In an effort to examine issues raised by the effort to assess the performance of educational institutions, a project focusing on the social purposes and intellectual foundations of assessment practices in education was initiated. The primary goal of the project was to explore the possibility of developing new, more appropriate educational assessment strategies. As part of the project, several panels were convened, each focusing on a broad purpose of educational assessment. This document is the report of the first panel, which focused on the role of assessment in classroom instruction. It includes papers by Eva L. Baker, Eugenia Kemble, Philip Jackson, David Hawkins, J. Parker Damon, Asa G. Hilliard III, Howard E. Gruber, Robert T. Keegan, Judah L. Schwartz, Edwin F. Taylor, Nancy Willie, and Michael S. Garet. The panel concludes with four recommendations: (1) in developing new assessment materials, it is worth starting small; (2) the development of new assessment materials should be carried out by groups with a strong interest in the content areas being assessed; (3) schools interested in adopting new forms of assessment should begin by focusing on a small number of classrooms and subject areas; and (4) making new forms of assessment work in practice will depend on the sensitivity and ingenuity of teachers. (BW)