Critical Thinking Assessment Test (CAT)

The CAT instrument is a unique tool designed to assess and promote the improvement of critical thinking and real-world problem solving skills. Most of the questions require short answer essay responses, and a detailed scoring guide helps ensure good scoring reliability. The CAT instrument is scored by the institution's own faculty using the detailed scoring guide. During the scoring process faculty are able to see their students' weaknesses and understand areas that need improvement. Faculty are encouraged to use the CAT instrument as a model for developing authentic assessments and learning activities in their own discipline that improve students' critical thinking and real-world problem solving skills. These features help close the loop in assessment and quality improvement.

Content

Domains
Responsible Decision Making
Subdomain

Critical Thinking, Problem Solving

Grades
Post secondary
Languages
English,
Other
Other Language/s
Arabic
Respondent
Student

Administration Information

Length
30-45 minutes
Qualifications

Must be faculty at university or researcher to utilize. Grading training also required: Each institution must send 2-3 reps to a 2 day grading workshop: https://www.tntech.edu/cat/training.php

Administration
Computer,
Paper

Access and Use

Price

$9.95/test (50 test minimum) + $300 Annual Fee

Contact

Assistant Director of Testing
Elizabeth Lisic
elisic@tntech.edu
931-372-3611

Open Access
No
Use in Research

Grant, M., & Smith, M. (2018). Quantifying assessment of undergraduate critical thinking. Journal of College Teaching & Learning15(1), 27-38. https://doi.org/10.19030/tlc.v15i1.10199

Haynes, A., Lisic, E., Goltz, M., Stein, B., & Harris, K. (2016). Moving beyond assessment to improving students’ critical thinking skills: a model for implementing change. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 16(4), 44–61. https://doi.org/10.14434/josotl.v16i4.19407.

Styers, M. L., Van Zandt, P. A., & Hayden, K. L. (2018). Active learning in flipped life science courses promotes development of critical thinking skills. CBE—Life Sciences Education17(3), ar39. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-11-0332

Psychometrics

Scoring
Manual scoring
Referencing
Norm-referenced
Psychometric References

Technical Manual - Tennessee Technological University (2016) CAT© Instrument Technical Information: https://www.tntech.edu/cat/pdf/reports/CAT_Technical_Information_V8.pdf

National Science Foundation Final Report - https://www.tntech.edu/cat/pdf/reports/Project_CAT_Final_Report.pdf

Item Type
Open response

Psychometric Considerations

Psychometrics is the science of psychological assessment. A primary goal of EdInstruments is to provide information on crucial psychometric topics including Validity and Reliability – essential concepts of evaluation, which indicate how well an instrument measures a construct - as well as additional properties that are worthy of consideration when selecting an instrument of measurement.

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