Curriculum Column

An increased emphasis on reasoning and problem-solving in the schools is regarded by many educators as a more pressing need than the teaching of so-called "basic skills."

Now, a test designed to measure children's reasoning proficiencies is available from the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children at Montclair State College in New Jersey. The test, believed to be the first of its kind, was developed by Virginia Shipman, a research psychologist with the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J., for the New Jersey Department of Education; the department is the ''authorized distributor" of the test.

The New Jersey Test of Reasoning Skills includes 50 multiple-choice questions that cover 23 areas of reasoning skill. The skills include "detecting assumptions, induction, recognizing symmetrical relationships," and similar tasks.

The test questions are written in "children's language," according to Matthew Lipman, director of the iapc, so that children will not find them "impersonal" and thus react badly to them. The test was written at a 4th-to-5th grade reading level.

The advantage of such a test, Mr. Lipman said, is that it allows teachers to identify those children who are not learning to reason well.

The iapc will collect scores from school districts around the country that use the test and will create a computer data bank. The institute has received many requests from schools nationwide for information on the test, Mr. Lipman said.

For more information, write to the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, Test Division, Montclair State College, Upper Montclair, N.J. 07043.