New research shows that today’s employers want more than a diploma from prospective employees. A recent USA Today article explains:

“Forget transcripts, multiple-choice tests or institutional scores. The surveyed business leaders want faculty assessment of internships, senior projects or community-based work.

“Too many policymakers and educational leaders are focused on the tests rather than on what is really important: whether students are learning what they need to know,” says Roberts Jones, president of Education & Workforce Policy, a consulting firm based in Alexandria, Va.”

According to the report, a whopping 57% of employers surveyed said that half or fewer of today’s college grads have the complete set of skills and knowledge needed to advance in the current workplace. In the ideal world, skills and knowledge would be the only things that matter. A diploma would be just another piece of paper.