This mixed-method case study explored the change in critical thinking skills over the span of the adult student's accelerated lock-step cohort experience pursuing an organizational management and leadership degree completion program at a liberal arts institution in the Midwest. Three areas of research informed this study: workforce readiness, critical thinking, and the accelerated lock-step cohort environment. Purposeful sampling was used to select the cohort. The cohort originated with 19 participants; 11 of the 19 students participated in Test 1 in Fall 2010, 6 of the 11 returned for Test 2 in Spring 2011, and 5 of the 6 returned for Test 3 and the interviews in Fall 2011. Data were collected using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test 2000 three times over the span of the cohort experience, followed by taped interviews with the residual students. Findings indicated that there was no significant change in the critical thinking skills of the participants over the span of the cohort experience, however there was some fluctuation in the individual test scores of each participant. Participants in this accelerated adult degree program characterized their change in critical thinking as part of the whole cohort experience, with no discrete parts (structure, instructors, course sequence) as influencing the change. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]