This paper approaches the understanding of assessment during the implementation of the Continued Progression System in the State of São Paulo (São Paulo [State], 1997). By means of qualitative research, the intricate aspects of our schooling reality were studied, with the systematic observation of four groups of students (each group from a different period of basic school, around eight years old) and the collective working moments at school, such as collective pedagogical work, meetings including teachers and parents, school councils, social events and interviews with 07 professionals (five teachers, the pedagogical coordinator and the school director) involved with the four groups with 124 students. It is observed that informal assessment is outstanding in this new school organization, also disclosing new ways of keeping school selectivity and exclusion. By analyzing these assessing practices and contributions from several school individuals, the existence of school selectivity becomes clear, although in a different way: discrete exclusion (Bourdieu & Champagne, 1998) and/or postponed elimination (Freitas, 1995).
school assessment; continued progression; informal assessment; education policies
