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2007 National Academy on Critical Thinking Testing and Assessment

National Academy on Critical Thinking

Testing and Assessment

 

How Can We Best Test and Assess Critical Thinking?

 

Three-Day Academy
September 11-13, 2007
DoubleTree Hotel and Marina, Near UC Berkeley, CA

 

 

The Foundation for Critical Thinking invites you to attend an academy focused on the testing and assessment of critical thinking. Established tests will be compared with new tests and instruments under development by the Foundation for Critical Thinking, including both multiple-choice and constructed–response tests.  Comprehensive and subject-specific approaches will be canvassed, as well as critical thinking reading and writing tests.  Emphasis will be put on the concept of “consequential validity” (that is, the likely impact upon teaching and learning by adopting one or another testing and assessment protocol).  Summative and formative evaluation will be covered as well as norm-referenced vs. criterion-referenced testing.

This academy is designed for faculty and administrators at high school, community college, college and university levels.

Participants will leave the academy with a higher level of critical thinking testing and assessment literacy, and will therefore be in a better position to choose an institutional approach to the testing of critical thinking that squares well with established educational goals and concerns.

 

About us…

The Center and Foundation for Critical Thinking have together hosted critical thinking academies and conferences for more than a quarter century. During that time, we have played a key role in defining, structuring, assessing, improving and advancing the principles and best practices of fair-minded critical thought in education and in society.

Throughout our work we emphasize and argue for the importance of teaching for critical thinking in a strong, rather than a weak, sense. We are committed to a clear and "substantive" concept of critical thinking (rather than one that is ill-defined); a concept that interfaces well with the disciplines, that integrates critical with creative thinking, that emphasizes the affective as well as the cognitive dimension of critical thinking, that highlights intellectual standards and traits. We advocate a concept of critical thinking that organizes instruction in every subject area at every educational level, around it, on it, and through it.

The academy will be led alternately by Dr. Richard Paul and Dr. Linda Elder, Fellows of the Foundation for Critical Thinking.


Online Registrations are Closed for this Event

   
National Academy on Critical Thinking Testing and Assessment Cost Per Person
SESSION OPTIONS:  IF PAID BETWEEN Jun 01 2007 AND Aug 12 2007   AVAILABLE NOW 1 Person 2-3 people 4 or More
National Academy - Testing and Assessment (early registration) $480.00 $455.00 $430.00
SESSION OPTIONS:  IF PAID AFTER Aug 12 2007 and BEFORE Sep 01 2007 1 Person 2-3 people 4 or More
National Academy - Testing and Assessment (late registration) $510.00 $485.00 $460.00

 

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Testing Academy Schedule

The Microsoft Word document below contains the times, dates and sessions for the 2007 National Academy on Critical Thinking Testing and Assessment.

Files available for download »

Conference Hotel Information

 

DOUBLETREE HOTEL AND EXECUTIVE
MEETING CENTER BERKELEY MARINA

The DoubleTree Hotel in Berkeley, California is located on the water, overlooking the San Francisco Bay. The Berkeley Marina offers a unique and serene location in the heart of a major metropolitan center.

The National Academy Rate is  $123.50 per night. This rate includes a full breakfast buffet everyday of academy (including beverage and gratuity).

This rate is available until August 31th, 2007.  Ask for the Foundation for Critical Thinking Room Block , or "FOU"

 

 

 

For Hotel Reservations  

 Call the Berkeley DoubleTree Directly at 510.548.7920

 

About the Hotel and Its Amenities:

  • The hotel has 370 spacious guest rooms, All with balconies or patios and many with views.
  • All guestrooms offer high-speed internet access.
  • The hotel offers the waterside Bay Grille Restaurant and Lounge.
  • The hotel is pleased to offer the Discounted Group Rate of $123.50 per room, per night. This group rate is available through Aug. 20th, 2007. This rate is for a standard room and does not include tax. 
  • In room coffee, two daily newspapers delivered, hair dryer and iron with ironing board.
  • Stay in shape at the hotel’s complimentary fitness center and miles of bayside running trails.
  • Order Room Service, to round out the pampering!
  • Complimentary shuttle service to downtown Berkeley, North Berkeley BART Station, "Trendy" 4th Street Shops, and UC-Berkeley Campus
  • ( 2 ) Staffed state-of-the-art business centers with computers, high speed internet access, copier, fax, and phone.
  • Complimentary parking for all attendees and guests!

    ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

  • The hotel offers complimentary parking for all academy guests and attendees.
  • The hotel offers complimentary use of its 2 indoor pools, and fitness center featuring a whirlpool, sauna, workout room and locker room.
  • The hotel offers complimentary local shuttle to virtually anywhere in Berkeley including the Bay Area Rapid Transit station for easy access to San Francisco.
  • For more information on interesting things to do in Berkeley visit: www.visitberkeley.com


For Shuttle to the Hotel

https://www.bayporter.com/ Please check website for reservation information. Reservations not necessary but recommended.
From Oakland Airport: $23 for first passenger, $12 each additional passenger
From SFO: $29 for first passenger, $12 each additional passenger
If you are traveling in a group of 7, you may reserve a van @ the following rates:
$80 Oakland Airport to Berkeley Marina / $85 SFO to Berkeley Marina

https://supershuttle.com/  Please check website for rates and reservation information.

You may also take Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) from both airports.
https://www.bart.gov/index.asp .  The stop is the 'North Berkeley' BART station, approximately 1.5 miles from the hotel.  The DoubleTree has a complimentary shuttle that operates within a 3 mile radius of the hotel.  It is on a first come first served basis and a maximum of 9 per shuttle run.  Please call the hotel at 510-548-7920 to arrange to be picked up at the BART station when you arrive.  



Please do not pass this message by.

CRITICAL THINKING IS AT RISK.

Here are some of the big reasons why:

  1. Many people believe that critical thinking should be free and that scholars qualified to teach critical thinking should do so for free. Accordingly, they do not think they should have to pay for critical thinking textbooks, courses, or other resources when there is "so much free material online" - despite how erroneous that material may be.
  2. There are many misguided academicians, and some outright charlatans, pushing forth and capitalizing on a pseudo-, partial, or otherwise impoverished concept of critical thinking.
  3. Little to no funding is designated for critical thinking professional development in schools, colleges, or universities, despite the lip service widely given to critical thinking (as is frequently found in mission statements).
  4. Most people, including faculty, think they already know what critical thinking is, despite how few have studied it to any significant degree, and despite how few can articulate a coherent, accurate, and sufficiently deep explanation of it.
  5. People rarely exhibit the necessary level of discipline to study and use critical thinking for reaching higher levels of self-actualization. In part, this is due to wasting intellectual and emotional energy on fruitless electronic entertainment designed to be addictive and profitable rather than educational and uplifting.
  6. On the whole, fairminded critical thinking is neither understood, fostered, nor valued in educational institutions or societies.
  7. People are increasingly able to cluster themselves with others of like mind through alluring internet platforms that enable them to validate one another's thinking - even when their reasoning is nonsensical, lopsided, prejudiced, or even dangerous.
  8. Critical thinking does not yet hold an independent place in academia. Instead, "critical thinking" is continually being "defined" and redefined according to any academic area or instructor that, claiming (frequently unsupported) expertise, steps forward to teach it.

As you see, increasingly powerful trends against the teaching, learning, and practice of critical thinking entail extraordinary challenges to our mission. To continue our work, we must now rely upon your financial support. If critical thinking matters to you, please click here to contribute what you can today.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO CONTINUE OUR WORK.

Thank you for your support of ethical critical thinking.