however most of these measures are implemented at the school or regional level which makes it impossible to follow progress of specific groups of students over time it would be of great value to establish a systematic approach to monitor the educational progress of specific groups of students against educational standards that are common to all students this would shift attention from the average learning outcomes at the school level to the average learning outcomes of those most in need eg socioeconomically disadvantaged indigenous students students in rural and remote areas students with special needs information for specific groups of students would facilitate the analysis of the particular learning needs of these groups and the pedagogical needs of the schools serving these students