The Academic Center for Excellence (ACE), which already uses TutorTrac software, and the University Professional Development Center, will provide workshops for faculty and staff in the use of software designed to track student performance; those tools and training will assist them in referring students to the tutoring and peer mentoring services provided by ACE. Training sessions will also be provided by the Offices of Student Life and Residence Life to show faculty how to engage students more fully with the concepts of the AWA Living-Learning Community concept and the services their offices provide that support teaching and learning.

Given the size and budget of the institution, implementation of the QEP requires a significant commitment of financial resources and personnel. The Academics with Attitude QEP has the potential to initiate a significant shift in the academic culture of the University. Consequently, the QEP Committee, with the approval of the University SACS Leadership Team, proposed the creation of a pilot project—a QEP in miniature—for implementation during the 2008-2009 academic year. (Link to QEP Committee Minutes_5-13-2008.pdf) The pilot study will provide assessment data for use to fine-tune the plan, provide baseline information on which to draw comparisons between QEP-managed and non-QEP students, iron out difficulties in implementation, and ensure a more successful educational experience for a greater number of students in 2009-2010. It will serve as the model for the enlarged summer pilot of the AWA QEP in summer of 2009.

The QEP pilot study is being coordinated by a faculty member from the English program with extensive experience in developmental education and who has been a member of the QEP Committee and QEP Selection Committee since 2007. The AWA Pilot Project Coordinator has the responsibility for overseeing activities associated with the pilot project and for reporting to the QEP Committee, which serves in lieu of the future Implementation Committee. The Coordinator and QEP Committee oversaw the selection of faculty, staff, and Living/Learning Assistants for the pilot study. The Coordinator arranged appropriate training sessions for them and has had the responsibility of the every-day management of the pilot study in guiding it to its completion date in May, 2009. A QEP Implementation Committee made up of 3 representatives of the QEP Committee and appropriate officers of the University has been constituted to oversee the implementation of the QEP.

The QEP pilot study will focus on 60 at-risk students who require remediation in the three subject areas of reading, writing, and mathematics and on a control group of 60 similar students. The pilot coordinator, in collaboration with the Office of Enrollment Management and the Registrar, will select students for both groups from a list of applicants during the early summer, according to criteria that characterize the typical at-risk KSU student. Each group of 60 students will be subdivided into cohorts of 15. All newly entering freshmen at KSU for the past four years have been block-scheduled into classes by the Registrar and the Office of Enrollment Management. The past success of this practice ensures that the QEP groups will be smoothly blocked scheduled into classes designed solely for them and will be assigned to QEP-floors in a residence hall; the non-QEP groups will be blocked scheduled into regular non-QEP classes and will not be assigned as cohorts to residence halls. The block-scheduling of students will be

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