Texas State to participate in HACU program to enhance student success
Posted by Jayme Blaschke
Office of Media Relations
April 11, 2017
Texas State University has been selected to participate in a new Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) program to to develop and enhance support services and strategies enhancing student success in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
Other higher education institutions selected to participate in this pilot program are California State University-Fresno and Valencia College, Florida.
As a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), Texas State is ideally-suited to take part in a pilot assessment of a new Educational Testing Service (ETS) tool, SuccessNavigator. This ETS tool measures and provides feedback on key noncognitive skills and behaviors. The project will provide the university with an opportunity to collaborate with HACU while adding to the body of knowledge on student success. Results obtained will also be used to refer students at risk of academic failure to programs and services that will improve their current and future success in college.
The early stages of the project will determine what practices and processes are effective within the HSI community. Specifically, the program will:
- Understand the implementation of student success tools in the HSI community;
- Gather data on the noncognitive skills of the HSI population;
- Tie assessment results to interventions;
- Disseminate best practices among the HSI community.
The goal of the project is to improve students’ academic success and retention through the assessment of noncognitive skills. Over the last several years, ETS has worked with colleges and universities across the country on the issues of comprehensive advising, comprehensive course placement and redesigning student success strategies based on research into the importance of factors such as study skills, motivation, reactions to stress and social support.
For more information, see ets.org/successnavigator.
About Texas State University
Founded in 1899, Texas State University is among the largest universities in Texas with an enrollment of 38,849 students on campuses in San Marcos and Round Rock. Texas State’s 170,000-plus alumni are a powerful force in serving the economic workforce needs of Texas and throughout the world. Designated an Emerging Research University by the State of Texas, Texas State is classified under “Doctoral Universities: Higher Research Activity,” the second-highest designation for research institutions under the Carnegie classification system.