I just noticed this thread now, so I'm sorry if the topic has died down.

Here in Canada, The Royal Conservatory of Music exams are the "unofficial
official" standard for non-college music instruction; as in the UK,
examiners are sent out across the country, and even abroad (we used to
have centres in Korea and Hong Kong; I'm not sure if we still do).  The
influence of the RCM is so all-pervasive here that you can go virtually
anywhere in Canada, even remote regions in the north, and if the topic
of music instruction comes up, and someone asks "Do you have your grade
eight?", everyone knows what is being referenced is the RCM.

The advantage is that, at the junior and intermediate levels, there is
a national standard which raises these levels higher than they might be
without the examination system.  By the way, just for clarity, The Glenn
Gould Professional School is the college-level division of the RCM, and
has full-time resident programmes leading to degrees.  Also, the capital
on "The" may be improper, but that is the correct name of the school.
Hey, *The* Juilliard School started it!

Our friends south of the border would probably have a problem with the
institutional structure of the exam system, as it is decidedly colonial.
I think if something like this were to fly in the US, it would probably
have to be based more on a franchising model, with each centre having its
own autonomy, albeit with a common syllabus, and also with an exchange of
examiners so as to avoid conflicts of interest; i.e., examining one's own
students.

Leslie Kinton
Piano Faculty, The Glenn Gould Professional School, The Royal
Conservatory of Music, Toronto.
Anagnoson and Kinton piano duo website: http://www.pianoduo.com;