Assessment not only places value, it also identifies which elements to value. In this era of accountability, the constituents of educational assessment are not just students, faculty, and administrators, but also parents, legislators, journalists, and the public. For these broader audiences, simple numerical indicators of student performance take on totemic significance. The spotlight of educational improvement often falls first and brightest on mathematics. This paper first discusses college mathematics and principles of assessment, then elaborates on the implementations of assessment. (Contains 21 references.) (ASK)