AQS (Agentur für Qualitätssicherung und Selbstständigkeit von Schulen) is the agency for school inspection in Rhineland-Palatinate, one of the sixteen federal states of the Federal Republic of Germany.  The approximately 1600 state schools are to be inspected by 2011. The AQS works autonomously from the Schulaufsicht (school supervisory board) and is in charge of the inspection process from the first contact with the head-teacher of the school, which is to be inspected, up to the presentation of the results and the report of the inspection.  Then the school and the school supervisory board discuss the results and sign a contract, in which the objectives of the next period of school development are defined. The Schulaufsicht and other educational institutions are also responsible for giving support in the further school development process.

All details are given in the following link and in the sources given there. 

Rhineland-Palatine Profile, published 29 September 2009 (110kb)