How to Assess Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Your Classroom

by Susan M. Brookhart

Educators know it's important to get students to engage in "higher-order thinking." But what does higher-order thinking actually look like? And how can K-12 classroom teachers assess it across the disciplines? Author, consultant, and former classroom teacher Susan M. Brookhart answers these questions and more in this straightforward, practical guide to assessment that can help teachers determine if students are actually displaying the kind of complex thinking that current content standards emphasize. Brookhart begins by laying out principles for assessment in general and for assessment of higher-order thinking in particular. She then defines and describes aspects of higher-order thinking according to the categories established in leading taxonomies, giving specific guidance on how to assess students in the following
* Analysis, evaluation, and creation

* Logic and reasoning

* Judgment

* Problem solving

* Creativity and creative thinking
Examples drawn from the National Assessment of Educational Progress and from actual classroom teachers include multiple-choice items, constructed-response (essay) items, and performance assessment tasks. Readers will learn how to use formative assessment to improve student work and then use summative assessment for grading or scoring. Aimed at elementary, middle, and high school teachers in all subject areas, How to Assess Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Your Classroom provides essential background, sound advice, and thoughtful insight into an area of increasing importance for the success of students in the classroom—and in life.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction, Reference

159 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2010

Reviews

[Jenny Wilcox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. I liked the chapter about teaching logical reasoning. I also really like the chapter about creativity...it really made me think about what creativity really is, and how we often assess this incorrectly.

[Dave Moyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource on this very important topic.

[Cheryl Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Thinking is a teachable and learnable skill and should not be reserved, as some misconstrue, for high achievers only. Teachers can expect, teach, and assess thinking skills for all students."

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susan M. Brookhart has written a smart guide to assessing higher-order thinking skills for teachers.

As my school delves deeper into the realm of developing assessments of critical thinking and problem solving skills, Brookhart's work is a nice complement to our work. She uses a fairly similar division of the components of thinking to our own five, and her descriptions of tasks and the elements of their design, I found particularly insightful.

My one criticism of the book is that there is more here in thinking about how to foster thinking in a classroom, than specifically how to assess it. To be fair, articulating how teachers can create experiences for students which develop their thinking skills is a much needed addition to the professional literature. However, my own work which has focused on interdisciplinary project-based and problem-based learning has long recognized some of the points about fostering thinking in students. So what she has to say feels like old hat.

What I am looking for here is how to create the novel tasks that accurately assess a student's ability to transfer cognitive skills beyond recall and application of basic skills to different situation. Brookhart doesn't disappoint in this area, but this continues to be an area of rich exploration for both us as a school and educators in general.

[Asandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a member of ASCD I receive a book every so many months. This is one of the books they selected to send to members a year or so ago. Brookhart does a great job of providing examples of different types of questions teachers tend to ask in discussions and on tests. Then, she lists many better options for rewriting and rethinking the questions. For example, she does not say you cannot use multiple choice questions, however you need to really think hard about the "type of thinking" your students will have to do in finding the answer. She also talks about having students provide rationale for their answer choices below a question. I have used many of her strategies when writing tests and could definitely see the way my students were thinking move from strictly recall, to higher-order thinking. It is a quick read and one that you will find fascinating. There are some great question strategies that could be used in planning strong guided reading questions.

[Diz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides a general overview of critical thinking and gives some recommendations for how to evaluate different aspects of thinking in your classrooms. Overall, I would say that the author tries to give a big picture view of the field, so it comes across as a bit light, especially if you have read much on critical thinking in education. However, there were two things that I liked. First, there are a lot of sample rubrics provided, which I found useful in thinking about how to grade thinking by students. Second, I really liked the chapter on creativity. The author hits the nail on the head when she says that creativity is often mistaken for artistic ability or attractiveness. If you are evaluating creativity in any of your classes, it's worth reading that chapter.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great! Higher order thinking is for all kids. Brookhart proves that and defines each of the higher order thinking levels in order to make them tangible for teachers.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are many great ideas here, and the framework for assessing higher-order thinking skills is quite clear, but the book itself is not exactly an engrossing read.

[Julie Kudish · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good resource for considering why certain tasks are being done in class. A reminder and a guide for asking purposeful questions and assigning purposeful work for students.