In 1989 the North Central Higher Learning Commission joined a growing movement to improve learning and classroom assessment. The movement called for a more inclusive type of assessment that involves tasks other that learning for testing. The Association of American Colleges and Universities agreed and proposed new Principles of Excellence accompanied by Essential Learning Outcomes including focus on assessment. Not much has been done to support this movement on the part of researchers, especially in the field of social sciences, as educators desperately need information to promote educational change. Grounded on the Theory of Multiple Intelligences as a framework, this study investigated the relationship between non-traditional assessment and knowledge retained in an introductory psychology course. The study also investigated a relationship between type of multiple intelligence and success in non-traditional and traditional classroom assessments. The study took place in a Technical College in Wisconsin with a sample of 76 participants enrolled in four introductory psychology courses at the college. The findings suggested a trend in favor of non-traditional assessment; however, the results were not statistically significant. Although the hypotheses were rejected, the results of the study provided an important finding in favor of non-traditional assessment. Both the control and the experimental groups showed learning after the unit was presented, but the participants from the control group did not succeed on their assessments while the participants on the experimental group did. This finding indicates that traditional assessments do not adequately measure learning that has occurred. Studies with larger samples are needed to further explore this issue. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]