The past ten years in South Africa has seen many changes in education - the creation of a single department of education; common examinations for all learners in public schools in the country, a new outcomes based education curriculum which was introduced to learners in the general education and training phase since 1998 and will be introduced to the further education and training phase from 2006. To evaluate the success of these changes South African researchers still use the indicator of student achievement. The matriculation examination is the visible, high profile and public performance indicator. Every year parents, learners, teachers, researchers, government officials, policymakers, and the general public get involved in the debate around the matric examination with the most frequently asked questions being - Did the pass rate go up? Are standards dropping? Are the results real or have they been manipulated? How is our education system doing? Are we meeting the development goals? What should the matriculation examination of the future look like? participants from government (national and provincial),