With its inevitable dependency on the essential, and often contested, nature of art, the subject of assessment or evaluation in art and design education remains a matter of continuing controversy. This collection of essays examines the principal issues as they relate to the main phases of formal education, from primary to post-compulsory. Together, the papers provide an historical and philosophical analysis of the present state of assessment in art and design in our schools and colleges, and significantly, they map out some possible directions for reform.