Introduction

Quality Enhancement Plan

Quality Enhancement Plan Summary

WHAT IS SAN JACINTO COLLEGE’S QEP?

“As many as 51% of college students do not place the same emphasis on the textbook for success in the course, as do their professors.” The Association of American Publishers

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) requires each institution to develop a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP)—a long-range plan to improve some aspect of student learning at the institution. SACS has made the QEP a critical component of the reaffirmation of accreditation process. But San Jac’s QEP is not just window dressing to satisfy SACS. It addresses a major concern of our faculty: too many of our students come to class unprepared.

SJC’s 2009-2012 QEP is called “It’s in the Book!” The goal is simple: we want our students to buy their course texts, actually read the assigned material, and then use the knowledge they obtain.

Last year when SCJ held focus-group meetings on all three campuses to select a QEP topic, a recurring theme quickly emerged: Most students are simply not doing the reading their instructors assign. Those few who attempt the reading often do not read effectively. They fail to identify major concepts, they rarely take the time to annotate as they read, and they usually don’t employ critical thinking skills to analyze what they’ve read.

“It’s in the book!” is SJC math instructor Deanna Robinson’s constant reminder when her students ask questions that were answered in their assigned reading.

But the QEP is not about teaching our students how to read. SJC already has excellent programs, such as our Language Skills courses, ESOL studies, and Student Success Centers, to address the problems of students with low reading abilities. Instead, the QEP focuses on students enrolled in academic-transfer and technical-certificate programs. It emphasizes active reading—the kind that builds knowledge about a discipline, generates critical thinking, and leads to both academic and professional success.

HOW DID THE QEP DEVELOP?

Selecting the Topic
The QEP began in spring semester of 2007 with SACS Compliance Director Serita Dickey’s request for volunteers to facilitate focus groups and town-hall meetings across the district. The purpose of these meetings was to collect ideas for a plan that would enhance student learning and support the college's mission. Forty-two SJC faculty and staff members volunteered and over several months conducted twenty-one brainstorming meetings with faculty, staff, administrators, students, and community members. Those who wanted to participate but were unable to attend the focus group meetings could submit their ideas to the SACS Compliance Office on 5" x 8" cards, as well as via U.S. mail, email, or voicemail on a dedicated QEP telephone line.

“I just wish my students would read,” said SJC English instructor Jo Nell Farrar at the college’s first focus group meeting.

Forming the Steering Committee
Throughout the summer of 2007, a planning team consisting of focus-group facilitators who volunteered to continue working on the project met to consider all the focus-group ideas and identify a possible QEP topic. They set aside those ideas that were already being addressed by other initiatives such as Achieving the Dream and Title V Grants. When the team looked for connections among the remaining topics, they recognized a common denominator—reading. Even students who were deemed "college ready” often did not have the reading habits necessary for success in their courses. This planning team became the QEP Steering Committee. After identifying reading as an issue critical to the success of SJC students, the Committee studied current literature, the college’s GPA Reports, and the Spring 2007 Community College Survey of Student Engagement. This research re-affirmed the Committee’s belief that reading course materials effectively is essential to SJC students’ success in their college studies.

To gain support across the district, the Committee presented its findings to various college constituencies. At the January 2008 in-service meeting, the proposal to base the QEP on reading was presented to the faculty and staff and received positive feedback. San Jacinto College now had a QEP topic. Once the topic was decided, the Steering Committee began creating the QEP—a plan to emphasize effective reading in San Jacinto College teaching and learning.

Enlisting Faculty to Pilot the QEP

“Reading is the most individualized, active, and reflective intellectual activity and as such is the measure for intellectual work in general.” Judith Ramalay and Lee Zia, “The Real Versus the Possible: Closing the Gaps in Engaging and Learning.”

The next step was to recruit faculty for the pre-pilot program during the Spring 2008 semester. Thirty-three instructors from across the disciplines on all three campuses volunteered to work in this early stage of the process. They began by simply observing their students’ use of textbooks and other course reading materials. They also encouraged their students to complete Blackboard surveys that addressed individual reading habits. The information they gained helped them devise teaching strategies that will encourage effective reading in their classes.

These same instructors will implement their strategies during the fall 2008 semester. They will also participate in professional development activities to support their QEP work. At the end of the semester, they will assess the effectiveness of their teaching strategies on their students’ reading habits and success in the course, and they will revise those strategies for the next semester.

WHY DOES THE QEP FOCUS ON READING?

Reading and the Net Generation

“My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a jet ski.” Nicholas Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”

Some researchers call our students the “Net Generation.” These students are the first generation born into the world of the Internet and the vast array of information, entertainment, and distraction it provides. These “digital natives” have grown up at ease with electronics—at first cell phones and CD-players, now Blackberries, iPhones, and iPods. They communicate through email, text-messages, and IM’s. They display their photos and their private lives on MySpace and YouTube. They rely on Google and hyperlinks for quick fixes of information they can skim without effort. To them, a reading assignment of even one chapter—a dozen or more long, gray pages—may seem stagnant and difficult to decipher.

In doing research to prepare the QEP, the Steering Committee found these statistics: *

Studies of students at two universities reveal what some SJC faculty have already observed about their students’ preparation for class:

*Sources of these statistics may be found in the San Jacinto College report on the QEP to SACS and in Dr. Jim Semones’ article “Theoretical Framework for San Jacinto College’s QEP” on sjcd.edu/sacs/

Reading to Achieve Discipline Fluency

“All fields have their own vocabulary, ways of talking about ideas, standards of proof, and methodologies. Undergraduates should become acquainted with these ‘ways of knowing,’ not just because they are a necessary part of becoming a professional but because they may offer insights into other disciplines.” Judith Ramalay and Lee Zia, “The Real Versus the Possible: Closing the Gaps in Engaging and Learning”

This decline in reading diminishes our students’ ability to achieve “discipline fluency.” SJC faculty who are piloting the QEP listed developing discipline fluency as a major requirement for students in their classes. These faculty members define discipline fluency as the mastery of vocabulary, concepts, facts, and applications unique to a particular academic discipline or technical field. Without it, students can’t succeed in their coursework or their chosen professions.

Closing the Gap
Success in college and in the workforce is particularly important to San Jacinto College students now.

“Twenty percent of American workers don’t read at the level required by their jobs.” Jennifer Howard, “Americans are Closing the Book on Reading, Study Finds”

The state of Texas is calling on public education to close the gap between the growing number of jobs requiring higher levels of education and the declining number of workers in the state who have attained that education. A goal of the state is to increase participation in higher education by at least 500,000 by the year 2015. By improving our students’ reading habits and thus improving their chances for success in their courses, we hope to increase the number who attain degrees or certificates and move successfully into the workforce.

HOW WILL THE QEP WORK?

The QEP It’s in the Book! project will begin in Fall 2008 with thirty-three volunteer faculty members.

“Researchers report that Net Gen students will refuse to read large amounts of text, whether it involves a long reading assignment or lengthy instructions.” Diana G. Oblinger and James L. Obinger, “Educating the Net Generation”

Every spring, more San Jacinto College faculty will have the opportunity to join in the project so that by the close of this study in 2012, as many as 150 faculty members from both academic and technical areas will be involved.

Faculty participating in the QEP will

“We are expecting an evolution of change in the learning and teaching culture of the college. “ Catherine Gragg, SJC speech instructor and Steering Committee member

Long-range plans for the project include the development of cross-curricular readings for the district and presentations by nationally recognized experts in the fields of reading and assessment.

The impetus for creating the QEP began with a mandate from SACS, but the plan to improve the reading behaviors of our students came from the entire San Jacinto community. It should strengthen teaching and learning at San Jacinto College for many years to come.

CALENDAR Fall Pilot 2008

August 20 QEP training for the QEP pilot faculty Central In-service
September 10-11 QEP Getting Started Central 1:30-3:30 p.m. (QEP faculty attend one session)
  16-18 SACS On-Site Visit
  23 Dr. Janet Zadina Workshop for QEP faculty
  29-30

QEP Cokes & Collaboration* campus meetings 1:30-3:30 p.m.

*Cokes and Collaboration is an informal come and go opportunity to converse about QEP experiences, teaching, and success. QEP faculty may attend one or both sessions.
October 8 QEP Cokes & Collaboration campus meetings 1:30-3:30 p.m.
  15-16 QEP What’s Working Central 1:30-3:30 p.m.
  23 QEP Cokes & Collaboration campus meetings 1:30-3:30 p.m.
November 12-13 New QEP Faculty Orientation Central 1:30-3:30 p.m.
  19-20 19-20 Pilot QEP Faculty Debriefing Central 1:30-3:30 p.m.
December 2-3 QEP Cokes & Collaboration campus meetings 1:30-3:30 p.m.

 

DO YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE QEP?

The first “class” of QEP faculty was formed last spring and will pilot the first QEP sections in fall 2008. Additional faculty may join the project in November 2008. This new class of QEP faculty will observe their students and devise new teaching strategies in spring 2009; they will implement those strategies in the fall of 2009. In addition to teaching QEP classes, they will attend 3 meetings each semester and have opportunities for professional development activities. Early in the fall 2008 semester, Ms. Dickey will send out a notice asking for new volunteers. Training for new QEP faculty will be on November 12-13, 2008.