Factors that contribute to useful measurement of the impact of educational programs on college students are reviewed. Chapters cover the following: goals of student outcomes assessment; philosophy of assessment; outcome taxonomies; issues of measurement in talent development assessment; cognitive outcome instruments; increasing the usefulness of outcomes assessments; and practical suggestions for conducting assessments. It is suggested that an institutional program of assessing student outcomes should be based on a coherent philosophy of institutional mission and should reflect a conception of what constitutes effective performance of that mission. Two commonly used approaches to defining excellence are discussed, reputational and resource approaches, but a "talent development" approach is proposed in which assessment focuses more on changes or improvements in students' performance from entry to exit. Talent development assessments may be conducted with either standard,