This paper discusses issues surrounding the use of licensure examination results as measures of outcome in institutions of higher education. Based on informal telephone surveys of several state university systems, and on information obtained from national certification organizations, faculty experts, reviews of the literature, and the experience of the State of Florida, the study finds no uniformity of opinion regarding the use of certification and licensure examination results to assess academic programs; examinations are seen more as a measure of student ability than program validity. Appendixes include: a list of national examination agencies by discipline; brief synopses of survey results of state universities and systems conducted from December 1997 through March 1997; a table of national licensure information by discipline; and a short monograph on the State of Florida's experiences in obtaining pass rate data. (CH)