The National Consortium on Inclusive Schooling Practices (1996) developed a framework to analyze state and local policies and their effects on school inclusion. The framework focuses on standards-based systemic reform across six major policy areas: curriculum, student assessment, accountability, personnel development and professional training, finance, and governance. This brief discusses student assessment and the need to encourage the involvement of all students, including students with disabilities, in statewide assessments. The following topics are addressed: (1) why students are assessed; (2) the relationship between standards and assessment; (3) what we know about reforms in assessment; (4) questions to consider in statewide assessment systems; (5) students with disabilities and state assessment in Kentucky; (6) provisions in the new Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that require students with disabilities to be included in state assessments; (7) alternative portfolios; (8) the content of alternative portfolios; (9) how alternative assessment are scored; and (10) how state assessments are linked to accountability. The brief concludes that with the advent of standards-based reform, states have increased the importance placed on student testing and accountability, and that the Kentucky model holds great promise for including students with disabilities in statewide assessments. (CR)