Two heads of department in contrasting schools explain why they do not use Level Descriptions at all, other than at the very end of Key Stage 3. Influenced by ‘assessment for learning' principles, Sally Burnham and Geraint Brown develop a case for using assessment to help pupils grow in understanding of how the discipline of history works. They want pupils to build an interest in their own improvement. They argue that the Level Descriptions are at best irrelevant and at worst damaging to this process. Presenting their own constructive alternatives, they show how these meet the demand for useful data to evaluate and improve the teaching in their departments. A key refrain for these two heads of department is that history teachers must constantly to wrestle with what ‘getting better' at history means. They use the results of assessment continually to expand their thinking about what progression might be and how to achieve it.