Employers' and advisors' assessments of the importance of critical thinking and written communication skills post-college

This study examines the importance of critical thinking and written communication skills of university graduates who are in their first year of employment or graduate school and the ability of [Collegiate Learning Assessment] CLA+ (a measure of these skills) to predict these outcomes. A survey was administered to employers of college graduates from spring 2014 and 2017 to follow their post-college experiences. Results show that employers/advisors deem these skills to be important. Results also show that scores on CLA+ predict ratings on these skills given to the cohort by their employers...  [+] Show more

This study examines the importance of critical thinking and written communication skills of university graduates who are in their first year of employment or graduate school and the ability of [Collegiate Learning Assessment] CLA+ (a measure of these skills) to predict these outcomes. A survey was administered to employers of college graduates from spring 2014 and 2017 to follow their post-college experiences. Results show that employers/advisors deem these skills to be important. Results also show that scores on CLA+ predict ratings on these skills given to the cohort by their employers/advisors. These results offer additional support that these skills are important in career placement and workplace success (Arum & Roksa, 2014).

Published abstract.