In 1992, the South Australian Minister of Education granted operational control of schooling in the remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara lands to the Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Education Committee (PYEC). PYEC is composed of Aboriginal community members (Anangu) who largely retain their traditional values and customs. This means that generally semi-literate Anangu with minimal Western school experience have decision-making control over all education policies and operational practices in this geographical area of some 50,000 square kilometers. The key activity at the Anangu education system level is policy formulation, provision of infrastructure support for its implementation, and response to information on quality. The management of quality must at some stage emphasize the final outputs from the system for the assessment of its overall efficiency and effectiveness. External standards that are oriented toward effectiveness and efficiency take little account of different cultural processes. Quality in an Anangu school is not simply about meeting client needs but about the intrinsic quality of the education. Anangu parents and students may be satisfied with a particular school that appears inferior by the dominant culture's standards. Culturally-based tensions that arise from the emerging Anangu awareness of the complexity of schooling and its management constitute the greatest challenge for the service provider. The resolution of this tension lies in the development of performance indicators that integrate the concerns and priorities of both stakeholders' cultures and values but puts the authority for decisions in Anangu hands. (TD)