LCU recognizes that students often face significant challenges that have the potential to derail them and prevent them from fulfilling their dreams of completing a college education. Challenges that hinder students’ success were identified during the 2016–2017 QEP (Quality Enhancement Plan) topic selection process conducted by a committee of LCU faculty and staff. Consequently, a determined focus toward addressing these challenges was made a priority by the university in an effort to serve the needs of our students and strengthen the mission of the university, preparing students for lives of purpose and service. To do so we recognized that we must purposefully attend to factors that affect students’ potential for success and their ability to persevere through adversity. Based on this ideal, we determined that the purpose of our QEP would be to instill and foster academic tenacity among beginning undergraduate students in order to both establish and bolster persistence.
The goals of the QEP are to:
- Instill and foster academic tenacity in beginning undergraduate students
- Develop learning environments that support a growth mindset and academic tenacity
Our student learning outcomes include:
- Students will be able to demonstrate satisfactory knowledge and understanding about fundamentals of growth mindset in Phase I courses. (1.1)
- Students will develop and strengthen key metacognitive skills that support academic tenacity in Phase II courses. (1.2)
Our operational outcomes include:
- Retention rates for freshmen to sophomore level students will improve. (1.1)
- Faculty and staff will develop knowledge and skills that promote academic tenacity in students. (2.1)
