Across the country, students are being assessed on their ability to demonstrate they understand and can use informational texts.  New learning outcomes are motivating educators to evaluate the effectiveness of their curriculum and the preparation of teachers.

The commitment to improve student success, to support at-risk students and increase retention has created a need for high quality research quantifying the relationship between critical thinking, reading and academic success.  As part of this work, Insight Assessment encourages researchers and educators to discuss and study important issues such as:

• Do strong skills in analysis, inference, evaluation and the mindset to apply those skills lead to better reading comprehension and learning at the K-12 and post-secondary level?
•  Is there a relationship between a critical thinking mindset and being able to remember what you’ve read?
•  Is there a relationship between strength in critical thinking and the completion rate of homework assignments that require reading?
• What proportion of reading assignments require students to ‘read and remember’ versus ‘read and explain’ or ‘read and evaluate’? Does this differ by age of student (grade level)? Does this differ by subject area?
• Would learning tasks focused on the critical thinking skills of interpretation and analysis improve a child’s ability to summarize what they read?
• Which critical thinking skills are essential to determining the central thesis of an article?
• Does strength in critical thinking impact the amount of material an adult reads?
• Is strength in critical thinking skills or mindset related to the ability to skim read?
• Does reading aloud interfere with understanding (analyzing and interpreting) what is being read?  
• What thinking skills do we need to see that a text we are reading might be biased rather than fair-minded?  
• When children read a story, is there a relationship between their recall of story details and their critical thinking skills and/or mindset?
• How can critical thinking teaching and learning  strategies be integrated into reading initiatives?
• Does critical thinking skill influence how well a student can succeed in an online course?
• How important is modeling the interpretation and /or evaluation of a text as a teaching strategy?  Does this teacher behavior influence students’ critical thinking?
• What critical thinking skills and mindset attributes are most essential to becoming an expert teacher?
• Are strong critical thinking skills needed to understand satire?

If these questions challenge and interest you, you will want to use the highly respected Insight Assessment test instruments that are calibrated to measure critical thinking skills and dispositions of students from early elementary to post graduate professionals.    Our Critical Thinking Resources provide a selection of research using our assessment tools as well as insights about teaching and learning thinking.

Insight Assessment recognizes the importance of independent research.  Learn more about how we support research initiatives.  Our testing experts are ready to assist you in the development and implementation of your assessment program.