ABSTRACT

Moves to develop indicators about school effectiveness and performance have been driven by national trends and by a broader debate about performance and accountability 1 . Nationally set indicators of performance — such as the standard assessment tasks, or the publication of performance on public examination — have increasingly become part of the new education currency: a medium for exercising choice and decision-making in the new education market place. As contributors to the book will suggest, such a framework is not unprobiematic.