Some capabilities that are needed by education institutions for self-management are not yet fully developed - and, likewise, authorities responsible for steering a decentralised system of education sometimes lack capacities needed to meet their responsibilities. Using EU funding more effectively and ensuring the sustainability of the initiatives as funding becomes less generous in the future will also be a serious challenge in the years ahead. Improved performance requires, at a strategic level, that Lithuania clarify and raise expectations of performance, align resources in support of raised performance expectations, strengthen performance monitoring and the assurance of quality, and build institutional capacity to achieve high performance.