Features

Report: WIM program helps students ‘make the grade’

by Angelik L. Edmonds

Winston-Salem State’s Quality Enhancement Plan, “Writing in the Major Program” is making a significant impact on tutored students’ grades.
The WIM program is three years old.
Since its commencement, the Writing Center has tutored more than 4,000 students.  
WIM tutored students had a 33.2 percent higher chance of receiving passing grades of  A, B, or C in their courses, said Derrick Virgil, assistant dean of Academic Services and Assessment.
Virgil said that tutored students performed better in both midterm and final grades.
  Students who came to the Writing Center more than once decreased their likelihood of earning a D, F, I, or W by more than 8 percent, Virgil said.
This semester, the Writing Center is adding an AccuTrak system to permit tutors and faculty to log in using their Banner Identification Numbers.  Prior to AccuTrak, the Writing Center used Microsoft Excel.
AccuTrak will alleviate some of the time associated with recording quantitative data such as the number of visitors, number of return visitors, and classifications of students.
Next semester, the system will be available for student use.
Every 10 years, schools are required to propose a plan to improve a “significant aspect of student learning or the learning environment,” Virgil said.
QEPs are individual to each university.  
“The concept of QEP [at WSSU] was bottom up,” said Elizabeth Priest, assistant director of the Writing Center.
In 2010, WSSU began the Writing in the Major Program designed to improve the writing skills of juniors and seniors.  
WIM faculty teaches classes with a strong emphasis in writing proficiency; these classes require students to visit the Writing Center and complete multiple drafts before submitting a final draft to their professors.
After every academic year, a comprehensive evaluation is done on the  WIM program that includes interviews and campus visits by Southern Association of College and Schools.    
The WIM program reports to Provost Brenda Allen.
QEPs are mandated by the SACS.  To renew accreditation, universities must implement a five-year QEP.
Edited by Chelsea Burwell