The primary goal for this project is to build on past efforts and refine a promising assessment instrument to evaluate critical thinking skills, CAT (Critical thinking Assessment Test). The refinement of this assessment tool focuses on five critical areas (1) Refining the CAT assessment tool so that it has high face validity when evaluated by a broad spectrum of faculty across the country in STEM and non-STEM disciplines. (2) Refining the CAT assessment using expert evaluation in the area of learning theory and learning sciences to establish construct validity. (3) Refining the CAT assessment so that it continues to have high criterion validity when compared to other instruments that measure critical thinking and intellectual performance. (4) Refining the CAT assessment so that it is culturally fair. (5) Refining the CAT assessment so that it is has high reliability. In the process of achieving these objectives Tennessee Technological University is partnering with six other institutions across the country (University of Texas, University of Colorado, University of Washington, University of Hawaii, University of Southern Maine, and Howard University) to use and score a critical thinking assessment test that provides insights into their own students' critical thinking skills. Schools were carefully selected to provide geographic, ethnic, racial, public versus private, socio-economic, and size diversity. Once the assessment tool is fully developed the project can become self-sustaining by providing the test at cost to other institutions. There is little question that as a result of an increasingly technological and information driven society the ability to think critically has become a cornerstone to both workplace development and effective educational programs. Critical thinking is central to both the National Science Standards (Forawi, 2001) and the National Educational Technology Standards (International Society for Technology Education, 2003). Despite the central importance of critical thinking in the workplace and education, existing assessment tools are plagued by problems related to validity, reliability, and cultural fairness (U.S. Department of Education, 2000). According to Bransford et al. (2000) "a challenge for the learning sciences is to provide a theoretical framework that links assessment practices to learning theory." The intellectual merit of this project is to refine such an assessment device for critical thinking based upon current theories of learning and cognition. Another merit of this project is that it seeks to refine an assessment device for critical thinking that has high face validity for a broad spectrum of faculty across the country. The perceived validity of the assessment tool is important because it will have a direct bearing on the motivation of faculty to improve their students' critical thinking skills. The broader impact of this project is that by providing an instrument for assessing critical thinking and problem solving skills to other universities across the nation, one can encourage improvements in the quality of students' critical thinking and problem solving skills. Institutional goals for improving education are often assessment driven (Vogler, 2002), hence the development of a valid, reliable and culturally fair critical thinking assessment tool would encourage more institutions to focus on the teaching of critical thinking skills in universities across the country. These higher order thinking skills are essential in an economy that has shifted from manufacturing to information technology and services.
