Connecting FoE® to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Quality Enhancement Plan

Betsy Q. Griffin, Ph.D., Senior Associate Vice President
John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education

There are 49 institutions in the Southern Association region that have participated in Foundations of Excellence in the in the First Year of College (FoE); this number includes 9 institutions that are in 2010-2011 FoE national cohort. Two SACS institutions that previously participated in Foundations of Excellence in the First Year of College are currently undertaking the Foundations of Excellence Transfer Focus.

Eight institutions that participated in Foundations of Excellence close to the time of their Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) reaccreditation or the development of their Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) have made a connection between the two projects. Three of these institutions used information or recommendations from their FoE process to develop their QEP; while, the other institutions used FoE to address aspects of their QEP. Six additional FoE institutions are in the formative stages for their QEP and are currently considering possible connections between the two. For many of the institutions the timing of their participation in FoE has not coincided closely enough with their SACS process link the two. The following brief descriptions provide a glimpse of the kinds of connections that institutions have made between their Foundations of Excellence project and their QEP for SACS.

Foundations of Excellence project to develop a SACS QEP

Reinhardt College’s interest in developing an intentional and cohesive first-year experience (FYE) and in using the FYE development as a project for their upcoming QEP arose from their review of general education. As a way to develop a more manageable project for their QEP Reinhardt College decided to participate in the Foundations of Excellence. The FoE project increased broad-based campus involvement and buy-in regarding the importance of the first college year. It was critical to the identification of first-year student learning issues appropriate for the College’s QEP.  The Compass Project, a QEP to improve reading and writing in the first year, developed from the FoE self-study. Eight of the nine FoE action items were addressed to different degrees in the Compass Project.

Virginia Highlands Community College selected its QEP, Strengthening Orientation, Advising, and Retention (SOAR), based upon the data, information, and recommendations from the Foundations of Excellence project. As a result of its 2005-06 FoE process VHCC developed a philosophy statement that is consistent with their mission and underlies their QEP. The Steering Committee of the Foundations of Excellence Task Force recommended that VHCC focus on the developmental model of advising and specifically look at 1) Orientation, 2) Advising, 3) Communication, and 4) Early Intervention as the basis for the QEP. In 2006-07 the QEP Teams developed an implementation plan for each of the four areas that make-up the SOAR QEP.

Edison State College developed their Foundations of Excellence recommendations into six categories: Assessment and Evaluation, Orientation, Student Success, Training and Development, Communication, and Student Learning.  The Student Learning component was developed as the QEP; it will become the first-year experience course entitled “Cornerstone Experience”.  The “Cornerstone Experience” (QEP) and the other five components comprise the FYE Program entitled “The Foundations of Self-Reliant Learning”.  They fall under the direction of the newly created First Year Experience department.

Using Foundation of Excellence to address a QEP

Florida Southern College’s QEP, Student Awareness Generates Action (SAGA), is designed to engage students, faculty, and staff campus-wide in understanding and taking consequential actions related to annual themes.  The annual theme is integrated into the first-year experience through a common reading, activities in orientation, and freshman seminar. Several of the recommendations in Florida Southern College’s FoE action plan rely on or integrate the QEP.  For example, recommendation 2 of the FoE plan was to establish an oversight committee of faculty, staff, and students to meet prior to the launch of the annual theme to ensure the intentional development of integrated, mutually-supporting theme-related programs and initiatives.  The oversight committee was implemented in fall 2008 to great success.

Georgia Southern University began developing its QEP, Advancing a Culture of Engagement: Creating the Engaged Learner in 2003; two years prior to the University’s participation in Foundations of Excellence. Three of the five objectives of the final QEP focused on the first year.  Georgia Southern participated in the FoE in order to better achieve these objectives. The FoE self-study produced many significant findings. Some of the results led to the formation of the Faculty Task Force; the group was charged with developing academic challenge/support initiatives to strengthen the First-Year Experience on campus.

The University of Texas at El Paso took a different approach to their FoE self-study by focusing on transfer rather than first-year students. Its experience, as well as, the experience at Wichita State University and the urging of other institutions, prompted the development of the Foundations of Excellence Transfer Focus. UTEP’s focus on transfer students in their FoE self-study helps to explain in part how they made a connection to their QEP which focuses on Student Success in the Middle Year through curriculum review and advising renewal.  One of the major goals of the UTEP QEP involves reinventing academic and career advising. UTEP created the Advising Task Force to develop a plan to address this goal.  The co-chairs of this Task Force also chaired the Roles and Purposes Subcommittee of FoE.  Their work on the Task Force helped inform their work on FoE.  In like manner, their work on FoE has helped to inform their Advising Task Force work.

University of North Texas was developing their first QEP at the same time as they were involved in the FoE self-study. The QEP at UNT involved redesigning large core classes using technology and innovative teaching methods. One outcome of the FoE self-study was the creation of an early warning intervention for the classes using indicators like attendance, failing the first quiz, homework results, etc. and referral of identified students to offices that could help them be successful in the class. This was developed into a proposal for Title III funding, which was received.  The grant enabled expansion of the outreach and speed up the revamping of all of the core courses.

Berea College designed its QEP, Route 101: Highway to enhanced Student Learning at Berea, to improve student success by focusing on improving learning skills for both students on probation and first-year students.  Berea College engaged in the Foundations of Excellence self-study during the first year of its QEP, during which they intended to study best practices, consult with experts, and develop the plan for their first year seminar. Their FoE project directly supported the development of the first year components of Berea’s QEP.