Synergies:

The QEP, the Vision Statement
and the Strategic Plan

A strong connection to the CCC and TI 2005-2010 Strategic Plan and Vision Statement became evident as discussions with constituent groups—including faculty and staff, the CCC&TI Board of Trustees, the Caldwell County School Board and the Caldwell County Board of Commissioners—continued.

Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute
Vision Statement

Through the years 2005-2010, Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute will continuously aspire to be the best community college in the state of North Carolina and a national and global model for community-centered higher learning.  Towards these ends, the College will be an:

  • Excellent Provider of sound education and skills to each student
  • Innovative Creator of dynamic and flexible programs and services, responsive to students’ needs
  • Impassioned Advocate of the values of educational, personal, social, and economic growth and development
  • Outstanding Leader in student-centered lifelong learning
  • Assertive Community Partner guiding all stakeholders towards the best education and resulting quality of life, and
  • Inspirational Model of higher education academic and administrative excellence and integrity.

CCC and TI 2005-2010 Strategic Plan Initiatives

2.7.  Enhancing effective employee professional development.

    • 2.7a Establish and implement a comprehensive institutional Professional Development Plan for all employees by fall 2007.
    • 2.7b Increase resources annually between 2005 and 2010 for comprehensive employee professional development.

5.  The College must use technology to provide stakeholders the opportunity to access services by:

    • 5.1 Developing, expanding, and offering services and equipment that accommodate the needs of students and employees.
    • 5.2 Providing continuous, up-to-date professional development and training of employees.

Strategic Plan initiatives involving professional development and technology enhancements emerged as key elements of the QEP. Quality Enhancement Plan components such as student portfolios, a writing center and an online writing center available to all students, faculty and staff, and a Writing across the Curriculum professional development program all help to integrate the QEP with the CCC and TI Strategic Plan, Vision Statement, and the institutional planning process. 

As working groups submitted preliminary reports, the QEP advisory committee developed the following timeline for plan components, implementation, and assessment.  As a part of this timeline, a QEP writing assessment team will be established each year to work under the direction of the QEP director to review QEP implementation and assessments. 

Beginning in 2006-07 academic year, CCC and TI will implement the Blackboard Academic Suite, which contains a component for electronic student portfolios.  Using these portfolios to store student artifacts, the QEP writing assessment team will review writing samples collected throughout the academic year and evaluate these writing samples using the holistic rubric. 

Periodically, the QEP writing assessment team will send random samples of student writing to external reviewers to evaluate writing proficiency.  Results of these evaluations will be used to monitor the success of the CCC and TI QEP. 

Each year, the QEP director will submit an annual assessment report outlining strengths and weaknesses of QEP implementation, including Writing across the Curriculum professional development initiatives and the direct assessment of student learning outcomes.  Any areas of concern will be addressed in the following year. 

Ultimately, students will become the beneficiaries of these assessments as the achievement of plan objectives continues to enhance classroom instruction.