Large scale evaluation, teacher training and literacy

between conceptions and practices in elementary education

Abstract

This paper addresses the teaching practices for reading and didactic conceptions underlying these practices, relating such issues to those of large scale assessments and to the continuing education of teachers raised by such assessments. There are described and analyzed teaching practices for reading of three teachers who work in groups of ninth grade in elementary school and who have participated in continuous training aimed at assessing the reading skills described in the reference matrix of the Basic Education Assessment System (SAEB) and, recently, the Educational Assessment System of Para (SISPAE). The impact of these trainings on the reading practices of these teachers is analyzed, verifying to what extent they are in line with the interactive reading model that bases the reference matrices. Our data – generated through classroom observations and the simple self-confrontation method – point to the persistence of traditional practices and to a near misunderstanding of the abilities evaluated in the SISPAE. It is concluded by the inefficiency of these trainings, what contributes to the maintenance of a reality that is still distant from the literacy objectives to the school population in Brazil.