<![CDATA[The Merdeka Curriculum emphasizes the development of critical thinking skills; therefore, the quality of assessment questions needs to be examined to ensure their alignment with the intended learning outcomes. Although numerous studies have analyzed assessment questions using the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy or Robert H. Ennis's critical thinking indicators, studies integrating both frameworks in the analysis of short story assessment questions remain limited. This study aimed to describe the alignment of short story assessment questions in the Grade VIII Bahasa Indonesia textbook published by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology in 2024 with the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy and Robert H. Ennis's critical thinking indicators. This study employed a descriptive qualitative approach using content analysis of 22 assessment questions. The findings revealed that all cognitive levels of the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy were represented; however, the questions were dominated by the Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS) category (59.09%), while Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) accounted for 36.36%. Based on Robert H. Ennis's critical thinking indicators, Elementary Clarification was the most dominant indicator (40.91%), whereas Advanced Clarification appeared least frequently (4.55%). These findings indicate that the assessment questions remain more focused on measuring basic thinking skills than on fostering comprehensive critical thinking. Therefore, the development of assessment questions should ensure a more balanced distribution of cognitive levels and critical thinking indicators to better reflect the objectives of the Merdeka Curriculum.]]>
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