A report to Arum's "Academically Adrift"

Dear Dr. Castagnera :

Critiques like Richard Arum’s "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses" (University of Chicago Press, 2011) will hobble the efforts of good faculty and erode public confidence in our institutions until we demonstrate objectively that our programs produce gains in our students’ critical thinking. But how can an academic leader objectively demonstrate those gains?

Nothing silences critics and restores confidence in an educational enterprise like student performance on an externally normed standardized test. By insisting that key institutional learning outcomes, like critical thinking, be measured by instruments that are valid, reliable, externally normed, and independently research-based, a chief academic officer can recapture the assessment agenda from those who would trivialize rigorous measurement, muddle the analyses, and politicize the process.

One such measurement instrument is the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST), the gold standard of college student critical thinking skills measurement. At many hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the US and around the world the CCTST is being used today to gather valid, externally normed, baseline and exit level data about students’ skills in analysis, interpretation, inference, explanation, evaluation, deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning.

Available in multiple versions the CCTST is versatile enough to assure a valid measure of critical thinking skills in the general baccalaureate experience or in specific professional fields, such as the health sciences, business, law and government. Separate norms are available for two-year college students, baccalaureate students, and graduate/professional students.

A cost-effective tool which generates individual scores and group results, the CCTST can be administered on-line or in paper-and-pencil in less than one hour. To permit students to best demonstrate their critical thinking skills using their native language, the CCTST is available in English, Spanish, Arabic, French, Chinese, Korean, and many authorized translations.

In addition to basic testing and scoring services with presentation ready text and graphics, Insight Assessment offers premium services to support institution level projects including multi-year statistical analyses and suggested “next steps” for educational improvement. Visit our website to learn more about our critical thinking measures. Or call 650-697-5628 to order a CCTST specimen kit.

Yours respectfully,


Peter A. Facione, Former Provost and Chief Academic Officer
Senior Research Team Leader
Insight Assessment