The Black, Wilson, and Yao (this issue) provide a wide-ranging commentary and vision of the interrelationships among curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Specifically, they describe how the Berkeley Evaluation & Assessment Research (BEAR) Center Assessment System can be used to integrate and systematize these areas. This commentary focuses on augmenting their model by explicitly considering contextual factors that provide an emergent ecological perspective on learning progressions as road maps for learning. The goal of this commentary is to extend the ideas that the Black et al. laid out in the focus article. The authors structure their discussion around three questions: (1) What are the essential aspects of learning progressions as road maps for learning?; (2) What are the key aspects of an ecological perspective?; and (3) What are some of the questions for future research raised from an ecological perspective that should be considered by the Black et al.? (Contains 2 figures.)