Needed : Better Methods for Testing Higher - Order Thinking Skills

T he task of designing a systematic program for testing and teaching higher order thinking skills is formidable, yet recent advances in the ory and research provide some basis for defining a core of fundamental skills and for designing exercises that require using such skills Since testing programs at the national, state, and local levels are being used to assess students' reasoning skills, they may well become the vehicle for bringing focus to skill frameworks and areas application Consequently, testing programs must define skills and present tasks that are appli cable to academic and life situations Given the perasive neglect of thinking skills, these tests will clearly serve a crucial policy role perhaps the most critical shift in emphasis of the decade They will define and test U '/MI should be accom plished in in struc