Assessing students for workplace readiness requires that schools know what skills and knowledge students need to succeed at work and how to foster their acquisition. Having seen that the educational systems of global competitors provided them with a significant advantage over the United States, policymakers have attempted to address some differences between the U.S. system of education and that of other nations through such federal legislation as the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technical Education Act, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, and Goals 2000. Schools need to identify methods for assessment of generic workplace readiness, assessment for specific occupations or jobs, and assessment of students' academic performance within a vocational context. A number of organizations have developed assessments that focus on most of the commonly identified generic skills. For example, the Work Keys system assesses skills common to a variety of workplaces; Michigan has developed an Employability Skills Portfolio assessment system; and the book, "Working," (C. Miles and P. Grummon, 1996) has a self-assessment of workplace readiness. Because no single assessment or assessment method can completely measure a student's range of skills and knowledge in a content area, several of these methods should be used: selected response, constructed response, performance-based assessments, and portfolios. The assessments should be matched with the purposes for which they will be used. (Contains 10 references.) (YLB)