Abstract
Rising mental health concerns, equity gaps, and calls
for “belonging” have increasingly placed expectations on colleges and
universities to prioritize improved student retention and completion rates
(Lipson et al., 2022; National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2024).
Several programs to encourage student persistence, such as “advising
initiatives, early alert systems..., “and high-impact educational practices,
have spread rapidly across institutions. Siloed structures continue in many
contexts; therefore, students lack the benefit of a cohesive approach to their
success (Gardner Institute, 2026; Jacobsen, 2025). The Three-Pillar
Transformational Alignment Model described herein presents a framework to align
shared ownership of leadership roles among students, faculty/staff in building
integrated, relationship-rich success ecosystems for students – grounded in
equity leadership and organizational learning (Felten & Lambert, 2020;
Holcombe et al., 2025; Kezar et al., 2025). Building on an integration of
Astin’s and Tinto’s theories on involvement and integration; and contemporary
literature on mentoring, inclusion, wellbeing, and advising, the model presents
findings on five alignment dimensions recurring in the literature across
multiple areas: communication, coordination, ownership, follow-through, role
clarity (Afzal et al., 2024; Kandiko Howson et al., 2024; Mondisa et al.,
2024). Two scenarios, providing ‘real picture’ illustrations of success
ecosystem, are provided to compare and contrast representative outcomes for
students in a siloed versus an aligned success system, along with implications
for model implementation and assessment referenced to frameworks, “Transforming
the Postsecondary Experience (TPE)”, PASS, student success analytics (Chawla
& Lane, 2024; EDUCAUSE, 2022; Gardner Institute, 2026). These findings
offer the potential for future testing and adaptation for use in institutions
aspiring to greater coherence in the context of student success and
equity-minded initiatives.
