1. Consultant to the Center for Curriculum Redesign
What is “Critical Thinking” in the Classroom vs. on the Job? (Miniproposal #1)
Merrilea J. Mayo
Consultant to the Center for Curriculum Redesign

2. What is Critical Thinking?
A cognitive skill (meaning, it involves thinking)
Highly desired outcome, by both educators and employers
The focus of at least a dozen assessments, almost all focused towards academia
Form factor is typically standardized test with narrative passages and questions after.
Criterion validation is generally against GPA, course grades, etc.
Definition not entirely clear;
Multiple proposed definitions include elements of analysis, synthesis, decision-making, logical reasoning, evaluating assumptions….and more
Each test embodies a somewhat different underlying model of critical thinking
Might be evolving into a category distinct from “problem-solving”

3. Typical Critical Thinking Question (from the CAAP Critical Thinking Test)

4. Typical Problem-Solving Question (from the PISA 2012 Creative Problem-Solving Test)

5. Mini Proposal #1 Key questions: Methodology:
What do employers really mean by “critical thinking?”
How would we measure the “it” that employers want?
Methodology:
Test students with several existing critical thinking assessments, spanning a range of underlying models.
Ask employers to rate employees/new graduates subjectively on critical thinking.
Whichever test’s scores seem to correlate best with employers’ subjective rankings, probably contains the underlying model that best matches employers’ concept of what critical thinking is.

6. Tests to be Considered (up for debate)
Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI/HMRI)
Baseline to establish generic cognitive, reading, and test-taking skills. Produces a Lexile score.
Downside is we may have students whose reading ability exceeds the range of this test.
Tennessee Tech Critical Thinking Assessment Test (CAT)
Includes baseline skills but also graphic literacy, information sourcing, decision-making with data and communicating findings. Designed for technicians, scientists, engineers.
Downside is huge investment in hand grading.
C21 Collaborative Problem–Solving Test
Two person team problem-solving test. Includes baseline skills but also uniquely tests collaboration skills via paired testtakers.
Downside is 2 days of class time for this one test.

7. Some Issues in Critical Thinking
As currently tested, critical thinking seems to have a large overlap with
Measures of “general intelligence” or “general mental ability”(r=0.5 to r=0.6)
Measures from standardized tests in specific subject matter (r=0.3, nursing)
Measures of reading ability in particular (up to r=0.8)
Is critical thinking ability nothing more than “test-taking ability” or “reading ability”?
Large score divergence between blacks, hispanics, whites, asians
Origin of this “adverse impact” not entirely clear
One reason employers cannot routinely use critical thinking tests in hiring
OK for universities and for non-hiring situations
Holy grail would be to find a critical thinking test with low adverse impact and high workplace validity.