The California Critical Thinking Skills Test And Business School Performance - Read online free

Oct 5, 2026

Uploaded by Himbo

An intent of many business programs is to enhance students’ critical thinking capabilities. Because AACSB accreditation requires evidence that business schools achieve their goals, students were required to take the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST). Results show CCTST performance is significantly related to SAT performance and Business Core GPA, and SAT scores alone predict 56% of CCTST variance. Strong relationships expected from critical-thinking-focused components were not observed, and other predictors added no significant value.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Accreditation and assurance of learning

Educational outcomes assessment approaches

Standardized testing in business programs

The current investigation

Rationale for administering CCTST

Validity from an outcomes assessment perspective

Practical considerations (time and cost)

The California Critical Thinking Skills Test And Business School Performance Peter Bycio, Xavier University, USA Joyce S. Allen, Xavier University, USA ABSTRACT An intent of many business programs is to enhance the critical thinking capabilities of their students. Since AACSB accreditation requires evidence that business schools fulfill their goals, our students were required to take the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST). As expected, the CCTST was significantly related to SAT performance and to Business Core GPA. Nonetheless, the especially strong relationships with components thought to emphasize critical thinking, such as performance in the business capstone course, were not observed. SAT scores alone predicted 56% of the variance in CCTST. None of our other predictors added significantly to this total. Keywords: critical thinking, outcomes assessment, AACSB. INTRODUCTION I ncreasingly, the agencies responsible for accrediting programs in higher education have been requiring direct evidence that universities are fulfilling their stated missions. This is true both for the groups that oversee general education, for example, the North Central Association (1991, 2003) and those who accredit specific programs such as the AACSB International--The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, (2006) . As the body that deals exclusively with the accreditation of business programs per se, AACSB publishes 80 pages of standards (AACSB-International, 2006) to provide schools with detailed guidelines concerning the criteria the review team will use in its evaluation. Among other things, certain content areas are expected to be covered in both undergraduate and MBA programs. These include ethical and legal responsibilities, financial theories, domestic and global economic environments, as well as group and individual organizational dynamics (AACSBInternational, 2006, p. 71) . Besides specifying areas of content coverage, AACSB-International (2006) expects schools to provide evidence that “learning occurs for each of the learning goals” (AACSB-International, 2006, p. 62) . A variety of methods are delineated for providing evidence of learning achievement and examples of how these approaches might be used (cf., AACSB-International, 2006, pgs 62-68) . One of the reasons that AACSB-International (2006) is open to the use ofa variety of methods in relation to assurance of learning is that no single “correct” approach exists. For example, a variety of course embedded measurement approaches are endorsed (e.g., papers and applied projects required to successfully compete a course) as are standardized achievement tests. The field of study concerned with examining and documenting the advantagesand disadvantages associated with various assessment approaches is generically referred to as educational outcomes assessment (DeMong, Lindgren, & Perry, 1994; Palomba & Banta, 1999) . In line with the recommendations of AACSB-International (2006), a wide range of methods have been proposed and used by universities to provide evidence of learning achievement (DeMong et al., 1994; Herring & Izard, 1992; Herring, Scheiner, & Williams, 1989; Palomba & Banta, 1999; Paskow & Francis, 1990) . One of the standardized approaches to assessing learning achievement that has been successfully used is the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Major Field Achievement Test in Business (MFAT-B) . This 120 item multiple choice assessment has been shown to correlate strongly with undergraduate student grade point average (GPA) in business core (GPA-BUS) classes (Allen & Bycio, 1997; Bycio & Allen, 2007) . As such, performance on the MFAT-B provides a basis for comparing student achievement across business schools. Many, if not all business programs, have academic goals that go beyond providing business knowledge perse. For example, most academic programs aim to foster critical thinking. While many perspectives on the meaning o

FAQs

Why were business students required to take the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST)?

CCTST was required as part of an AACSB reaffirmation effort to provide direct evidence that the program develops students’ critical thinking competence.

Which predictors were significantly related to CCTST performance?

CCTST performance was significantly related to SAT performance and Business Core GPA.

Did the test show strong links with critical-thinking-focused coursework components?

No; the especially strong relationships with components thought to emphasize critical thinking, such as performance in a business capstone course, were not observed.

Oct 5, 2026

Uploaded by Himbo