The purposes of external reporting in the compulsory years of schooling are "accountability" and "continuous improvement". Prior to 1987, Junior Certificates were issued by the then Board of Secondary School Studies to students who successfully completed junior secondary school studies by the end of Year 10. Following the abolition of these certificates, the Department of Education (Education Queensland) proposed an "official’ Year 10 certificate that could be issued by schools, both government and non-government, if they chose to do so. Schools that do not choose to do so, may issue their own school reports.

The Queensland school Curriculum Council reports annually to the Minister on Years 3, 5 and 7 performance standards in aspects of literary and numeracy. The Department (Education Queensland) and the statutory authorities including the Queensland School Curriculum Council (P—10) report to the Minister and to the Parliament through annual reports. The Department and other school authorities also provide a range of data for incorporation in the Annual National Report on schooling in Australia.