Abstract
Educational reforms in recent decades have been characterized, among other features, by the use of large-scale assessments as a management tool of school systems and of educator accountability. This phenomenum has occurred differently in each country. In Brazil there has been widespread use such assessments with standardized tests, which generates in the academic and educational community not consensus but a debate in which there are different positions, ranging from the extreme opposition to the recognition of the contribution of large-scale assessments and educational measures to guide educational policies and programs, including restrictions on the use made of their results. Considering positive and negative arguments, including technical and political dimensions, this article, on the one hand, presents a reflection that recognizes the usefulness of these evaluations, and, on the other, questions some of its uses for educational management, for example, allocating resources in schools with best results, setting bonuses for teachers, establishing rankings which stimulate competition between schools and school systems, and understanding test results as a unique and primary indicator of education quality. The objective of this article is to discuss the main pros and cons to large-scale assessments in the national and international literature and systematize the debate on their potential. For this, it focuses on two recurrent themes in literature: the role and validity of large-scale assessments in the education reforms and the use of their results for the management of educational systems and schools.
Large-scale assessment; External evaluation; Educational policy