The best classroom assessments are designed to fulfill your performance data needs.

Desired information equals valuable and useful data.

• What thinking do we want to see?
• How will we know the thinking matches our needs?
• What evidence of thinking are we going to evaluate?

Complexity and rigor should be beneficial to learning
Higher order assessments don’t have to be hard.

An appropriate level of complexity and rigor best measures student thinking, including the assessment’s required reading. It is often difficult or easy passages that devalue data.

If stretch student thinking, anticipate assessment modifications and the intended use of data. The level of support for some students helps guide feedback from the results.

• What scaffolding or modifications do we anticipate?
• Who will need additional support?
• What kind of feedback will students need from the results?

Create an HO classroom assessment

1. Select skills or knowledge from current instruction that would provide useful performance data.
2. Identify the appropriate rigor and complexity of the standards.
3. Look for standards that will work together or complement each other to focus the assessment or task.
4. Select items, passages, or prompts appropriate to rigor and complexity of the skills within the standards.

Classroom assessments are valuable if the data helps instruction and the student.

Source: How to Assess Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Your Classroom