Exploring the Critical-Thinking Skills Gap in College and Career Readiness Through Standards in The Business Education Curriculum
Keywords:
Critical Thinking Skills, College Readiness, Career Readiness, Business Education, Business CurriculumAbstract
Problem: Secondary education focuses on preparing all students for college and career readiness. Yet employers and higher education institutions report that secondary schools are not preparing students for college or careers with regard to critical thinking. Purpose: This study focused on examining the critical-thinking skills gap in college and career readiness through the use of Wisconsin Common Career Technical Standard 4C/Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Communication and Collaboration (WCCTS 4C) in business education curricula. The WCCTS 4C standard is designed to prepare students for college and career readiness and can be explicitly stated or embedded in the curriculum. Method: The study surveyed Wisconsin business educators (n = 181) regarding whether they explicitly stated or embedded the WCCTS 4C standard in the curriculum. Findings: The majority of business education instructors reported explicitly stating and/or embedding WCCTS 4C as a student-learning outcome. Only 8% of the instructors did not state or embed the standard as a student-learning outcome.
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References
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