香港學校教育質素的改革剛剛開始，我們需要一個外在的監察系統（學校教育質素保證視學組）和一系列的表現指標來評核學校教育的現況及指示未來的發展。筆者希望透過這篇文章，介紹表現指標與質素保證的關係。文章會論述表現指標的來源、功用、分類和特徵，亦會詳細說明表現指標在教育質素保證中的限制性，好使大家利用表現指標改進學校時，可以取長補短。筆者亦對香港教育的現況進行反思，並認為香港優質學校教育的發展應是建基於學校自我完善的能力，而外控式的質素監察應可逐漸退減。

We are just at the outset of reforming the quality of school education in Hong Kong. The Education Commission Report No. 7 recommends that the quality of school education should be assured by a two-prone strategy: external monitoring through the implementation of whole school inspections by the Quality Assurance Inspectorate and internal school self-evaluation. The performance of schools will be audited against sets of indicators prescribed by the Education Department. This paper depicts generally the origin, functions, classification and characteristics of the performance indicators (PIs) and specifically the advantages and disadvantages of using the PIs in assuring the quality of school education. The recent educational development in Hong Kong is also reviewed. The author concludes that the quality of school education in Hong Kong should be promoted through an internal assurance mechanism (school self-evaluation) rather than an external monitoring system (whole school inspections) in the long run.