‪Since the early 1970s, the statistical services of the French Ministry of Education have been using panels of junior and secondary school students to track their educational history and performance. The longitudinal study of these student panels constitutes a major historical source for the study of the implementation of the successive reforms instituted by the French Ministry of Education. Originally collecting mainly administrative data, these panels have been progressively enriched with standardised tests measuring specific acquired knowledge and face-to-face interviews with the students and their families. The evolution of these panels has paralleled the growing need for information caused by the major transformations in the French education system over the last four decades.‪