The Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST II) network was established in 1998 by ecologists accustomed to conducting their research in the field. The original impetus behind establishing FIRST was to engage biology faculty in active, inquiry-based science teaching, first in the field, an ideal environment for cooperative learning, and then in their classes. The impact of FIRST is seen in the activities of faculty now from all areas of biology who are change agents for the improvement of undergraduate science education, but major challenges toward implementing change still loom. Like many proponents of change, the authors are flush with new course and curricular materials and active-learning instructional strategies, but short on substantive research to back their claims that the "new" teaching approaches promote student learning better than traditional approaches. Many faculty remain unconvinced of the need for change because they have not been confronted with enough assessment data demonstrating that the new instructional methods have a positive impact on student learning--it is the "show me the data" dilemma. In fact, many faculty do have substantive assessment data, and others would like to collect such data. The challenge is learning what kinds of questions to ask; how to gather and analyze assessment data; and, ultimately, how to disseminate the results to an appropriate target audience. One way to meet these challenges has been through publication of assessment results in a peer-reviewed educational journal such as "CBE--Life Sciences Education," whose registered subscriber base is growing at a rapid rate. However, it is difficult for such a journal to provide sufficient guidance in assessment strategies and techniques to potential authors new to educational research. In this article, the authors present the case for a somewhat different approach toward meeting these challenges: the creation of an assessment database in biology education. The authors are developing the FIRST assessment database so the community of life scientists can begin to determine the effectiveness of nationally available course and curriculum materials, and their own teaching and learning activities. This database is an aggregation of assessment data about student learning in undergraduate biology courses. It will be a useful tool to facilitate and encourage faculty from all fields of biology to conduct research in biology education.