During the first years of the new century, Latin America went through significant political changes in a period of economic growth. In education, we identify a 'regulatory governance turn' characterised by the emergence of four policy instruments: 1-New performance-based teaching career regulations with teachers' evaluations, 2-Curricular standards and increasing regulation via textbook provision, 3-Test-based accountability based on high-stakes assessments, 4-The formation of the 'school unit' as an accountable decision-making body. These policies created a new regime of accountability, control, and prescribed curriculum, which was fully developed in Chile and Mexico; and substantially in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Our research was based on the revision of over 500 articles and policy documents, a genealogy of the trajectories of education policies, and 134 interviews in seven countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. We present the new policy landscape and analyse the paradoxes of the increasing regulation of classroom practices.