The Commission for Teacher Preparation and Licensing of the State of California has for the past three years been operating an External Assessment Pilot Project. Community and professional constituents of teacher education programs review those programs to determine whether or not they conform to earlier program plans submitted to the commission for approval, according to the discrepancy evaluation model. The history of the commission, the development of the external assessment concept, and the implementation of that pilot project during its first two years are reviewed. The various steps in the external assessment process, and the strengths and weaknesses of the system are described. (Author/MV)