This digest provides a review of the research literature on assessment of the effectiveness of higher education in producing graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary for well-educated citizens today. Major findings are grouped as answers or partial answers to the following nine questions: (1) "what are the critical competencies and how do they develop?"; (2) "what are the effects of our curricula?"; (3) "how effectively do our courses develop students' intellectual abilities?"; (4) "how hard do students work?"; (5) "what do tests and grades tell us?"; (6) "how does the campus climate affect our students' development?"; (7) "how well do we guide our students' development?"; (8) "can today's students learn?"; and (9) "how can we improve the quality of the student outcomes we produce?" (Contains eight references.) (DB)