Introduction : when best practice and our deepest convictions are at odds -- My troubles with rubrics -- There is a cow in our classroom : how rubrics became writing assessment's sacred cow -- The broken promises of rubrics -- The golden rule of assessment : wht we don't practice for assessment what we preach for pedagogy -- Agreeing to disagree : the heart of a new writing assessment paradigm -- Making our subjectivity transparent and useful : what response unmediated by rubrics looks like in our classrooms -- But how shall we grade? Investing in process for the sake of product -- How do we make time to make it meaningful? And other questions about assessment without rubrics.