Here’s a despairing question from a university administrator: “Other than pouring money we don’t have into assessment, how can we create a culture that values the process?” This paper addresses that plea, applying empirical and theoretical ideas drawn from previous evaluation work on learning organizations. The specific focus is on general education, an orphan program with no necessary faculty community. A case study of a public university provides data and narrative on academic culture, stages in readiness for genuine assessment, and actions that foster utilization. These are applied to analysis of practical progress and recommendations for enhancing the movement from an initial group of committed faculty who devise outcome objectives for general education to a learning organization that will be able to benefit from assessment findings on a sustainable basis. How can an evaluation perspective aid this process? #AssessmentinHigherEducation #2011Conference