Berea College

The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is the component of the reaffirmation process that reflects and affirms the commitment of SACSCOC to enhancing the quality of higher education in the region and to focusing attention on student learning and student success. The QEP describes a carefully designed course of action that addresses a well-defined and focused topic or issue related to enhancing student learning and/or student success. The QEP should be embedded within the institution’s ongoing comprehensive planning and evaluation processes and may very well evolve from this existing process or from other processes related to the institution’s internal reaffirmation review.

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The Quality Enhancement Plan is a document developed by the institution that (1) includes a process identifying key issues emerging from institutional assessment, (2) focuses on student learning and/or student success, (3) demonstrates institutional capability for the initiation, implementation, and completion of the QEP, (4) includes broad-based involvement of institutional constituencies in the development and proposed implementation of the QEP, and (5) identifies goals and a plan to assess their achievement.&nbsp; [<a href="https://sacscoc.org/app/uploads/2020/01/Quality-Enhancement-Plan-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://sacscoc.org/app/uploads/2020/01/Quality-Enhancement-Plan-1.pdf</a>]

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Fall 2023
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 	<li>Provost/President give short presentation on the purpose/scope of a QEP and formally initiate our QEP topic and development discussions among students, faculty and staff. (Aug/Sept). <a href="https://bereafaust.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/QEPFacultyMeetingLaunch.pptx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Find that presentation here.</a></li>
 	<li>Members of campus community are invited to serve on QEP exploratory team(s) to generate initial ideas for consideration. (Sept)</li>
 	<li>SACSCOC Leadership Team is formed and shares charge with exploratory teams (Sept)</li>
 	<li>Exploratory team(s) begin identifying and collecting data sources to inform topic/proposal development. (Oct/Nov/Dec)
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Spring 2024
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 	<li>Exploratory teams submit draft proposal(s) to SACSCOC Leadership Team. (Jan 8th)</li>
 	<li>SACSCOC Leadership Team shares with campus draft proposal(s) from exploratory teams. (Jan 11th)</li>
 	<li>Exploratory team(s) presents their draft proposal(s) to campus. (Jan 18th)</li>
 	<li>Revise QEP proposals based on forums/survey feedback. (Feb)</li>
 	<li>Revised QEP proposals shared with Executive Council and associated councils and committees. (Feb/Mar)</li>
 	<li>Bring 2 or 3 final proposals back to campus for final (non-binding) vote (essentially a formal recommendation to the AC/BoT). (Mar)</li>
 	<li>BoT formally approves/endorses final QEP proposal. (Apr)</li>
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Summer 2024
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 	<li>Identify members who will serve on QEP development committee. (May)</li>
 	<li>Baseline assessment data collection; virtual focus groups and individual interviews; literature review (Jun-Aug)</li>
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Fall 2024
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 	<li>QEP development committee (hereafter referred to as the “Committee”) continues work.</li>
 	<li>Campus wide communication continues regarding QEP development.</li>
 	<li>Committee continues to solicit input from campus stakeholders. (Oct/Nov)</li>
 	<li>Committee begins identifying topic experts who could potentially serve as the QEP reviewer for the onsite visit. (Nov/Dec)</li>
 	<li>Committee shares with campus an outline of the final QEP. (Dec)</li>
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Spring 2025
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 	<li>Committee works on preparing initial draft of QEP that includes the context, rationale, supporting evidence, detailed description of plan components, initial budget, and initial assessment plan. (Jan/Feb)</li>
 	<li>Initial draft is shared with key stakeholders (e.g., AC, SST, SPC, etc.) (Feb)</li>
 	<li>Committee revises draft of QEP based on feedback from key stakeholders. (Feb)</li>
 	<li>Committee narrows search to two topic experts who are willing to serve as the QEP evaluator for the onsite review (Feb/Mar) – their names are to be forwarded to SACSCOC along with the Compliance Certification. (Mar)</li>
 	<li>Committee shares revised draft with Campus community and invites final comments/feedback. (Mar)</li>
 	<li>QEP draft presented to the Board of Trustees for formal approval. (April)</li>
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Summer 2025
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 	<li>Finalize QEP budget. (May/Jun)</li>
 	<li>Finalize QEP assessment plan. (Jun)</li>
 	<li>Continue any necessary revisions of QEP. (Jul/Aug)</li>
 	<li>Final draft of QEP is submitted. (Aug 18th)</li>
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The QEP Process/Timeline

In October 2023, the SACSCOC Leadership Team solicited from campus ideas for the focus of our next QEP. From that process emerged nine feasible and important ideas that our campus felt were important for the College to address. The Campus was then asked to rank order their preferences from among those nine ideas so that we could identify the top two or three initiatives that had the most support. The results (presented in the table below) revealed three clear choices to move to the next phase of this process.

<a href="https://bereafaust.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Picture1.png"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-102008 size-full" src="https://bereafaust.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Picture1.png" alt="Campus rank-orderings of topic ideas for our next QEP" width="766" height="222" /></a>

While the topic of "Resilience and Mental Health" received the strongest ranking from faculty and staff, follow-up discussions with Counseling Services and other stakeholders quickly determined that, while this initiative is much needed and of critical importance, the scope of such an initiative would be well beyond the capacity for a QEP. While that idea will not be the focus of our next QEP, it is being addressed by Counseling Services, Campus Cristian Center, and Student Life.

The next three topic ideas with the strongest preferences/rankings from the campus were Financial Wellness, Reading and Writing Skill Development, and Information Literacy. For each of these topics, a team of faculty and staff were recruited to develop a brief proposal highlighting what form their respective topic might take if the campus adopted it as the formal QEP. The three proposals from these teams can be accessed below:
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 	<li><a href="https://bereafaust.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Information-Literacy.pdf?ver=1705406838" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Information Literacy</a> (led by Abby Houston)</li>
 	<li><a href="https://bereafaust.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Reading-to-Write-QEP-Proposal.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reading and Writing Skill Development</a> (led by Amy Nichols)</li>
 	<li><a href="https://bereafaust.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Financial-Wellness-QEP-Proposal.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Financial Wellness</a> (led by Nancy Sowers)</li>
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QEP Topic Proposals

<h2>SACSCOC Resources Related to the Quality Enhancement Plan</h2>
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 	<li><a href="https://sacscoc.org/app/uploads/2020/01/Quality-Enhancement-Plan-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full Policy Statement from SACSCOC describing the QEP</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://sacscoc.org/app/uploads/2019/08/Quality-Enhancement-Plan-Framework.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">QEP Evaluation Framework (Rubric)</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://sacscoc.org/quality-enhancement-plans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Summaries of all QEPs since 2007 (Berea College is a "Track A" institution)</a></li>
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<h2>Berea College's Previous QEPs</h2>
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 	<li>2006 QEP:  <a href="https://bereafaust.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2006-QEP-Highway-to-Enhanced-Student-Learning.pdf">Highway to Enhanced Student Learning</a></li>
 	<li>2011 QEP Impact Report: <a href="https://bereafaust.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/QEP-Impact-Report-2011.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Route 101: Highway to Enhanced Student Learning at Berea College</a></li>
 	<li>2015 QEP: <a href="https://bereafaust.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/FRESH-Start-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FRESH Start:  First-year Residential Experience Supporting Health</a></li>
 	<li>2021 QEP Impact Report:  <a href="https://bereafaust.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/QEP-Impact-Report-Sept-2021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FRESH Start:  First-year Residential Experience Supporting Health</a></li>
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QEP Overview