Accountability in education is often effected through mandated standards for curriculum, teacher performance and student outcomes at national or state levels, and this has increasingly occurred in Australia over the past decade. In order to make decisions regarding the achievement of these standards, evidence must be collected from sample sites or segments of the relevant populations. Funding is often linked to accountability, through reward mechanisms ‘after the event’ or through grants made a priori and requiring comprehensive reports. The evidence base is large-scale, but can lack detail. In conjunction with these levers for schools to act on current issues, their autonomy to make local decisions that assist them to meet the standards has been promoted, as policy makers recognise that local input not only increases the motivation of teachers, but allows them to contribute their contextual expertise to solve big problems. Since these problems generally focus on students’ needs, teachers have the local authority to take immediate action, while providing evidence of their experience to inform policymakers and other practitioners.