This paper considers the educational and technical feasibility of introducing a comprehensive system of student performance measures which will allow valid and reliable national and international comparisons. The conclusion reached is that a useful system of student performance measures can be established in this country, and some specific recommendations are made for the implementation of such a system. But the discussion that follows also contains important caveats and warnings. Difficulties in establishing valid and reliable measures of student achievement are not to be underestimated. Many education systems, particularly large systems in Europe and the United States which have had performance measures in place for many years, are in the process of dismantling and re- building their assessment programs to make them more inclusive of the broad range of goals that we now have for students in our schools, and to make them more useful in day-to-day classroom learning. There are lessons to be learned in Australia from the experiences of education systems in other countries.