Issues in the development of assessments of higher order thinking skills for college graduates are discussed in the order in which they were presented when this series of papers was commissioned. With regard to Issue 1, it is generally agreed that the development of these skills is a desirable goal, but there is little consensus on how they should…

The formation of regimes (collective international schemes) for managing global problems depends on culture, history, and perceptions. The ways in which these elements affect bargaining among nations over issues of the global commons are discussed. Implications are reviewed for a regime to deal with atmospheric conditions and global warming. (SLD)

An attempt is made to summarize the perspectives and relevant experience of state-level higher education leadership in responding to the proposals for national assessment resulting from Goal V, Objective 5, of the National Education Goals, which calls for improvement in the critical thinking, ability to communicate, and problem-solving ability of…

This document provides a model for the national assessment of higher order thinking and consists of a preface and four main sections. The preface discusses the problem of lower order learning, summarizes the state of research into critical thinking and instructional reform, and explains the structure of the paper. Section 1 of the paper describes…

Goal five of the National Education Goals of America 2000 calls for dramatic improvement in the educational attainment of the nation's adult population. Encompassed in the goal is a charge to increase the number of college graduates who can think critically, communicate effectively, and solve problems. This paper focuses on measures that can be…

In light of the National Education Goals of 1990, several arguments against any federally funded large-scale census approach to the assessment of college student learning in the United States are presented to clarify challenges to an objective of Goal 5, which specifies that "the proportion of college graduates who demonstrate advanced…

An outline is provided for a national educational assessment and improvement plan as suggested by the National Education Goals of 1990. The following implicit assumptions underlie National Education Objective 5.5: (1) abilities to think critically, communicate effectively, and solve problems can be defined and the definitions can be agreed upon as…

This paper makes a case for the development of several indirect indicators of national progress in reaching the collegiate attainment objective of the National Education Goals of 1990. These indicators would be developed concurrently with a proposed performance-based assessment to be administered to a national sample of graduating college seniors.…

For a national program assessing college graduates to succeed, it must be institutionalized at the majority of colleges and universities in the nation. The information generated must play a clear and key role in formulating state and institutional higher education policy, college matriculation standards, and degree-granting decisions. Such an…

A program for national educational evaluation was established in Sweden in 1989. In 1992, a second data collection was carried out. The program is designed to serve national and local purposes of evaluation. One concept that has been emphasized strongly is an "explorative way of working." Evaluating an explorative way of working is a…

Writing encompasses a wide range of skills, from the mechanics of punctuation and spelling to the systematic or even creative development of ideas. The higher order skills of communication necessarily involve critical thinking and problem solving, and an assessment of the writing of advanced students will be able to encompass these other higher…

Parents' Fair Share (PFS) was a national demonstration program to help low-income noncustodial parents find more stable and better-paying jobs, pay child support consistently, and become more involved parents. PFS provided the following services: employment and training services; peer support groups; voluntary mediation between parents; and…