The paper discusses the recent development of European schooling (PISA, emerging national testing systems, attempts to introduce some kind of accountability into the public arena). Granted that the often disturbing results of international comparative research have had some remarkable impact on the ways of governing and discussing schooling in many European countries.This paper is an attempt at a meta-analysis of the research studies in the ASAP- project. Methodologically this implies a bringing together of data and conclusions from different studies, and the paper will present explicitly how this is done.The international league tables or the national blame-game discourses following each new wave of international comparisons will soon be history. PISA and the like are only indicators of a far more fundamental, historical change in the nature and placement of schooling, a change process not yet fully understood by the current theorizing on PISA and its impact, on accountability and the New Public Management, or on "govermentality". It seems that we are witness to a lasting change of the "rules of engagement" of the welfare state, of the ways and means how (late-) modern societies address and deal with ill-defined social problems like security, health, resurrection, and education. Hopmann, Stefan T., 2003, On the evaluation of curriculum reforms, in Curriculum Studies vol. 35(4):459-478, Taylor & Francis. Hopmann, Stefan T., 1999, The Curriculum as a Standard of Public Education, in Studies in Philosophy and Education vol. 18: 89-105, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Birkeland, Nils R, Beating the crowds - how to build public legitimacy? Paper to be presented at: ASAP's 3rd research conference, February 15.-17. 2007, Agder University College, Kristiansand.