This issue of "Assessment Update" presents the following articles: (1) Using National Benchmarking Data to Improve Student Learning in Chemistry at Lebanon Valley College (Marc A. Harris); (2) Mutually Dependent Outcomes: Using Assessment to Improve First-Year Retention and Student Learning (Alan Bearman and Elaine Lewis); (3) Emergent Themes in Assessment: Musings from the 2017 AALHE Conference (Catherine M. Wehlburg and Monica Stitt-Bergh); and (4) Interpersonal Communication: Assessment of Exercises (Kenneth R. Albone). Also included are the following columns: (1) Assessment Institute Insights--Assessing High-Impact Educational Practices: Quality, Ddiversity, and Inclusive Excellence (Jennifer Thorington Springer and Julie A. Hatcher); (2) NILOA Perspectives--Assessment in a Learning Systems Paradigm (David W. Marshall and Natasha A. Jankowski; and (3) From the States--A New Departure: The Quality Assurance Commons for Higher Education (Peter T. Ewell).