Community colleges in California are grappling with developing and assessing student learning outcomes (SLOs), as the accrediting agency is holding them accountable for providing evidence of student learning as one measure of institutional effectiveness. One means of demonstrating accountability is to use strategic planning to direct the continuous improvement of SLOs through assessment and evaluation. A survey of 108 California community college chief instructional officers (CIOs) examined the relationship between strategic planning and assessing student learning. The response rate was 63 percent. These CIOs did not report a direct connection between strategic planning and assessing student learning as a means to fulfill institutional goals and improve institutional effectiveness. However, follow-up interviews with 12 of the 68 CIOs who responded to the survey indicated the existence of this relationship. Results from this article demonstrate the need for both quantitative and qualitative measures of the same issue to allow for multiple perspectives to arise. (Contains 1 figure and 7 tables.)