Initiating an ecosystem approach to student success

Washington University's approach to undergraduate academic success has been and remains grounded in high touch advising and strong personal investment from instructors. As the student body grew and student needs changed, particularly post-pandemic, a more systematic approach was necessary. A significant number of new initiatives were launched (many simultaneously), with more still in planning stages, operating at scales from individual students, to courses, to departments, to school- and university-wide. Coordinating and aligning these efforts has required the development of appropriate structures for common goal setting (generating consensus measures of success) and cross-unit collaboration. We will discuss key elements in the architecture of our approach-- establishing a common data infrastructure to support consistent evaluation of progress towards success, enhancing communication channels to facilitate awareness of and timely response to student needs, providing support to faculty, departments, and advising offices to collect and analyze data on student outcomes and design effective interventions, and convening communities of practice to build both knowledge and relationships across units that might not otherwise interact.