The purpose of the research is to develop and identify the validity of factors affecting higher order thinking skills (HOTS) of students. The thinking skills can be divided into three types: analytical, critical, and creative thinking. This analysis is done by applying the meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) based on a database of 166 primary empirical studies. The research results assert the theories and bring conceptual and empirical clarity to the factors affecting HOTS of students and also give readers an understanding of the magnitude and significance of relationships among the variables in the model. MASEM results confirm that classroom environment, psychological and intellectual characteristics of students have direct effects on HOTS (96.8% explained variance). Whereas, the family characteristic had insignificant effects on HOTS but they had indirect effects on HOTS through psychological characteristic. Furthermore, we show that the most direct effects on HOTS were psychological characteristic, classroom environment and intellectual characteristic, respectively. This study provided a holistic view on the relationship of factors affecting HOTS and proposed a direction for future research and practice.Key words: Higher order thinking skills, meta-analytic structural equation modeling, classroom environment, family characteristic, psychological characteristic, intellectual characteristic. INTRODUCTIONHigher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) is a thinking process, which consists of complicated procedures and needs to be based on various skills such as analysis, synthesis, comparison, inference, interpretation, assessment, and inductive and deductive reasoning to be employed to solve unfamiliar problems (Smith, 1992;Zohar and Dori, 2003). The characteristics of students with HOTS are open-mindedness for risk-taking, curiosity, keen on fact discovery, planning and indicating the most suitable method, have a systems thinking process, think carefully, use evidence to think rationally and frequent self-monitoring (Shari et al., 1993). The students with HOTS are able to create new knowledge and make appropriate and logical decisions. Information and technology advancement greatly influences the current society. Consequently, learning management must be adapted to the current situation/society and focus on improving HOTS of students.There are many concepts of HOTS applied to the educational development of students and these concepts have been studied for years and used for teaching and learning in the classroom and the research of factors contributing to students' HOTS development (Noble and Powell, 1995;Rajendran, 2001;O'Tuel and Bullard, 2001;Marshall , Robert and Horton, 2011;Magno, 2011;Fischer et al., 2011;Kondak and Ayden, 2013). Within the thinking process literature, there are many factors affecting HOTS: classroom environment, family characteristic, psychological characteristic, and intelligence (Horan, 2007;Silvia, 2008;Pannells and Claxton, 2008;Lim and Smith, 2008;Chini et al., 2009;Pascarella ...

The measurement instruments are part of assessment the teacher uses in assessing the learner’s learning process and outcomes. So, it is very necessary to prepare teacher students for their future as teachers. The objectives of this research were 1) to develop guidelines on construction of mathematical skill and process instruments, 2) to develop ability of construction of mathematical skill and process instruments of teacher students to meet the 70 percent criterion. The target group of the focus group discussion consisted of 4 experts in mathematics study. The experimental group consisted of 48 4th year students in the Faculty of Education, Mahasarakham University, obtained through cluster random sampling. The instruments used in the research were focus group issues, guidelines on construction of instruments, and an assessment form for ability of construction of mathematical skill and process instruments. The analysis of data employed content analysis and one sample t-test analysis. The research results were as follows: 1) The guidelines on construction of mathematical skill and process instruments emphasized enabling students to design instruments by themselves, by answering the following questions: “What is measured?” (What), “Why is it measured?” (Why), “When is it measured?” (When), “Who measures it?” (Who), and “How is it measured?” (How). The instruments constructed were various. 2) The ability of construction of mathematical skill and process instruments of the teacher students met the 70 percent criterion, with statistical significance at the .05 level (t=7.06, df=47). The research results, apart from being able to be used with teacher students, can also be used with in-service teachers.

The aim of this research is to study the accurate prediction of comparing test information and evaluation result by multidimensional computerized adaptive scholastic aptitude test program used for grade 9 students under different reviewing test conditions. Grade 9 students of the Secondary Educational Service Area Office in the Northeast of Thailand, in 2014 academic year were the sample used in this research. The research materials were two test programs: the test program that allows reviewing of answers and the one that does not allow reviewing of answers. The manual of the test program and evaluation form of the multidimensional computerized adaptive scholastic aptitude test program used for grade 9 students in different reviewing test conditions showed that: 1) The test program is an accurate predictor of the students' achievement, as verbal factor correlates with the students' achievement in five core subjects. The aptitude tests on number and reasoning correlate with the students' achievement in Mathematics, science and social science. The aptitude test on space correlates with the students' achievement in Mathematics and science. 2) The test program has statistical and significant difference at .05 level. 3) The evaluation result of the two test programs has statistical significance at .05 level.

The objectives of this research were to synthesize the results of assessment and analyze strengths, weaknesses that should be developed from the results of the third round of quality assessment in the higher education level of Rajabhat University cluster. The target group of the research consisted of 40 reports of the third round of external quality assessment B.E. 2554-2558 (2011-2015) in higher education of the Rajabhat University cluster. Secondary data were obtained from the external quality assessment reports. The data were analyzed using frequency, percentage and the mean. The results were as follows: 1) The synthesis of the results of the third round of external quality assessment of Rajabhat Universities showed that all of the 40 universities had been accredited, with the overall quality in the good level (Mean = 4.22). Three universities (7.50%) were in the very good level and 37 universities (92.50%) were in the good level. 2) The strengths of Rajabhat universities were on the Aspects of Academic Services to Society and Preservation of Art and Culture. The weaknesses that should be developed were on the Aspect of Research and Creative Work.