This program explores the nature of authentic assessment and its impact on curriculum and instruction; identifies the economic and political pressures for accountability, which have driven school systems to adopt inadequate approaches to assessment; and highlights alternative assessment strategies and tools—those that help teachers make good instructional decisions, as well as those that help students develop self-monitoring and self-assessment strategies of their own. Many standardized tests currently in use are administratively efficient and psychometrically accurate, but for a variety of reasons have served to distort instruction and the definition of the achieving student. This program addresses the need for alternative instruments of assessment—assessment that is multidimensional and longitudinal, involves use of educational resources, addresses possibilities for improvement, reflects good classroom practice, and demonstrates clear standards shared by teachers and students. (42 minutes)