As discussed throughout this handbook, research on cognition and learning has produced a rich set of descriptions of domain-specific learning and performance that can serve to guide both instruction and assessment design (see Duncan & Rivet, this volume; Herrenkohl & Polman, this volume). That said, there is much left to do in mapping out learning progressions for multiple areas of the curriculum in ways that can effectively guide the design of instruction and assessment (see Duncan & Rivet, this volume). Nevertheless, there is a fair amount known about student cognition and learning that we can make use of right now to guide how we design assessments, especially those that attempt to cover the progress of learning within and across grades. A recent paper by Bennett, Deane, and van Rijn (2016) on the CBAL assessment system (Cognitively Based Assessment of, for and as Learning) is an excellent example of such work. CBAL has concentrated on assessments of the English language arts and mathematics at the middle school level. The assessments have been designed with cognitive theory and data in mind, including the use of explicit learning progressions in these instructional domains. The Bennett et al. (2016) paper shows how cognitive and psychometric theory and methods can be used in complementary ways to design and validate an assessment program focused on critical aspects of student learning.