOM_ | Course-related feedback, concerns, recommendations, and recognition |
| COORDCARE_ | Coordinated care, referrals, review, and support coordination |
| PA_ | Program Advising |
| PLANNING_ | Academic planning and degree completion |
| ACAD SUPPORT_ | Tutoring, Learning Centers, and academic support |
| SUPPORT_ | Student support services and resources |
| FINANCIAL_ | Paying for college and financial resources |
| CAREER_ | Career exploration and employment |
| TRANSFER_ | Transfer planning |
| PLACEMENT_ | Placement and assessment |
What you see may vary. The tracking items available to you depend on your role and responsibilities, and some processes may change as our coordinated care approach continues to evolve. This guide reflects current practices and will be updated as those practices change.
Starfish offers different referral pathways depending on the student's need and whether you already know where the student should be connected.
Starfish can help you make a warm handoff when a student may benefit from support beyond your role or area of expertise.
Coordinated Care Referrals
Sometimes you know the type of support a student may need, but not the specific person who should help. Coordinated care
referrals provide a starting point for connecting students with Counseling, a Navigator, or a Program Advisor.
These are internal referrals. The student does not receive an automated notification when the referral is submitted. The information provided is reviewed and the referral is routed to an appropriate provider for follow-up.
Which Referral Should I Use?
Counselor
Consider this referral when a student may benefit from exploring options, identifying
next steps, developing a plan, or connecting with appropriate resources.
Navigator
Consider this referral when a student may benefit from help navigating college processes,
connecting with resources, addressing barriers, or coordinating next steps.
Program Advisor
Consider this referral when a student may benefit from program-specific support related
to requirements, academic pathways, academic planning, or progress toward completion.
You Don't Need to Know Who
Provide the information requested in the referral, including campus or program information when requested, and the referral will be reviewed and routed appropriately.
Know Where the Student Needs to Go?
If you already know which office, program, or service can help, look for an existing
referral specific to that area. These provide a more direct path to services such
as Raptor Central, Learning Centers, Financial Aid, Student Employment Services, Veterans
Services, and other college programs.
Which Referral Path Should I Use?
Need help finding the right person?
You know the type of support the student needs.
Use a Coordinated Care Flag:
Counselor | Navigator | Program Advisor
Know where the student needs to go?
You know the office, program, or service that can help.
Use an office- or service-specific Referral.
Finding Coordinated Care Flags
Look for the COORDCARE_ prefix when connecting a student with a Counselor, Navigator,
or Program Advisor.
Choosing a direct referral
Look for the office or service you need, and review the description to understand
how the referral will be used.
You may not always know the specific outcome of a Flag or Referral. In some cases, you may see other activity in the student's Starfish folder that shows the student connected with support.
For internal and Coordinated Care referrals, the goal is to provide more consistent close-the-loop communication. When the receiving area resolves the item, the person who raised it may receive an email update
Not hearing back does not necessarily mean nothing happened. Your role is to make the connection. Follow-up and documentation may happen through the receiving area's process.
Did a Coordinated Care Item Come to You?
If you received or were assigned a Coordinated Care or other internal tracking item and need to know what to do next, see Coordinated Care in Starfish: What to Do When an Item Comes to You.