The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between critical
thinking skills and academic performance, and to determine the degree to which
demographic characteristics moderate the relationship. The California Critical Thinking
Skills Test Middle School Series (CCTST-M series) was administered to assess critical
thinking skill levels of students. Academic performance was measured by teacher
assigned grades in core subject areas and the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test.
The demographic factors - gender, tenure at Shanghai American School (SAS), and
Culture (native language serving as a proxy for culture data) – were self reported and
crosschecked with student records. Data was collected from 297 eighth grade students at
Shanghai American School, a high performing American international school located in
Shanghai, China.
One-Way ANOVA and Stepwise models were used to examine the relationship
between each of the factors and critical thinking. Results showed that grades and MAP
test scores were significant predictor variables for critical thinking skills, indicating a
strong relationship between critical thinking skills and academic achievement. Gender
and tenure at SAS did not yield significant results, and do not moderate the relationship
with critical thinking skills. Initial analysis also found culture to be an insignificant
variable, except when math performance was factored out, Confucian students scored
lower than non-Confucian students in critical thinking. This variance suggests a
discipline specificity of critical thinking within some cultures, while also supporting the
idea of culturally specific conceptualizations of critical thinking.