Maksimize Learning · Book study
How to Assess Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Your Classroom
Book author(s): Susan M. Brookhart
"How to Assess Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Your Classroom" By Susan M. Brookhart, PhD Thank you for joining this professional learning experience. This study plan follows the six chapters of How to Assess Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Your Classroom by Susan M. Brookhart. Each chapter explores a critical dimension of higher-order thinking and how educators can design assessments that move beyond recall to evaluate students’ ability to analyze, reason, evaluate, create, and solve complex problems. Participants are encouraged to engage with the book as part of this experience. You may borrow a copy, access it in a way that works for you, or participate fully through the reflection prompts and application activities provided here. Engagement with the ideas (and thoughtful reflection on your own instructional context) is what matters most. This professional learning experience centers on the idea that meaningful learning requires students to think deeply. Assessments should therefore capture how students analyze information, make judgments, construct arguments, and create solutions to real problems. Through this book study, educators will examine strategies for designing classroom assessments that reveal higher-order thinking and provide students with opportunities to demonstrate complex understanding. As you move through each chapter, record insights, identify questions or tensions, and reflect on how these ideas intersect with your current instructional practices. Dialogue with colleagues is encouraged as a way to extend thinking and explore practical applications. Please don't hesitate to reach out if I can support you in any way to help you get the most out of this book study experience. I'm excited to collaborate and make this journey both meaningful and enriching for you! MikeMaksimchuk [email protected] (231) 225-5060
How This Book Study Will Work
- Make a Copy of the Reflection Journal Access the provided reflection journal and make a personal copy. Use this document to guide your thinking and responses as you progress through each chapter.
- Share Your Document for Feedback Share your completed reflection journal with me. After each chapter, create a comment and “assign” it to me. This will notify me to review your work and ensure proper documentation for SCECHs.
- Respond to Reflection Questions Thoughtfully answer the reflection prompts for each chapter based on your reading and experiences.
- Complete One Application Activity Per Chapter Choose one application activity from the list that best fits your current role or instructional context. If none are a strong fit, please reach out to collaborate on an alternative activity that meets your needs.
- Provide Artifacts and Reflections For each application activity, include links to relevant artifacts (e.g., documents, images, videos). Additionally, write a brief reflection describing:
- What you did or created
- What you experienced or learned
- How this influenced your thinking or practice
- Any changes you might make in the future based on this experience
- SCECH Scale
- Read Chapter - 30 minutes
- Chapter Reflection - 15 minutes
- Chapter Application Activity - 30 minutes
- Maximum SCECHs Possible: 7.5
Chapter 1: General Principles for Assessing Higher-Order Thinking
Big Idea
Higher-order thinking involves the ability to apply knowledge, analyze information, evaluate ideas, and create new solutions. Effective assessments must go beyond recall and require students to engage in meaningful intellectual work.
Reflection Questions
- Reflect on the types of questions and assessments you most frequently use in your classroom. To what extent do they require students to analyze, evaluate, or create rather than simply recall information? Provide examples from recent lessons or assessments.
- Brookhart emphasizes that higher-order thinking tasks must align with meaningful learning goals. Examine a recent assessment you gave students. How well did it measure the thinking skills you intended to develop?
- Consider how classroom tasks either encourage or limit students’ opportunities to think deeply. What patterns do you notice in your assignments, questioning strategies, or assessments?
- In your context, what barriers make it difficult to assess higher-order thinking (time, grading complexity, curriculum pacing, standardized testing pressures, etc.)?
Application Activities
- Assessment Audit: Review one recent test or assignment and categorize the questions according to cognitive level (recall, understanding, analysis, evaluation, creation). Revise at least two items to better assess higher-order thinking.
- Question Redesign: Rewrite several questions from a recent lesson so that they require students to explain reasoning, compare ideas, or justify conclusions.
- Rubric Exploration: Review rubric models from PBLWorks or similar resources and identify elements that emphasize reasoning, analysis, and justification.
Chapter 2: Assessing Analysis, Evaluation, and Creation
Big Idea
Higher-order thinking includes the ability to break ideas apart, judge the quality of information, and generate original responses or products.
Reflection Questions
- How often do your assessments ask students to analyze relationships, patterns, or arguments rather than simply explain or summarize information?
- Think about a recent assignment where students evaluated ideas or evidence. What criteria did you use to judge the quality of student responses?
- Reflect on the role of creative or generative tasks in your classroom. When have students been asked to design, construct, or create something that demonstrates their understanding?
- What evidence do you typically look for when determining whether a student has successfully analyzed or evaluated information?
Application Activities
- Performance Task Design: Develop an assessment task requiring students to analyze multiple sources and draw conclusions.
- Evaluation Rubric: Using ideas from PBLWorks rubrics, design criteria for evaluating student arguments or claims.
- Creative Product: Ask students to demonstrate learning through an original product (presentation, model, proposal, etc.) and evaluate the thinking behind the creation.
Chapter 3: Assessing Logic and Reasoning
Big Idea
Students demonstrate higher-order thinking when they construct logical arguments, identify relationships between ideas, and justify their reasoning with evidence.
Reflection Questions
- Consider how students currently explain their thinking in your classroom. What opportunities do they have to show the reasoning behind their answers?
- Reflect on how you evaluate student arguments or explanations. What evidence helps you determine whether reasoning is sound?
- Think about situations where students arrived at correct answers but could not clearly explain their reasoning. How might assessments be designed to emphasize the thinking process?
- How can questioning strategies encourage students to elaborate on their reasoning during instruction?
Application Activities
- Reasoning Prompts: Add prompts such as “Explain how you know” or “Provide evidence for your conclusion” to an existing assignment.
- Argument Rubric: Develop a rubric assessing reasoning, evidence use, and clarity of explanation.
- Think-Aloud Assessment: Ask students to verbalize their thinking during problem solving and analyze the reasoning they use.
Chapter 4: Assessing Judgment
Big Idea
Judgment involves applying criteria to determine the quality, credibility, or effectiveness of ideas, arguments, or solutions.
Reflection Questions
- In what ways do students in your classroom make judgments about information, arguments, or solutions?
- How do you currently teach students the criteria needed to evaluate ideas effectively?
- Reflect on a time when students struggled to judge the quality of evidence or reasoning. What might have helped them develop stronger evaluative thinking?
- How might structured criteria or rubrics improve students’ ability to make thoughtful judgments?
Application Activities
- Criteria Development: Work with students to create evaluation criteria for a project or argument.
- Peer Review: Implement a structured peer feedback activity using an evaluation rubric.
- Evidence Comparison: Have students evaluate multiple solutions or arguments and justify which one is strongest.
Chapter 5: Assessing Problem Solving
Big Idea
Problem solving involves applying knowledge and reasoning to unfamiliar situations and generating effective solutions.
Reflection Questions
- Reflect on how often students in your classroom encounter open-ended problems without a single correct answer.
- What evidence helps you determine whether students are using effective problem-solving strategies?
- How do your current assessments capture the process students use when solving complex problems?
- What role might real-world or project-based tasks play in strengthening students’ problem-solving abilities?
Application Activities
- Problem-Based Task: Design a real-world problem that requires students to apply multiple concepts.
- Process Rubric: Create a rubric assessing problem-solving steps such as planning, reasoning, and evaluating solutions.
- Reflection Prompt: Ask students to document the steps they took when solving a problem.
Chapter 6: Assessing Creativity and Creative Thinking
Big Idea
Creative thinking involves generating original ideas, exploring multiple possibilities, and producing innovative solutions or products.
Reflection Questions
- How often do students have opportunities to produce original ideas or solutions in your classroom?
- Reflect on the challenges of assessing creativity. What evidence might indicate thoughtful, original thinking?
- How might criteria help distinguish between creativity that reflects deep understanding and work that is simply novel but superficial?
- What classroom conditions encourage students to take intellectual risks and explore new ideas?
Application Activities
- Creative Task: Design an assignment requiring students to propose or design a new solution, product, or perspective.
- Creativity Rubric: Adapt creativity criteria from PBLWorks or other project-based learning resources.
- Idea Generation Exercise: Use brainstorming or design-thinking protocols to support creative problem solving. 🏁 Final Reflection & Action Plan
Final Reflection and Action Plan
Synthesis
Assessing higher-order thinking requires intentional instructional design and thoughtful evaluation of student work. When teachers design tasks that require analysis, reasoning, judgment, and creativity, assessment becomes a tool for deeper learning rather than simply a measure of recall. By aligning assessments with complex thinking skills, educators can create classroom environments that challenge students intellectually and prepare them for real-world problem solving.
Personal Reflection and Action Plan
- What are my top three takeaways from this book study?
- Which aspect of higher-order thinking assessment most aligns with my current practice?
- Which area represents the greatest opportunity for growth?
- What is one specific change I will make to better assess higher-order thinking?
- What evidence will show that students are engaging in deeper thinking?
- Who will support or hold me accountable for implementing this change?
- What is my timeline for implementing and reviewing this change?
Next Steps
Participants are encouraged to synthesize their reflections into a brief Higher-Order Thinking Assessment Commitment Statement outlining the practices they will implement to strengthen assessment of complex thinking in their classrooms.