Assessment is a cornerstone of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA), and development of appropriate assessments for grades 4, 8, and 12 has been a major focus of KERA implementation. This paper explores the development of performance events, portfolio assessments, and open-ended questions, with an emphasis on open-ended questions and their scoring. At present, the state scoring guide places a 68% emphasis on the open-ended questions included in the KERA assessments. The open-ended questions of the KERA involve students working individually or together in groups to solve simulated real-life problems. The development of the open-ended questions begins with central organizers and proceeds through the development of essential questions and the formation of a performance guideline. The rubric developed to score open-ended questions must be clear, fair, and reliable. The development of open-ended questions will realign ideas and priorities in the classroom, a change that is the real challenge for the future. Appendix A consists of informational guides and handouts. Appendix B lists KERA goals and outcomes. Appendix C shows sample goals and outcomes, and Appendix D contains sample tests and scoring guides. A list of 14 suggested readings is attached. (Contains nine references.) (SLD)