This study describes an elementary school teacher's implementation of authentic assessment strategies in her science classes. After completing a graduate elementary science methods course, this teacher decided to make changes that would align her assessment strategies with her hands-on approach to teaching science. She experimented with a variety of assessment strategies and was successful in the use of science logs, performance assessment, creative drama, scrapbooks, and interviews. while rejecting the use of portfolios. Factors that contributed to the successful implementation included administrative support, close contact with parents, collaboration with university faculty, teacher's ownership, and the teacher's flexibility to try a variety of strategies. The teacher's perception of assessment shifted toward an integrated model wherein instruction and assessment occur simultaneously. Her typical reaction after assessing her students changed from disappointment in how they performed on a test to surprise at how much they knew.Authentic assessment, alternative assessment, portfolios, pegormance assessment . , .there are many terms to describe the movement away from traditional tests to more innovative and meaningful forms of assessment. Yet there is a surprising lack of formal research investigating what happens when a classroom teacher attempts to implement new assessment strategies. This article describes one teacher's implementation of authentic assessment strategies in her fourth-grade science classes.Virginia, a second-year teacher and masters student, was unaware of alternative assessment strategies and expressed delight at learning about new ways to assess her students in science. She hoped that aligning assessment with instruction might help with the nagging sense of disappointment she felt with her students' performance on science tests. Virginia was beginning to see the need to take control of the assessment of her students. Like many teachers who respond to articles in professional magazines, in-service workshops, and university courses, her eyes were opening to a variety of strategies for assessing what her students learn.The research began when Virginia was completing my graduate science education class (Spring 1992) and approached me with her plans to change the way she assessed students in science during the following academic year (her third year in the classroom). My course syllabus included assessment, and much of the required reading for the class was from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) publication Science assessment Numerous articles have been published that make practical and theoretical arguments for the use of a variety of assessment strategies to gain a better picture of what children understand (Haury, 1993;Rakow, 1992; Worthen, 1993a). The many suggestions for implementing authentic assessment strategies include performance assessment (Haury, 1993;Smith et al., 1993), portfolio assessment (Collins, 1992; Huary, 1993;Smith, Ryan, & Kuhs, 1993) Kase...