The United States is transitioning to an information age society, requiring that the citizens and workers of the future be highly literate in their use of information. Information literacy is the ability to evaluate, analyze, and apply critical thinking to the use of information. Educators need to answer basic questions about how students become information literate using online resources and other technologies, which online resources best promote information literacy, and what strategies best prepare teachers to facilitate this learning. Performance assessment can provide a reflective process to inform these questions. The first step is to agree on a conceptual base. Assessment begins with the background each child brings to school and ends with competencies all high school graduates should possess. Performance-based tasks, longer projects or experiments, as well as student portfolios must be considered as assessment strategies; a progression of strategies that are developmentally appropriate for grades K-12, including group based projects as well as individual tasks can be developed. It is imperative that the assessment strategy specifically supports national initiatives. The development of information literacy assessment will involve teachers, administrators, subject area experts, students, and key project staff, all under the guidance of the Assessment Coordinator. The major steps in developing the performance assessment for information literacy are: defining the constructs to be measured; defining the target population; reviewing related tests; developing a prototype; evaluating the prototype; revising the tool(s); and collecting data on test validity and reliability. Professional development is critical to success; teachers are the key to the attainment of information literacy. (Contains 15 references.) (AEF)