This paper looks at alternative assessment and explores its place in educational reform. It gives a snapshot of alternative assessment in practice, guidelines for establishing it as part of the urban school culture, and resources for additional information. Alternative assessments differ from traditional tests in that they require students to construct responses to open-ended problems that have more than one correct answer. Alternative assessments also make success explicit by using a set of standards as their measuring stick instead of using relative comparisons to other students. No form of assessment alone should drive educational reform, but alternative assessment can be an important part of reform agendas because it fits well with current paradigm shifts in education. There are many misunderstandings about alternative assessment, the most common being the assumption that it is subjective, but approaches have been developed to enhance the reliability of alternative assessments. In the urban context, alternative assessment can be especially valuable because it promotes equity, increases motivation, raises standards, empowers students and teachers, and focuses attention on teaching and learning. Five examples of the use of alternative assessment in urban public schools illustrate how useful it can be. (Contains 18 references.) (SLD)