What is a QEP?
QEP stands for Quality Enhancement Plan. The creation, implementation, and assessment of a quality enhancement plan is part of the College’s accreditation process. The QEP itself is a carefully designed and focused course of action that addresses a topic or issue related to student learning. Over the next 5 years, Craven will focus its QEP on academic advising through implementing the ACE program.
Why Advising?
Academic advising directly impacts student learning by assisting students in goal setting, planning and career exploration, and mapping out concise and sequential pathways. It is a critical point of contact, support and connection to the college. Advising also provides an important, but often overlooked, intervention known as “reality checking.” All these tools are necessary elements of student learning and success. Craven Community College has developed an advising model that fosters that success—one that is founded on providing students a more structured advising program and the opportunity for consistent and persistent one-on-one contact.
What is ACE?
Craven’s ACE program is a comprehensive advising model that fosters collaborative relationships between students and their advising teams. The intent of this relationship is to guide students through the development of educational goals that align with their personal interests, skills, and abilities and to provide students with layers of comprehensive support. Each advising team is comprised of a professional advisor, a faculty mentor, a career counselor/coach, and a peer mentor—al from the student’s intended program of study. ACE furthers the mission of our institution by building relationships that enhance learning, that lead to the achievement of educational goals, and that assure our students contribute and compete in a diverse and global economy.
ACE Mission, Goals and Outcomes
ACE Mission Statement:
Craven Community College, through a collaborative effort and team approach, will create a comprehensive advising community to give students many layers of support at critical stages in their academic experience. These principles and practices will encourage dialogue with advisees, promote student self-efficacy, and create a more meaningful and reflective advising experience. Embracing the concept of an advising community will improve student persistence and completion rates at the institution.
QEP Goal 1: Create advising partnerships between students and the college community
QEP Goal 2: Assist students to plan, integrate, and align their academic program to meet their personal and career goals
Who is Involved?
- Professional Advisors
- Faculty Mentors
- Peer Mentors
- Students
In other words…Everyone!
QEP Accreditation Standards
Elements of a QEP
Once chosen by the Craven Community College collective, the project should be clear and succinct. it may not exceed one hundred pages, including a narrative of no more than seventy-five pages and appendices of no more than twenty-five pages.
The QEP is expected to be a document developed by the College that includes (1) a college-wide process for identifying key issues and (2) broad-based involvement of College constituencies in the development and proposed implementation of the QEP. The College’s QEP should demonstrate support of its constituencies through:
- Consensus among key constituency groups that the QEP, rather than being merely a requirement for reaffirmation of accreditation, can result in significant, even transforming, improvements in the quality of student learning.
- Broad-based institutional participation of all appropriate campus constituencies in the identification of the topic or issue to be addressed by the QEP.
- Careful review of research and best practices related to the topic or issue.
- Allocation of adequate human and financial resources to develop, implement, and sustain the QEP.
- Implementation strategies that include a clear timeline and assignment of responsibilities.
- A structure established for evaluating the extent to which the goals set for the plans are attained.
SACSCOC Evaluation of a QEP
Review committees expect the College to demonstrate its commitment to the QEP by providing realistic operational plan for implementing, maintaining, and completing the project. The following are guidelines used in evaluating an institution’s QEP:
- The institution identifies a critical issue(s) related to student learning and justifies its use for the QEP.
- The institution provides evidence that it has sufficient resources to implement, sustain and complete the QEP.
- The institution prepares an assessment plan that will demonstrate the success of the plan.
- The institution demonstrates that all aspects of the institution’s community have been involved in the process including trustees, students, and alumni.
