An achievement testing framework is being developed by the Los Angeles Unified School District to assess the educational progress of 14,000 secondary level compensatory education students with something other than standardized tests. The technique of multiple matrix sampling was applied to the use of large item domains in the subject area of reading, mathematics, and language development. The domains of items were built locally on "content maps" which describe the skills actually taught in the compensatory education program. The process of constructing such frameworks is transportable to other programs. The possibility of obtaining normative data from the framework is being explored. (Author)