Regulação Educativa: O uso dos resultados de proficiência das avaliações do PROEB por diretores escolares em Minas Gerais

Abstract

This thesis aimed to examine the use that school principals make of the results of Portuguese Language proficiency obtained through large scale assessments implemented by the Evaluation Program of the Public Basic Education (PROEB) in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, from the year 2000. The Ministry of Education and the State Secretary of Education of Minas Gerais make use of a considerable database on the performance of the students enrolled in schools of this state. This research, then, intended to evidence the reality of the schools in Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, Brazil. We started from the premise that we are facing a new educative regulation where the incidence of evaluations in the Systems of Education contributes to the extensive control over the teaching activities developed in schools and, specifically, about the work of the school principal. The success or failure reflected in school performance and academic results derived by the tests are generally attributed to the professionals of the education, and in last instance, to the principle of the school. In this sense, our intention was to see to what extent and amplitude changes conditioned by the new mode of regulation in this case, evaluations, and especially their results, have modified the work of the school principal. The search covered the period in which PROEB was instituted, year 2000, until today (2010). The investigation adopted a predominantly qualitative approach without, however, dispensing quantitative data. As tools for collecting data we used questionnaires and semi-structured interviews by providing an extremely valuable material for analysis of the researched phenomenon. The fieldwork took place in eight public schools located in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, which contemplated the different realities in relation to the ratio index proficiency / socioeconomic status and its Regional Superintendents of Education (SRE). Research has shown that the appropriation of the results, despite the difficulties and limitations in doing so, happens in school to a greater or lesser extent. The assessments guide and make reference to the practice of schools, but some of them develop their own strategies of educational intervention regardless evaluations. The "results "of assessments cause problems, pressures and constraints on principals and promote visible interference in the administrative, educational, political and financial aspects in the school. The tests results have influenced on the management decisions, both within the school and in the central organs. Finally, the research showed that even with the changes made constantly in the evaluation process, it is still necessary to improve the socialization of the data available to schools and become more familiar the language in which the results and comments are disseminated to the school community.