Devolution in the context of education, essentially concerns the distribution of power and funding between governments and schools and structural changes in the governance, management and financing of schools. It goes under many names,  including: 

• School/Site-based decision making/Management 
• School/Site-based autonomy 
• Self-Managing Schools 
• Autonomy for local schools 
• Decentralised/Site-based management 

Internationally there are significant differences in how it operates but there is general consensus among advocates of such initiatives that they will improve school effectiveness and student learning outcomes by producing better educational decision-making; improving school management and leadership; improving quality of teaching; leading to a more responsive curriculum; and producing more efficient use of resources.

This paper finds there is no evidence that devolution - in its myriad forms - has, in itself, led to improved student achievement.