14:49 Dec 15, 2011 

I think it's very important to get to the bottom of what this is actually being used to mean here, as the term is certainly ambiguous!

It is of course a commonly-used mathematical term, as highlighted by F-X below, and with a quite specific translation in that sense; however, it may or may not be being used in that sense here — there must surely other clues in your wider document to indicate if it is the 'measurement' kind of measure, or the kind of measures that may be taken by the Government to improve education, for example.