We investigated the predictive value of four noncognitive skills (academic skills [e.g. meeting class expectations], commitment [e.g. to the institution], self-management [e.g. academic self-efficacy] and social support [e.g. social connectedness]), and critical thinking for predicting undergraduate academic performance in multiple institutions…

Twenty-first century and higher-learning skills such as critical thinking are highly desired for new college graduates entering the workplace, especially with rapid changing technology and a more globalized economy. As a result, the importance of critical thinking development at higher education institutions has increased. The purpose of this…

Answering a call put forth decades ago by the higher education community and the federal government, we investigated the impact of US college coursework on student learning gains. Students gained, on average, 3.72 points on a 66-item test of quantitative and scientific reasoning after experiencing 1.5 years of college. Gain scores were unrelated…

Critical thinking is a learning outcome highly valued by higher education institutions and the workforce. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) has designed a next generation assessment, the HEIghten™ critical thinking assessment, to measure students' critical thinking skills in analytical and synthetic dimensions. This paper introduces the…

This study is the first to examine student performance differences between the major field test in business (MFTB) and the comprehensive business exam (CBE). Results reveal students performed at a statistically significant 50.8 percentile ranking on the CBE compared to a 38.0 percentile ranking on the MFTB. Additionally, this study finds that…

Data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) collected across seven years were used to predict final, cumulative grade point averages (GPA). Cross-product regression was used to explore the predictive abilities of the NSSE benchmark scores for freshmen (n = 2578) and seniors (n = 2293) collected in cross-sectional cohorts.…