Quality Enhancement Plan

Welcome to the Cedar Valley College Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP)

One of the most important components of the reaffirmation process is the institutional development of the Quality Enhancement Plan, or QEP (Core requirement 2.12). The QEP: "(1) includes a broad-based institutional process identifying key issues emerging from institutional assessment; (2) focuses on learning outcomes and/or the environment supporting student learning and accomplishing the mission of Cedar Valley College; (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" (Resource Manual for the Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement).

The title of Cedar Valley College's QEP is "It All Begins with ME – Math Empowerment." This topic was ultimately selected for several reasons. Many of the students who enroll at Cedar Valley College arrive significantly under-prepared to be successful in college-level mathematics. Most of our students struggle for success in the mathematics curriculum, and retention rates within the developmental sequence are problematic. After reviewing several years of data, a broad-based group of faculty, staff, students and community members determined that successful completion of learning objectives in mathematics courses were a major obstacle for CVC students, often preventing them from completing their degree programs. As a result, a five-year research-based plan was developed to target student success, retention, and persistence in developmental and first college-level mathematics courses. The QEP will involve a series of student intervention strategies including active learning, supplemental instruction, peer-to-peer tutoring, improved advisement techniques and a "jump-start" program (intensive math refresher camps focusing on core concepts designed to improve initial placement scores).