Assessment and accountability systems play an increasingly important role in how education systems set standards, identify areas for improvement, and make decisions about curriculum, resources, and teacher training. However, while assessment and accountability practices have been widely studied, less attention has been paid to how the structure of government shapes the way these systems are designed and used.
This report addresses that gap by focusing on federal education systems, where responsibility is shared across national and subnational governments. Moving beyond a simple centralized-versus-decentralized view, it offers a new way to compare systems based on who has authority, how different levels of government work together, how results are compared, and how those results are used for accountability, certification, or selection.
Australia, Brazil, and Canada offer three distinct examples of how federal systems approach assessment and accountability. Their experiences show how the way responsibilities are divided can affect what gets measured, whether results can be compared across jurisdictions, and how assessment results lead to action. Rather than pointing to a single best approach, the report highlights the choices and trade-offs federal education systems face.
