The criteria for accreditation and reaffirmation published by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) have been developed to assist institutions in evaluating their effectiveness. In this study, the criteria are reviewed. An instrument to assess the Southern Association criteria was developed based on input from the association's institutional effectiveness committee. The instrument was mailed to 2,300 college alumni, and 1,019 were returned. A survey of student assessment of the criteria was distributed to 1,100 college students, and 1,047 were completed. The surveys to assess the criteria were validated from these samples. Factorial validity of both surveys was evaluated with the Statistical Analysis System principal components program. Findings overall suggest that three second-order factors represent the alumni instrument, and six second-order factors represent the student survey. The developed instrument items and the subsequent psychometric analyses do provide a basic instrument for assessing the SACS criteria. Eight tables present rotated pattern coefficients. Five appendixes contain both surveys, responses to each, and a list of the criteria. (Contains 29 references.) (Author/SLD)