In a recent survey of advanced dental education program directors conducted by the American Dental Association (Dr. Eugene Anderson, Center for Educational Policy and Research), critical thinking was rated as one of the factors most desirable in program applicants and dental education students. The ability to test students for their ability to think logically and use higher level reasoning was rated as highly desirable by more than half of the study participants.

The Commission on Dental Accreditation:  Accreditation Standards for Dental Education Programs, adopted August, 2010  stated:  “Graduates must be competent in the use of critical thinking and problem-solving, including their use in the comprehensive care of patients, scientific inquiry and research methodology.”  Complete survey results are posted on the American Dental Association website

Insight Assessment’s California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) and our health science specific version, the Health Sciences Reasoning Test (HSRT), provide valid and reliable tools to identify students and applicants who have strength in critical thinking, and those students who will have difficulty until deficiencies are remediated. See Tests for Health Sciences Professionals for more information.