| Technological advances, global travel and the information explosion have combined to create a world for the next generation of students that is tremendously different than the world of their parents. As a result, today's schools are moving from instruction geared towards endowing students with information to instruction that teaches them how to think and use information. Teachers require their students to develop higher-order thinking skills, such as application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.;Although ideally, assessment should enhance instruction and require students to demonstrate more mastery skills, many educators feel that assessment practices have lagged behind changes in instruction. Too often, teachers will instruct using techniques that incorporate higher-order thinking skills, but assess in ways which require only lower-level thinking. One of the main questions that must be answered as teachers attempt to assess higher-order thinking skills is what type of assessment---traditional or alternative---to use. Traditional assessments may include multiple-choice, matching, short answer, or essay questions. Alternative assessments may include group projects, performances, simulations, and portfolios.;This study was designed to determine whether teachers perceived traditional or alternative measures as most effective for the assessment of higher-order thinking skills. Surveys, containing both quantitative, close-ended and qualitative, open-ended questions were sent electronically to college-preparatory, high school teachers in St. Louis City and County. An analysis of the data from 67 respondents indicated that the teachers clearly perceived alternative methods of assessment as most effective for evaluating higher-order thinking skills---particularly application and synthesis. Teachers also felt that their administration encouraged both the instruction and assessment of higher-order thinking skills, as was recommended by this study. Despite this, teachers stated that they used traditional methods of assessment more frequently than they did alternative methods. This study further explored the reasons for this discrepancy and offered suggestions to teachers, administrators and researchers for the effective assessment of higher-order thinking skills. |
