<b>Regional Accreditation, Continuous Improvement, and Student Writing: What QEP Executive Summaries Can Tell Us About Institutional Perceptions of WPA Work</b>

<p dir="ltr">This dissertation investigates how institutional accreditation efforts intersect with writing program administration and student writing assessment by analyzing writing-focused Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) executive summaries submitted to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). Despite the central role Writing Program Administrators (WPAs) play in supporting institutional effectiveness, their contributions to accreditation work remain largely unexamined in writing studies scholarship. The purpose of this study is to document institutional perceptions of student writing as represented in QEP executive summaries and to argue for greater scholarly recognition of WPA involvement in accreditation. Using qualitative content analysis, the study examines 67 writing-focused QEP executive summaries from 2007 to 2023 to answer three research questions: why institutions focus on undergraduate student writing, how they propose to improve writing outcomes, and how they plan to assess those outcomes. Institutions commonly justify their focus on writing by identifying student deficiencies and the importance of writing for academic success. Strategies for improvement include faculty development, curricular change, and academic support services, while assessment plans frequently emphasize multiple measures and broad definitions of student writing ability. Findings illustrate that WPA work is deeply embedded in institutional quality assurance processes and that accreditation documents offer a rich, underutilized source of insight for writing studies research. The study advocates for greater engagement by WPAs in accreditation-related research and underscores the importance of understanding accreditation as both a practical and political force in higher education.</p>