Northeast Texas Community College is pleased to announce that its new Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is nearing completion. The QEP is an integral component of the reaffirmation of accreditation process that focuses on specific areas of need at an institution. After extensive research and feedback from campus stakeholders, NTCC chose “Sowing Seeds (Show up Engage Experience Develop Succeed) For Success” as its QEP theme.
“Student engagement and personal responsibility rated very high priority when we surveyed students, employees and community members about areas that need improvement. We then sought proposals for QEP ideas that focused on those areas. That process led to the development of a special class for first-year students designed to set them up for success in college,” Betsy Gooding, co-chair of the QEP steering committee, said.
NTCC’s QEP will involve implementing a one-credit hour First Year Experience course. The course curriculum will provide students with the basic knowledge within the student engagement and personal responsibility content areas. The expectations are that students will gain foundational knowledge and skills on which they can build as they advance through their academic careers at NTCC and beyond fostering student success.
“Our hope is that this course will teach students practical skills and concepts that they can apply directly in their lives as students, in their careers, and in their personal lives. We also want to make it a fun and engaging experience that they genuinely enjoy,” Jill Dietze, co-chair of the QEP steering committee, said.
The QEP, along with other reaffirmation documents, is currently under review by a team of evaluators from other institutions affiliated with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSOC). This team will visit NTCC in late September to meet with campus constituents, discuss the QEP and address other accreditation issues. All SACSOC colleges and universities must undergo reaffirmation every 10 years to maintain accreditation.
A pilot program of the QEP course will launch in fall 2023. Meanwhile, other co-curricular activities designed around the QEP theme are already being implemented. EagleGanza, a summer opportunity for students to become familiar with the campus, meet other students and engage with faculty and staff, began in 2021 after initial QEP research was conducted.
“While the data and research behind the QEP is complicated, the purpose is really very simple: we want to give NTCC students the tools and knowledge they need to succeed,” Gooding said.
To learn more about the Sowing SEEDS For Success QEP, visit www.ntcc.edu/qep.
