Critical Thinking and Community College Learning

The success of students in their classes and in the workplace depends on the strength of their critical thinking skills and personal mindset attributes. Recognizing the importance of building these reasoning skills and habits of mind, many community and technical college programs prioritize the achievement of critical thinking student learning outcomes.  Validated 2-year college thinking assessments are essential for documenting student critical thinking gains.

Critical thinking assessment is invaluable whether your project involves selective admissions to STEM and Health Sciences programs, quality in admissions to business education, student retention initiatives, or the documenting of learning outcomes.

The measurement of the critical thinking skills and dispositions of incoming students, individually and as a group, provides vital data for tailoring student success services to the needs of specific students. Exit data on student critical thinking is valuable for other educational purposes such as program evaluation, accreditation or learning outcomes assessment.

Measuring Critical Thinking

Insight Assessment offers research-based, cost effective and reliable critical thinking test instruments designed for students in community colleges, technical institutes and 2-year certificate programs.

Our 2-year college thinking skills assessments deliver the comprehensive individual and/or group metrics that community college programs need to improve student learning.  These critical thinking skills group & individual metrics include norm comparison percentile scores against external standards. (Click on the Norms tab of any individual assessment page to see available external criterion groups for that instrument).

Our clients depend on our comprehensive set of test instruments to assess core critical thinking skills and the dispositions to use those skills for many educational purposes.  Validated critical thinking data has many uses including:

• program admissions,
• advising,
• identifying students’ educational needs and strengths, and
• predicting the students future success in achieving professional licensure.

Insight Assessment Community College Thinking Assessments

• Test of Everyday Reasoning (TER)– All disciplines and fields
• California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) – All disciplines and fields
• Business Reasoning Test (BRT) – Business and workplace related fields and disciplines
• Health Sciences Reasoning Test-Associate Degree (HSRT-AD) – Certificate and 2 year programs in health related fields and disciplines
• STEM Thinking Skills Test– Quantitative reasoning skills at the college level
• College Student Success (CSS) – First year undergraduate, college level transfers and adult re-entry students
• Quant-Q – Quantitative Reasoning Skills – Mathematical and quantitative fields and disciplines
• California Measure of Mental Motivation (CM3 Level lll) – Adults in all fields and disciplines
• California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) – Adults in all fields and disciplines
• Business Attribute Inventory (BAI)– Business and workplace related fields and disciplines

Select the Right 2-Year College Thinking Assessments

Insight Assessment offers a robust set of critical thinking assessments calibrated for community, technical and 2 year certificate college students.  To assess both the skills and dispositions of these students, we recommend the following companion measures:

TER and the CM3 Level lll

• TER: The Test of Everyday Reasoning, used widely in USA 2-yr colleges, is a test calibrated to measure the critical thinking skills of community college students. Local test scores can be compared to national 2-yr college norms and to norms gathered from working professionals in entry level workplace positions.
• CM3 lll: The California Measure of Mental Motivation, Level III is calibrated specifically for use with adults in the general public and community and technical college students,. The CM3 targets the key attitudinal dimensions of learning: Mental Focus / Self-Regulation, Learning Orientation, Creative Problem Solving, and Cognitive Integrity.

CCTST and the CCTDI

• CCTST: The California Critical Thinking Skills Test is widely used in USA 2-yr colleges. The CCTST provides both 2-year and 4-year college norms and norms from a wide array of professional workplace comparison groups. The CCTST is the preferred measure for high achieving students and prospective transfer students.
• CCTDI: The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory is an internationally known instrument used to measure attributes associated with excellence in critical thinking. Strong critical thinking disposition is endorsed by many employers as a desirable trait in employees across working environments.

HSRT-AD and the CCTDI or CM3 lll

• HSRT-AD: The Health Science Reasoning Test – Associate Degree is designed and calibrated specifically for use by certificate and two year programs in the health sciences. The HSRT-AD measures critical thinking and quantitative reasoning skills that are essential for readiness for a rigorous study and student success in a two year health science degree program.
• CM3 lll: The California Measure of Mental Motivation, Level III is calibrated specifically for use with adults in the general public and community and technical college students,. The CM3 targets the key attitudinal dimensions of learning: Mental Focus / Self-Regulation, Learning Orientation, Creative Problem Solving, and Cognitive Integrity.
• CCTDI: The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory is an internationally known instrument used to measure attributes associated with excellence in critical thinking. Strong critical thinking disposition is endorsed by many employers as a desirable trait in employees across working environments including health care.

BRT and the BAI

• BRT: The Business Reasoning Test is a test of critical thinking designed for the business student and professional. Items require no business knowledge but are set in business related contexts.
• BAI: The Business Attribute Inventory is the companion instrument to the BRT. It contains a battery of attitudinal scales that assess critical thinking disposition and the habits of mind and values desired in today’s business professional.

STEM Thinking Skills Test and CCTDI

• STEM Thinking Skills Test: measures quantitative reasoning skills at the college level.  It is used to evaluate student skills in educational contexts where demonstrated ability to apply quantitative reasoning is valued.
• CCTDI: The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory is an internationally known instrument used to measure attributes associated with excellence in critical thinking.

College Student Success (CSS) Parts 1 & 2

• The College Student Success (CSS) is a two part nationally normed assessment instrument that targets the specific reasoning skills and personal mindset known to be predictive of success as a first year undergraduate, transfer or re-entry student.  College Success Mindset assesses seven personal attributes which are predictive of academic persistence and success.  College Success Reasoning Skills measures the strength of the applicant’s critical thinking and quantitative reasoning skills.

Quant Q

• Quant Q: The Quant Q provides a measurement of quantitative reasoning integrated with critical thinking. It is designed for students and professionals whose disciplines require strong quantitative reasoning skills.

Contact us

When targeting critical thinking for admissions or outcomes assessment, 2-year college program directors and deans recognize the importance of using assessment tools designed for their students’ success.

Contact us today to start gathering the critical thinking data that yields benefits throughout your institution.