Information about the performance of higher education graduates and how we can develop better performance indicators is limited. There is some information on aspects of the results of higher education from synthesis of small scale research projects, from standardized tests, and from national surveys. There are also efforts underway to design an indicator system that would track progress with regard to cognitive outcomes and literacy. A group appointed by the National Education Goals Panel has recommended that a new assessment system be created for higher education modeled on the existing one for elementary and secondary education, the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Some preliminary work has been done in identifying indicators of good practice. The question is now whether efforts to secure better information can reach consensus in the higher education community. An important element of any indicator system must be the academic performance of college graduates in some set of content and skill disciplines. Consensus around skills, centering on communications, critical thinking, and problem solving, is more likely than consensus on content knowledge. A number of example tasks are presented as potential measurement techniques. Twenty-three figures illustrate the discussion. (SLD)