UTPA to ENGAGE in New Testing Service

The new initiative Graduation Texas: Engage, Advise, Retain, Graduate held a higher education success seminar on Tuesday.

This organization is the result of the collaborative efforts of ACT, Inc. and Excelencia in Education to improve student readiness, retention and advisement in college; specifically to increase college degree completion for all South Texas Latino schools.

One of the new tools being proposed to improve graduation rates is ENGAGE: an ACT assessment that measures behaviors related to academic success.

"If you view something like the regular SAT or ACT or even grades, those tests are kind of cognitive factors in predicting how a student is going to do," Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Kristin Croyle said.

"But then there are other things that go into how well a student does in college as well besides their cognitive preparation. Like, their motivation, for example. And the ENGAGE test is designed to assess non-cognitive factors, like social and emotional and motivational factors."