A MODEL FOR UNDERSTANDING SCHOOL ASSESSMENTS

ABSTRACT In the last decades, school assessment has acquired a prominent place in educational policies and practices. However, its dimensions demand further and continuous deepening of knowledge on such practice. This paper aims to contribute to this deepening by developing and presenting a model for understanding and interpreting school assessment processes. This was done through the analysis of scientific literature published between 2002 and 2015 on school assessment. This procedure revealed four main axes that are essential to understand the thematics comprising this model. The axes are: 1) arguments justifying and influencing school assessment; 2) functions attributed to school assessment; 3) school assessment modes; 4) possible effects of school assessment.