What are the best practices for using data to design assessments that measure higher-order thinking skills?

As a teacher, you want to design assessments that not only measure your students' factual knowledge, but also their ability to apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. These are the higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) that are essential for 21st century learning and problem-solving. But how can you use data to inform your assessment design and ensure that you are challenging your students to think critically and creatively? Here are some best practices for using data to design assessments that measure HOTS.

1 Define your learning objectives

Before you design any assessment, you need to have a clear idea of what you want your students to learn and how you will measure their progress. You can use data from your curriculum standards, previous assessments, student feedback, and learning analytics to identify the essential knowledge and skills that your students need to master. You can also use data to create SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) learning objectives that align with the HOTS you want to assess.

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Anne Marie Ristow

LinkedIn Top Voice ⭐️ l Equity and Inclusion Advocate I Innovator I Human Rights Consultant I K-21 Universal Design for Learning Expert 🧠 I Global Educator I Fulbright Scholar 🌏
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It’s about importance and practice. Importance:Clearly align learning objectives with higher-order thinking skills and ensure that assessments directly reflect these objectives. This alignment is crucial for empowering expert learning, as it provides a roadmap for students to understand the purpose of assessments and how they connect to the overall instructional goals. Practice: Regularly review and adjust assessments to ensure they align with the targeted higher-order thinking skills identified in the learning objectives. This iterative process maintains a strong connection between instruction and assessment, fostering a cohesive and purposeful learning experience.

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2 Choose appropriate assessment types

When measuring HOTS, you need to consider the purpose, format, and level of difficulty of your assessment. Data from learning objectives, student preferences and readiness, and available resources can help you select the most appropriate assessment types for your context. Performance tasks are a great way to assess HOTS as they require students to apply their knowledge and skills to a real-world problem or scenario. Portfolios can also be used to demonstrate students' learning process and outcomes over time. Rubrics are another useful tool for assessing critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration skills in a group project.

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Michelle Aparecida Silva Espadaro

Enfermeira Instrutora Educação Continuada na Prevent Senior | Pós-graduação em Tecnologias
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Avaliação é um processo que pode ser explorado na educação, porém os membros envolvidos a serem avaliados precisam primordialmente de responsabilidade. Podemos avaliar os envolvidos de diversas formas, mas uma correlação com a visão de mundo e o conhecimento explorado é uma ferramenta positiva, evitando o aprendizado baseado em repetições.

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3 Align your assessment with your instruction

Your assessment should be aligned with your instruction, meaning that you should teach what you test and test what you teach. You can use data from your lesson plans, instructional strategies, and formative assessments to ensure that you are providing your students with enough opportunities to practice and develop the HOTS you want to assess. You can also use data from your summative assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of your instruction and identify areas for improvement.

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4 Provide feedback and support

Feedback and support are essential for helping your students improve their HOTS and achieve their learning goals. You can use data from your assessments, your observations, and your students' self-assessments to provide timely, specific, and constructive feedback that highlights their strengths and weaknesses, and suggests ways to improve. You can also use data to differentiate your instruction and support according to your students' needs, interests, and abilities.

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Anne Marie Ristow

LinkedIn Top Voice ⭐️ l Equity and Inclusion Advocate I Innovator I Human Rights Consultant I K-21 Universal Design for Learning Expert 🧠 I Global Educator I Fulbright Scholar 🌏
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I Integrate feedback loops and structured reflection opportunities into assessments. This practice is essential for empowering expert learning because it encourages metacognition and self-awareness, allowing students to understand not only what they know but also how they think. By providing timely and constructive feedback on assessments, I emphasize not just correctness but the depth of thinking. Additionally, include reflection components that prompt students to analyze their thinking processes, connecting their responses to the higher-order skills targeted in the instruction. This integration supports continuous improvement and deepens students' mastery of expert-level thinking skills.

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5 Reflect and revise

Finally, you should reflect on your assessment design and revise it as needed to ensure that it is valid, reliable, and fair. You can use data from your assessment results, your students' performance, and your students' feedback to evaluate the quality and impact of your assessment, and identify any gaps, biases, or errors. You can also use data to compare your assessment with other assessments, and to update your assessment according to the latest research and best practices.

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Parth Davda

Master of Teaching | Educator | Seeker
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Reflection can be done on the basis of assessments. Hence, assessments must be precise and accurately designed as per the cognitive level of student.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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What are the best practices for using data to design assessments that measure higher-order thinking skills?

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1 Define your learning objectives

2 Choose appropriate assessment types

3 Align your assessment with your instruction

4 Provide feedback and support

5 Reflect and revise

6 Here’s what else to consider

Teaching

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What are the best practices for using data to design assessments that measure higher-order thinking skills?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Define your learning objectives

2 Choose appropriate assessment types

3 Align your assessment with your instruction

4 Provide feedback and support

5 Reflect and revise

6 Here’s what else to consider

Teaching

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