Since
most new university graduates have little job experience, some employers rely on
applicants’ grade point averages to gauge their performance aptitude. Now,
those employers are complaining too many new grads boast high GPAs but are
unprepared for work. They blame grade inflation.
In
response, the nonprofit Council for Aid to Education (CAE) developed the
Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+), intended to serve as a voluntary exit
exam for college seniors. According to The Wall Street Journal, the CLA+ is supposed to size up impending graduates’
abilities in written communications, critical thinking, analysis, and problem
solving—qualities needed for any position requiring at least a bachelor’s
degree.
Here’s
how it works: Test-takers are given a scenario with up to a dozen supporting
documents such as articles, data sets, and reports. The student has one hour to
write out a recommendation or evaluation for handling the scenario, based on
analysis of the information in the documents. A practice set offers an example
of the type of scenario and documents in the exam.
Responses
are scored on a 1,600-point scale, and there’s no way for students to guess the
correct answers or lobby the instructor for a better score. CAE is hoping the
exam becomes an effective tool for helping employers and high-performing
students to find each other. Some 200 colleges and universities apparently
agree; they’ve already signed up to offer the CLA+ to graduating seniors next
spring.
If
the CLA+ takes off as a hiring tool, it may provide the impetus for college
students to devote more time and energy to their course materials, since the
exam is based on reading comprehension and analysis.
