Many two year academic institutions choose to measure what really matters: good thinking.
Community and technical colleges, certificate programs and other associate degree programs realize that student success is based on the strength of individual critical thinking skills and personal mindset attributes. They depend on Insight Assessment tools to provide the highest quality, cost effective critical thinking metrics needed to support admissions, student retention and student success.
The measurement of the critical thinking skills and mindset of incoming students, individually and as a group, will provide vital data for tailoring student success services to the needs of specific students.
Exit data on student critical thinking is valuable for other educational purposes such as program evaluation, accreditation or learning outcomes assessment.
In today’s world, nothing is more important than strength in problem analysis and strong decision-making skills. Critical thinking assessment is invaluable whether your project involves selective admissions to STEM and Heath Sciences programs, quality in admissions to business education, student retention initiatives, or the documenting of learning outcomes. Here are some two-year college success stories:
- With an abundance of applicants for the Engineering Technology degree program, the program faculty found that the Test of Everyday Reasoning (TER) and the Adult Level California Measure of Mental Motivation (CM3 III) identified their most qualified applicants. They used national percentile benchmarks to document the strength of their program graduates.
- An urban college linked their SACS QEP initiative to a Statewide concern for improving the percentage of students who successfully complete their associate degree level career training. The college’s QEP project using the TER and College Student Success (CSS) assessments to identify students at risk in their first semester, assisting their teaching and learning professionals to tailor the college’s support services.
- Directors of the Nursing and the Physical Therapy Assistant programs selected the Health Sciences Reasoning Test – Associate Degree (HSRT-AD) and the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) to augment their admissions screening process. Strong scores on skills and mindset attributes long acknowledged as desired qualities and abilities in these clinical disciplines improved degree completion and licensure rates.
- A college transition director at another community college uses the College Student Success (CSS) instrument to guide students through a smooth transfer to their Bachelors completion program. The individual reports generated by the CSS give the advisor and the student a clear picture of the transfer student’s critical thinking skill set, motivation to learn, drive to succeed and much.
As the leader in reasoning assessment worldwide, our full service solution includes presentation-ready group statistics and graphics, scores spreadsheets, optional individual student reports, multiple language testing options, client customizable demographic question options, and same-day score reporting with 24/7 online, mobile or desktop testing, plus educational discounts and much more. Visit our website for details about these services and to access our Resources bank of critical thinking teaching support materials.
Call us at 650-697-5628 or use our website’s “Contact us” link for a free quote for your project. Talk with an Insight Assessment representative about how other 2 year programs have added critical thinking assessment to their admissions and early cohort assessment procedures and how they document students’ strength in critical thinking as a criterion for receiving performance-based funding.
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