The National Federal Education Standards define critical thinking skills as one of the main features of the "school graduate’s portrait“. In this regard, critical thinking skills, which effectiveness can be evaluated by using specific criteria for each level, should be properly defined in the national standards and programs. This article provides an analysis of the experience of foreign countries (Singapore, Finland, Hong Kong and Australia) in critical thinking development as a possible way of realization of the critical thinking ideology in Russian school education. The author makes an attempt to define a set of requirements that enable the development of critical thinking skills, to determine the main criteria of its development and possible methods of assessment in the area of critical thinking that can be used by authors of the National Federal Education Standards.