In March 1988, the Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College, New York, initiated a short-term, participatory research project in alternative assessment. It consisted of two major components--a five-session seminar held for two hours on Wednesday afternoons in May and June and two rounds of interviews with Adult Learning Center (ALC) students conducted by students participating in the project. This project was intended as the first step in development of a model procedure for classroom-based assessment in ALC classes. Interviews focused on ALC students' current status as readers and writers and on their knowledge about the texts, tasks, contexts, strategies, and processes involved in reading and writing. Three ALC teachers and five students from their classes participated. Five experiential workshop sessions provided some theoretical background on reading and writing processes and on the nature of ethnographic research. The series also took participants through a process of planning, conducting, and analyzing interviews of ALC students. This project showed that students, with training, can conduct assessment interviews with other students that produce useful information about student learning. Implications from this alternative assessment were proof of its cost-effectiveness, a closer relationship between assessment and a student-centered curriculum, and need for an assessment method for student writing. (YLB)