This paper examines the potential contributions of a feminist critical perspective to an understanding of assessment in higher education. It uses as a foundation the nine principles of feminist assessment (published in 1992 as an outgrowth of a project on women's studies programs) and an American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) list of nine principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning, which concern themselves with values, student-centered assessment and the influence of institutional culture on assessment. The paper discusses the beginnings of the assessment movement in higher education in the United States, various assessment principles, compares the feminist principles with the AAHE principles, and describes how various institutions use feminist principles in their assessment activities. In another section the study discusses two important contributions of feminist theory to assessment: the understanding that power and politics underlie issues of knowledge; and as an activist perspective, the idea that feminist theory can transform as well as inform educational practice. A table listing the principles of feminist assessment and the AAHE principles of good practice for assessing student learning is appended. (Contains 24 references.) (CH)