In the context of education, “monitoring” refers to changes in levels of pupil achievement, in provision or in teaching. It is usually associated with interest in whether “standards” are rising, falling, or remaining steady. Although the evidence used includes pupil achievement, the purpose is to inform policy and practice decisions, not to make judgments about individual pupils. Monitoring at school level is best undertaken within the context of selfevaluation, where other information needed to interpret pupil assessment data is also collected. Even at the system level a change from one year to the next is unlikely to be meaningful; trends over longer periods provide more useful information.