To ensure high quality courses and services at Louisiana State University Evening School (Baton Rouge), a program evaluation was designed to aid in decision making. The plan developed and initially implemented in 1991-92 represents a beginning effort in a continuous process of evaluation. The initial focus was on instruction. The object of this study was to explore students' perspectives of the program as a whole and to develop an instrument that can provide a large quantity of data that instructors can use to enhance students' learning. After a review of existing instruments, a 68-item Student Assessment of Teaching and Learning (SATL) was drafted and administered to an initial sample of 755 evening school students. Reliability and validity were studied, and various exploratory factor analyses were completed to examine the original content classification of SATL items. Results provide empirical support for the construct validity and reliability of the measure, which is a welcome alternative to usual student rating forms in that it focuses on teaching and learning higher order thinking skills. Results further suggest that student perceptions of the teaching and learning environment have little or no relationship to student beliefs about expected course grades. Implications for future use of the SATL are discussed. Six tables and one figure present study findings. The SATL is included. (SLD)