What is a retention descriptor in an ACES Retention Study? And how is that incorporated in the study?

Retention descriptors are indicators you optionally create when designing your retention study. They define characteristics potentially associated with nonreturning students and are constructed by specifying a cutoff value for any of the SAT score, HSGPA, or college GPA predictors.

Students at or below the cutoff point on the predictor are identified and several tables and graphs in the study present how many nonreturning students exhibit these characteristics, singly and in combination, providing additional insight into nonreturning students. For example, if HSGPA is a predictor, then at your institution, students with a HSGPA at or below 3.0 might be considered more at risk and a retention descriptor could be defined on this basis.