Responding to Gregory Cizek's critique of the "faddishness" of direct assessment methods, this article urges a more constructive debate about the pressing issues of costs versus benefits, the place of face validity in test design, the differing needs in assessment data reporting, and assessment methods that actually improve school…

Two key assumptions of conventional test design--the compartmentalization of knowledge and the decontextualization of knowing--are false. Because competent performance requires both context and judgment, it is senseless to test for mastery as an unvarying response to unambiguous stimuli. Test-makers must link their tests to the tasks, contexts,…

Assessments should improve performance by providing usable feedback, and should not merely audit it. Problems with educational accountability policies stem from a flawed view of student assessment. Intellectual excellence cannot be obtained via one-time mandated tests composed of proxies for real challenges. Common standards should be developed…