Driven by external pressure for increased accountability and internal pressure for improved learning outcomes, colleges across the country have been developing and refining assessment systems for several decades. In some cases, assessment results have significant positive impact. In other cases, the results have little impact, are not seen as useful or not designed for program improvement purposes in the first place. Assessment can have substantial negative effects as well. In 1999, the Vermont State Colleges (VSC) initiated a systemwide planning process that identified multiple strategic initiatives. One initiative called for the establishment of common graduation standards for all students, at both the associate and bachelor's levels. In this article, the authors discuss the process of developing and implementing campus-specific assessments for system-level graduation standards. The results and lessons learned are discussed.