The external examiner approach to assessment can address concerns that American educational standards are low, curricular coherence is lacking, and college students are learning insufficiently. The discussion: (1) contrasts the conditions in British and American higher education that make the British model inappropriate for the United States; (2) explores how the external examiner model nevertheless has applications that address American needs for assessment; (3) review the considerations of reliability and validity in external examiner use of comprehensive and oral examinations; and (4) gives examples of how American institutions are presently using external examiners to evaluate learning in courses, internships, and senior projects, as well as assessing summative learning in majors. (Author/KM)