The author reports a federal competition that has opened for $350 million in federal money to design new ways of assessing what students learn. Rules for the contest make clear that the government wants to leave behind multiple-choice testing more often in favor of essays, multidisciplinary projects, and other more nuanced measures of achievement. In the final regulations for the competition, the U.S. Department of Education says that it seeks assessments that "more validly measure" students' knowledge and skills than those that have come to dominate state testing in recent years. It wants tests that show not only what students have learned, but also how that achievement has grown over time and whether they are on track to do well in college. And all that, the regulations said, requires assessments that elicit "complex student demonstrations or applications" of what they've learned. Two types of grants will be awarded--one for "comprehensive assessment systems" and one for high school end-of-course tests. States must band together in groups, or "consortia," of 15 or more to apply for the comprehensive-testing grant, with five states designated as "governing," or leading, partners. Applicants for the high school testing program must show that five states are leading their group, but face no other minimum group-size requirement.