Quality Enhancement Plan

The Arrive & Thrive Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is a university-wide initiative focused on improving first-year student success, particularly for students in the Dual Pathways program who require additional support in Math and English. The goal is to help students persist, succeed, and graduate by enhancing academic and student support services.

"Arrive & Thrive" reflects our commitment to use growth mindset to help students not only start their college journey but also persist and succeed. 

The Arrive & Thrive initiative is built on three core pillars, each tied to growth mindset principles to help students overcome challenges and persist in their education:

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  Drive: Encouraging students to set goals and believe in their ability to improve through effort and practice. This aligns with growth mindset pedagogy, which emphasizes that intelligence and abilities can develop over time.
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  Strive: Helping students embrace challenges and persist through difficulties in their academic journey. Growth mindset encourages resilience and learning from setbacks rather than viewing obstacles as fixed limitations.
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  Revolutionize: Empowering students to learn from feedback, adapt, and continuously grow as learners. This reflects the iterative nature of learning, where students refine their skills through persistence and constructive feedback.
  

A QEP is a required part of our university’s accreditation process and demonstrates our commitment to continuously improving student learning and success. Arrive & Thrive was developed based on institutional research showing that first-year students in corequisite Math and English courses have lower retention and success rates. By addressing these challenges, we can help more students stay on track for graduation.

The QEP was developed through campus-wide input, including faculty, staff, students, and administrators. The topic was chosen based on student success data and aligns with the university’s 2030 Strategic Plan for retention and completion.

The University will be assessing and reporting on the QEP's effectiveness over the next five years, especially looking at persistence & retention rates, GPA improvements, and course pass rates for students in the program. 

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Research, and Planning (OIERP), the QEP Leadership Committee, and University College Leadership will evaluate and adjust the plan as they review the data collected over time.

The QEP directly supports the University's 2030 Strategic Plan, specifically in:

• Priority 1: Removing barriers to student success.
• Priority 2: Strengthening equity and inclusion in instruction.
• Priority 4: Enhancing innovative and inclusive learning environments.

The plan aligns with SACSCOC accreditation standards by demonstrating:

• Institutional commitment to student learning outcomes.
• Measurable improvements in retention and completion rates.
•  Faculty-led initiatives to enhance teaching effectiveness.

Students will benefit from:

• Improved advising and mentoring to support their academic journey.
• Peer learning communities to connect with fellow students in corequisite Math and English.
• Growth mindset strategies that help build confidence and persistence in challenging courses.
• AI-powered support tools like the BrUNO chatbot, which provides reminders, study tips, and access to resources.
  

No! The QEP is designed to support student learning, not increase difficulty. By providing targeted interventions like embedded tutoring, structured peer support, and faculty training in student-centered instruction, we aim to help students thrive in their courses.

The QEP primarily supports first-year students enrolled in corequisite Math (Math 1115) and English (ENGL 1157) courses. However, many of its benefits—such as growth mindset strategies and BrUNO chatbot support—are available to all students.

The intention of Arrive & Thrive is learn what interventions benefit students in Dual Pathways and expand helpful services to all students. 

Faculty are central to the success of Arrive & Thrive. They receive professional development on growth mindset teaching strategies, differentiated instruction, and inclusive pedagogy. Faculty also collaborate with academic support staff to provide early interventions for struggling students.

Academic advisors and student success teams like the staff in Student Affairs and the University College play a key role in supporting QEP students. The plan strengthens data-driven advising, integrates early alerts for at-risk students, and enhances mentorship programs to help students navigate their first year successfully.

The university has committed financial, human, and technological resources to ensure the success of Arrive & Thrive. This includes funding for faculty training, peer mentoring, expanded tutoring services, and AI-driven student support tools like BrUNO.

The University is also in partnership with the Gardner Institute and Complete College America (CCA) to work with a cohort of other universities who are doing similar work on their campuses to provide peer-ro-peer support.

While the QEP is a five-year initiative for accreditation purposes, the university is committed to long-term improvements in student success. Many of the strategies introduced through Arrive & Thrive will continue to be refined and expanded beyond the official QEP period.