What's the Best Way to Evaluate a College Graduate's Skills?

Factors for Employers to Consider When Assessing Potential Employees 

How should employers asses the critical thinking factors of recent graduates?

Employers looking to hire recent college graduates typically look at the prospective employee's cumulative GPA, work experiences and internships, but are these factors telling of the prospective employee?

Some say yes, some say no. What do you say?

KPCC, Southern California Public Radio, recently conducted a segment highlighting a test that aims to predict critical thinking factors of recent college graduates, factors that GPA and work experiences cannot measure as reliably, as CLA+ claims.

CLA+ stands for the Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus test. It differs from other standardized tests and graduate school examinations, as it aims to specifically test critical thinking factors, and it is not a test you can study/prepare for in advance for a short amount of time.

The CLA+ is given at the beginning of one's college experience, and again at the end of one's college experience.

Some are skeptical of this test's validity, and argue there is simply not enough research to tell if it works or not. How can a test accommodate for diverse college experiences, including varying majors and school involvement?

Others think it could be useful in assessing a recent graduate's critical thinking factors, something that is vital in the professional workforce.

Recent graduates who called in during KPCC's segment stated the test was unnecessary, as employers can judge numerous abilities and factors during a job interview, and did not understand how it was different from any other typical tests. 

Others called in and stated that students are over-tested, and a line needs to be drawn.

For more information, listen to the radio segment here. You may see sample questions of what the CLR+ would entail here. 

As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts on this matter! Let's get the conversation started.

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