Noncognitive skills and critical thinking predict undergraduate academic performance

Abstract

We investigated the predictive value of four noncognitive skills (academic skills [e.g. meeting class expectations], commitment [e.g. to the institution], self-management [e.g. academic self-efficacy] and social support [e.g. social connectedness]), and critical thinking for predicting undergraduate academic performance in multiple institutions using multi-level modeling. Results show that in addition to traditional predictors such as high school grade point average (GPA) and SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test)/ACT (American College Test) scores, noncognitive skills and critical thinking skills predict college GPA. Higher education institutions may consider incorporating measures of noncognitive skills and critical thinking skills into their battery of admissions tools.

Keywords:

• Noncognitive skills
• critical thinking
• undergraduate academic performance

Acknowledgements

We thank Jesse Sparks and Sam Rikoon for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.