On 2 June 2006 the education ministers of the German states adopted an overall strategy for monitoring education. It has four parts: international school studies, a central test of the national education standards in a comparison of the states, comparison tests in classrooms, and a joint education report of the federal and state governments.
The aim was an education policy based on evidence. The strategy followed the performance problems that had become obvious since the end of the 1990s.
In 2014 a study in the journal Die Deutsche Schule found that the results were not processed and discussed in sufficient depth. In six or seven states, schools received only the share of correct answers.