IDESP and Public School Improvement: A Needed Dialogue

• Grant number: 12/19581-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Educational Planning and Evaluation
• Principal Investigator: José Carlos Rothen
• Grantee: Andréia da Cunha Malheiros Santana
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research project aims to investigate the impact of the use of the results of IDESP (The Index of Educational Development of the State of São Paulo) in two public schools in the city of Araraquara. This project has three main objectives: investigate whether factors such as teachers and administrators continuous education, school organization and the relationship between it and the State Secretary of Education interfere with the school performance, to investigate how teachers and administrators evaluate the results and the criteria of IDESP, investigate the variation of each factor comprising the IDESP and which actions are being developed in schools from these results. The methodology used will be case study and data collection, and it will be done through observation, interviews, questionnaires and document analysis. We believe that this diversity of instruments will allows us to investigate the complexity of the cases, enabling their understanding within the context in which they are set. This research will develop by addressing basic issues involving indexes generation, such as large-scale assessments, the quality of education, continuing education, school management and its importance of building an environment conducive to reflection. We believe that these issues are interconnected, being not possible to analyze them separately. In order to achieve the quality of education it is necessary to review the role of these evaluations and how the results are being performed in public school, which involves the way schools are organized. As a result of this research, we hope to discuss the potential of large-scale assessments in addition to ranking and competition among schools.