This paper describes alternative assessments being used successfully at two elementary magnet schools in North Carolina and summarizes case studies of the assessment development process. Assessments, grade levels, school years, and school districts in the case studies differed, but commonalities in developing the assessments enabled the researchers to adapt a seven-step practice-based model from the SouthEastern Regional Vision for Education (SERVE), the federal education laboratory in their region, to describe the process. In one school, the assessment system was a continuous progress method of evaluating students and communicating information to parents. In the other, the assessment incorporated the multiple intelligences and arts integration aspects of their curriculum. To see if the model might be applicable to other schools, it was used as part of a teacher in-service program on assessment for 30 elementary school teachers and then presented to a second group of teachers at a summer institute. Information from the multiple data sources of this study indicates that the practice-based assessment model derived from the initial case studies is effective for other schools. (SLD)