Mission
Our mission is to help institutions build a culture of student success, with a focus on students from low-income backgrounds and Black, Latinx/a/o, Indigenous, Asian, and Pacific Islander students, by identifying, building, and scaling equitable and holistic advising solutions that support all facets of the student experience.
Vision
Our vision is a higher education landscape that has eliminated race and income as predictors of student success through a reformed approach to advising, in which all students are supported through a seamless, personalized postsecondary experience that creates better personal, academic, and professional outcomes.
Definition
Advising is a critical component of student success, and a “bright star” in the integrated constellation of student supports at an institution. The advisor-advisee relationship supports students as they identify and attain their academic, career, and personal goals.
The network defines “advising” as encompassing more than the student interaction, to also include the structure and operations of academic advising; the roles and responsibilities of primary-role and faculty advisors; and advising pedagogies, approaches, and models.
Network Equity Focus
The Advising Success Network (ASN) defines racial and socioeconomic equity as centering the lived experiences, talents, and aspirations of students from low-income backgrounds, as well as Black, Latinx/a/o, Indigenous, Asian, and Pacific Islander students.
The network seeks to raise awareness from an institutional perspective, focusing on how the institution designs systems, policies, and processes to either build healthy inclusive cultures or perpetuate systemic inequities
The network desires to change the institution’s understanding of how legacy practices and policies enable or impede student success, and impact student economic mobility and personal, academic, and career success. The ASN aims to guide institutions in this critical work needed to address these systems of power, privilege, and race through analysis of advising policies and procedures.
Equity in fulfilling our mission
The pursuit of equity is fundamental to the ASN’s mission. A key focus of the network is to ensure historically under-represented students receive sustained, strategic, integrated, proactive, and personalized support through holistic advising and other student services. Network assets and services must therefore start by aligning stakeholders at any given institution on a shared vision for success, including metrics and institutional equity goals and anticipated outcomes. Institutional context informs existing policies and practices, as well as individuals’ understanding of equity goals. Whereas some institutions may articulate equity goals of serving a sub-population of students, others primarily serve racially minoritized students.
The network will also work with institutions on dismantling racist and classist hiring processes, work flows, policies and structures, to focus on quantitative outcomes and qualitative understandings of students’ experiences, to disaggregate data to the finest possible point to humanize all student populations and more responsibly identify inequities, and to ethically setup and use analytics technologies.
Equity in our network partners
Each network core partner organization has an expressed commitment to equity. As part of the quality assurance and professional development plans for network partners, the ASN and members will consistently check biases, seek input on contradictions, hold themselves accountable, and strengthen their skills. The ASN will critically analyze and aim to continuously improve systems, structures, cultures, policies, and processes within partner organizations and network activities, as well as through service design and delivery. Professional development will be provided on a continuous basis to bring awareness to our own biases, enhance our cultural competency, and inform our work.
Network Partners
NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) is the leading association for the advancement of the student affairs profession. Within the Advising Success Network, NASPA is well-positioned at the intersection of student and academic affairs to play the role of convener, thereby ensuring collaboration between partners, quality of technical assistance, and alignment with the guiding principles of the network.
The ASN has a deep understanding of the interconnection between advising, broader institutional goals, and student success. As thought leaders and experts in the field of holistic advising, we are able to provide resources on best practices in the field of advising as well as change management services to the institution more broadly. We believe this will result in new and reviewed structures and systems for advising that were designed to address racial and socioeconomic inequities and contribute positively to institutional goals and student outcomes.
We recognize that there is a large amount of variance in organizational structures, advising models, and student needs among higher education institutions. We, therefore, begin each engagement by aligning on a shared vision of student success, reviewing existing advising processes, policies and structures, including metrics (e.g. equity..) and always with the joint goal of creating more equitable experiences and outcomes for students from low-income backgrounds, as well as Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, and Pacific Islander students.
NASPA’s five core partners are dedicated to the advancement of the field of holistic advising. Leveraging their collective expertise and existing research and resources, they are well-positioned to provide effective solutions and materials across higher education.
The Network Partners
NASPA is the professional home for student affairs—a network of 15,000 professionals who share a passion for courageous practice, championing innovative programs and services, and centering students in evolution of higher education.
Achieving the Dream (ATD) leads a growing network of more than 277 community colleges committed to helping their students, particularly low-income students and students of color, achieve their goals for academic success, personal growth, and economic opportunity. ATD is making progress in closing academic achievement gaps and accelerating student success through a unique change process that builds each college’s institutional capacities in seven essential areas. ATD, along with nearly 75 experienced coaches and advisors, works closely with Network colleges in 44 states and the District of Columbia to reach more than 4 million community college students.
AASCU is a Washington-based higher education association of nearly 420 public colleges, universities and systems whose members share a learning and teaching-centered culture, a historic commitment to underserved student populations and a dedication to research and creativity that advances their regions’ economic progress and cultural development.
EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association and the largest community of technology, academic, industry, and campus leaders advancing higher education through the use of IT.
NACADA promotes student success by advancing the field of academic advising globally. They provide opportunities for professional development, networking, and leadership for their diverse membership.
The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition serves as the trusted expert, internationally recognized leader, and clearinghouse for scholarship, policy, and best practice for all postsecondary student transitions. The Center serves education professionals by supporting and advancing efforts to improve student learning and transitions into and through higher education. Convening of conferences and other professional development events; publication of scholarly books, periodicals and guides; and conducting national research studies are a few of the ways the Center accomplishes this mission.
Common Questions About The Network
- How were the partners selected?
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Core partners were selected based on existing relationships with institutions; reputation; subject matter expertise; commitment to quality and equity; on-the-ground understanding of field needs; and prior work with IPASS, Jobs for the Future (JFF), and Frontier Set institutions.
- How can I get involved?
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We are happy to know you are interested in the Network! The best next step is to fill out the connect with us form and we will be in touch.
Currently, we are piloting services with a select number of institutions. We are, however, interested in learning more about advising redesign across the globe and would love to share your stories. Please connect with us!
- Will you be presenting at any conferences?
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Yes, this is our hope. Due to COVID-19, many of our sessions are currently on hold. You can find out where we will be under the Events page on this site.