In 1991, the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) contemplated a statewide assessment system consisting of three distinct ways of obtaining data: "on-demand" (OD) multiple-choice and performance tasks, "curricular-embedded assessment" (CEA), and "organic portfolios" (OP). This paper discusses issues of assessment design, inference, and reporting that this proposal raises. It first addresses the notions of evidence and inference in educational assessment in light of recent developments in cognitive and educational psychology, then discusses the matchups of the aspects of student competence and the types of information afforded by the three assessment methodologies.