Test of Reactions and Adaptation in College (TRAC): A new measure of learning propensity for college students.

This article presents the Test of Reactions and Adaptation in College (TRAC), a new measure of students' personal dispositions toward learning. Fifty items address belief, emotional, and behavioral factors that intervene in typical college learning situations. Results from two different samples indicated acceptable psychometric characteristics. Confirmatory factor analyses suggest that belief, behavioral, and emotional dimensions constitute distinct constructs. Overall, the factors showed acceptable internal consistency, and intercorrelations between subscales confirm the coherence of the questionnaire's structure. The TRAC predicted success and quality of learning experiences in college above and beyond that predicted by the high school weighted academic average. Implications for the use of this measure by high school and college staff are discussed. This article presents a measure of students' personal dispositions that are likely to affect their adjustment to college teaching style and their academic achievement. We believe this measure can enrich high school and college staff's means of detecting students who are academically at risk and of diagnosing difficulties in students' personal functioning before they enter college. Furthermore, we believe it can allow researchers interested in college adaptation to measure dimensions that have yet to receive much attention, namely affective, cognitive, and behavioral dispositions associated with typical learning in this context. A few instruments have been developed in college populations that aim at measuring different aspects related to integration to college studies. Some evaluate students' adjustment to their new study environment or to a more extended environment (Baker, McNeil, & Siryk, 1985; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1983; Zitzow, 1984). Pascarella and Terenzini (1983) constructed a series of institutional integration scales (IIS) for testing a model of college student withdrawal (Tinto, 1987). These scales evaluate students' goals and institutional commitments as well as the quality of their academic and social integration to college. They have been used in many studies (Pascarella & Chapman, 1983; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1983; Stage, 1989; Terenzini &