Provinces also stepped up their efforts to quantify student learning by collectively participating in international assessment programs such as the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Program of International Student Assessment (PISA), introducing national standardized tests (the School Achievement Indicators Program —SAIP and the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program—PCAP), and developing provincial criterion-referenced testing programs (Young, Levin, & Wallin, 2007). While the quantification of student outcomes is useful evidence of accountability domestically, from the perspective of national and international competitiveness, it is also symbolic. Blackmore (1999) has argued that the effectiveness of education systems tends to be linked to perceptions about the competitive strength of regions and nations. As part of the overall shift towards accountability, education ministries looked for opportunities to reduce or eliminate redundant or underutilized public services through program review exercises (which later became known by the softer moniker—program renewal). Governments also began to exercise greater surveillance over school board operations. Until the early 1990s there was little evidence of policies or review processes that would signal much in the way of centralized intervention in local school governance. As Lawton (1996) notes, the powers of provincial governments over school boards, as written in legislation are almost absolute; however prior to 1990, they had rarely been used. But, according to a report of the Canadian School Boards Association (CSBA), by 1995 provinces had already begun to press for school board reforms in six key areas: school board consolidation and boundary changes; changes in roles and responsibilities of school boards; creation of school/parent councils; school choice and charter schools; service delivery through cooperative ventures, and; the imposition of measures to promote greater accountability (Canadian School Boards Association, 1995). In the Lessons in Leadership: Perspectives on Corporate Managerialism and Educational Reform 9