Exam designs employability to be testable

The panic inflicted while dreading the ACTs in high school could find its way to university campuses across the country with the creation of a new post-collegiate exam.

The Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus (CLA+) will be used by more that 200 U.S. universities and colleges this spring to test the critical thinking skills of students, and potentially serve as a measuring stick to each student’s employability prospects.

No public university in South Dakota is planning to use the test though, because the South Dakota Board of Regents — which would serve as the determining body in its application — does not see the exam catching on among students and potential employers, said Paul Turman, vice president for Research and Economic Development for the BOR.

In 1996, Turman said the board moved away from using similar CLA testing that would gauge each school’s curricula, because members believed the exam was only targeting a random population of the college.

“The board is interested in a test that measures every student,” he said.

Turman said CLA+, the brainchild of non-profit Council for Aid to Education, could be a test best applied to seniors in high school, who are not planning to move onto college and could use their results to present their skill level to potential employers.

The 90-minute exam is not necessarily determining a student’s employability, but allows them to build on their credentials with skills that may not be as apparent in their transcript, said Chris Jackson, director of partner development at the Council for Aid to Education.

“It is important that this is not just an employability conversation, because some of the colleges are not just looking at using this test with seniors but freshmen,” Jackson said. “The question becomes: Can we also work with students on a baseline to move them forward?”

The push for a new exam assessing a student’s strengths in critical thinking, verbal communication and other practical skills came to a head after the publication of a study by Hart Research Associates.

In the survey, 93 percent of employers polled said a candidate’s ability to demonstrate critical thinking skills, solve complicated problems and communicate well is more important than their undergraduate major.

At the University of South Dakota, Director of Academic and Career Planning Steve Ward said the test’s usage of “employability” is merely a catchphrase to get people interested in the exam, but its purpose is to move people away from the idea that a major is the primary determinate of employability. That is without question, Ward said, a major obstacle facing higher education around the country.

“The use of the word employability is trying to reconstruct society’s understanding of the purpose of college, to remove the idea that there is this straight line between a major to a career,” he said.

While he does not expect the BOR to employ the CLA+ anytime in the near future, Ward said employers that he deals with are worrying about students being able to think on their feet, “Can you hold two opposing thoughts in your head and understand the complexities of both?”

And when it comes to a USD graduate’s worth, developing critical thinking skills are vital — though Ward said he sees too many college students that believe they are coming to Vermillion to gain technical knowledge — not to make connections from what they learn in academia to their first post-graduate job.

“Knowledge is fundamental — you have to have knowledge to progress — but knowledge is also fleeting, it changes, and if you don’t train yourself to be curious, to be open to new ideas, to judge new or old ideas — than you are less valuable as a citizen. You are less valuable as an employee,” he said.

Though USD will not be offering CLA+ this year, some businesses associated with the university for employment would not mind the extra assessment material.

Dan Drotzman, senior technical recruiter for Eagle Creek Information Technology, said the test would offer another piece within the “tool bag” for employers to use when dealing with job candidates.

“When we need to hire someone, one level we look at is their thought process,” Drotzman said. “If there was another way to evaluate it, I wouldn’t say no to having it.”

Drotzman also added that employment chances with Eagle Creek depend on the person many times. So even if he has a candidate with not all the latest skills, Drotzman said if the person has previous skills they can build on with new concepts from the company, they have a better chance at attaining the job.

First-year graduate student Samantha Darnall is not exactly a fan of standardized tests, primarily because they kept her from going to medical school this year. Darnall said she would be interested in seeing how the assessment would affect options like Equal Opportunity Employment, but she personally would not take the test if it was offered.

“Someone’s personality is hard to see through paper,” Darnall said. “I might have really crappy standardized test scores, but put me in front of you, I will answer questions, I will work in your ER. A test doesn’t show that side of me.”

Senior Debbie Hansen has mixed feelings on the test and whether she would actually submit it to possible employers. Majoring in social work, Hansen is already required to take a specific test to graduate, so she said she is hesitant to support the CLA+.

“It could be beneficial, but I could see it as being a waste of time,” Hansen said. “How would it work with my field?”