Valutazione della scuola e del sistema scolastico: qualità formale e qualità effettiva

Assessment practices have currently intensified in several countries, according to different approaches. Since the late 1960s in particular, the European school systems have been affected by periodic international surveys, with comparative analyses of learning outcomes. These were complemented by increasingly complex system assessments, which have taken into account, since the 1990s, even contextual and procedural variables. The evaluation questions have therefore gained an increasing importance within the international debate on the quality of education. Assessment takes the leading role in guiding the system towards quality. In some cases, however, the risk is that of proceeding in a merely formal way, without promoting “real quality.” In this essay, we will identify which strategies of school evaluation may be usefully activated to promote educational success. To this end, the essay suggests the development of more holistic evaluations, their extension to more qualitative aspects of effective learning environments, and the encouragement of a better use of the collected data.