There are already a great many bodies devoted wholly or partly to critical scrutiny of California higher education. But it is easy to prove that their combined effort provides only the most superficial evaluation, answering almost none of the basic questions that concern legislators, taxpayers, prospective students, parents and future employers. This report first discusses the grave deficiencies of the present situation, and then reviews the remedial options available. It includes a look at the evaluation situation in higher education and some reference to relevant literature. The point of view of this paper is that good evaluation procedures are necessary for diagnosing the state of California higher education and can, when installed, provide an immense boost towards improvement. There is stress on the beneficial interaction between the evaluation system and the system being evaluated. (Author/HS)