In preparation for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Commission on Colleges reaffirmation visit in 2013, Dalton State College faculty and staff have begun working on a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) designed to enhance student learning and improve retention rates.

A QEP Topic Selection Committee of about a dozen faculty and staff members has been formed to begin the process, which will culminate in five years when SACS makes its next reaffirmation for accreditation visit, an event that takes place every 10 years.

SACS requires each institution to garner wide-spread participation in campus-wide self-study efforts prior to each reaffirmation visit. Each college or university is expected to develop a Quality Enhancement Plan that “addresses a well-defined and focused topic or issue related to enhancing student learning.”

Dalton State College administrators, faculty, and staff have chosen to focus on the topic of improving retention and graduation rates among its students.
 
“At this point, the topic is too broad and needs a more specific and narrower focus,” says Dr. Henry Codjoe, Director of Institutional Research and Planning and the Chair of the QEP Topic Selection Committee.

“As a result, I am asking the college community to send suggested topics for consideration to the committee so that we can choose the topic that will work best with our goals. We will then come up with a five-year plan that we expect will result in improved retention and graduation rates.”

Codjoe adds that a parallel process is in place to solicit topic ideas from students, alumni, and trustees.

SACS recommends that an institution’s QEP address a well-defined and focused topic or issue relating to student learning and that it become central to the institution’s ongoing planning and evaluation process.
 
“They stress that the process should be methodical, logical and inclusive,” says Codjoe, “and that it include widespread participation by the institution’s constituent groups, such as faculty and staff, administrators, students, alumni and trustees.”

All topic ideas to be considered by the Topic Selection Committee must be received by the Office of Institutional Research and Planning by May 30, Codjoe says.