The political structuration of assessment: Negotiating state power and legitimacy

Comparative Education Review

Volumn 46, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 89-118+154

  Benveniste, Luis ^a  

^a WORLD BANK   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0042352471     PISSN: 00104086     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/324051     Document Type: Review

References (97)

1. Carlos Rojas and Juan Manuel Esquivel, Los sistemas de medición del logro académico en Latinoamérica (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1998); Laurence Wolff, Educational Assessments in Latin America: Current Progress and Future Challenges (Santiago: PREAL, 1998).
2. Carlos Rojas and Juan Manuel Esquivel, Los sistemas de medición del logro académico en Latinoamérica (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1998); Laurence Wolff, Educational Assessments in Latin America: Current Progress and Future Challenges (Santiago: PREAL, 1998).
3. World Conference on Education for All, Meeting Basic Learning Needs: A Vision for the 1990's (New York: Inter-Agency Commission for World Conference on Education for All, 1990), p. 5.
4. Juan Casassus, Violeta Arancibia, and Juan Enrique Froemel, "Laboratorio Latinoamericano de evaluación de la calidad de la educación," Revista Iberoamericana de Educación 10 (1996): 231-61.
5. Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos, Programa evaluación de la calidad de la educación: Reseña, 1994-1997 (Buenos Aires: OEI, 1997).
6. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Education at a Glance - Analysis (Paris: OECD, 1996); World Bank, Education Sector Strategy (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1999).
7. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Education at a Glance - Analysis (Paris: OECD, 1996); World Bank, Education Sector Strategy (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1999).
8. Benjamin Levin, "The Lessons of International Education Reform," Journal of Educational Policy 12, no. 4 (1997): 253-66; Joao Oliveira, Educational Reform in Latin America: Towards a Permanent Agenda (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1991).
9. Benjamin Levin, "The Lessons of International Education Reform," Journal of Educational Policy 12, no. 4 (1997): 253-66; Joao Oliveira, Educational Reform in Latin America: Towards a Permanent Agenda (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1991).
10. Marlene Lockheed and Emmanuel Jimenez, "Public and Private Schools Overseas: Contrasts in Organization and Effectiveness," in Who Chooses? Who Loses? ed. Bruce Fuller and Richard Elmore (New York: Teacher's College Press, 1996), pp. 111-28; John Chubb and Terry Moe, Politics, Markets, and America's Schools (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1990).
11. Marlene Lockheed and Emmanuel Jimenez, "Public and Private Schools Overseas: Contrasts in Organization and Effectiveness," in Who Chooses? Who Loses? ed. Bruce Fuller and Richard Elmore (New York: Teacher's College Press, 1996), pp. 111-28; John Chubb and Terry Moe, Politics, Markets, and America's Schools (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1990).
12. Benjamín Alvarez, "Contribución de la evaluación al aprendizaje de las naciones," in Evaluación y reforma educativa: Opciones de política, ed. Benjamín Alvarez and Monica Ruiz-Casares (Washington, D.C.: Academy for Educational Development, 1997).
13. Thomas Kellaghan and Vincent Greaney, "The Globalisation of Assessment in the Twentieth Century," Assessment in Education 8, no. 1 (2001): 87-102.
14. Marlene Lockheed and Eric Hanushek, "Improving Educational Efficiency in Developing Countries: What Do We Know?" Compare 18, no. 1 (1988): 21-38.
15. Martin Carnoy and Claudio de Moura Castro, Improving Education in Latin America: Where to Now? (Washington, D.C.: Inter-American Development Bank, 1996); Laurence Wolff, Ernesto Schiefelbein, and Jorge Valenzuela, Improving the Quality of Primary Education in Latin America and the Caribbean: Toward the Twenty-First Century (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1994).
16. Martin Carnoy and Claudio de Moura Castro, Improving Education in Latin America: Where to Now? (Washington, D.C.: Inter-American Development Bank, 1996); Laurence Wolff, Ernesto Schiefelbein, and Jorge Valenzuela, Improving the Quality of Primary Education in Latin America and the Caribbean: Toward the Twenty-First Century (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1994).
17. Rojas and Esquivel (n. 1 above); Wolff (n. 1 above); Alvarez.
18. Rojas and Esquivel (n. 1 above); Wolff (n. 1 above); Alvarez.
19. Rojas and Esquivel (n. 1 above); Wolff (n. 1 above); Alvarez.
20. Carnoy and de Moura Castro; Alejandro Tiana, "La evaluación de los sistemas educativos," Revista Iberoamericana de Educación 10 (January-April 1996): 37-61.
21. John Meyer, John Boli, George Thomas, and Francisco Ramirez, "World Society and the Nation-State," American Journal of Sociology 103, no. 1 (1997): 144-81; Hans Weiler, "Decentralisation in Educational Governance: An Exercise in Contradiction?" in Evaluation as Policymaking: Introducing Evaluation into a National Decentralised Educational System, ed. Marit Granheim, Maurice Kogan, and Ulf Lundgren (London: Kingsley, 1990).
22. John Meyer, John Boli, George Thomas, and Francisco Ramirez, "World Society and the Nation-State," American Journal of Sociology 103, no. 1 (1997): 144-81; Hans Weiler, "Decentralisation in Educational Governance: An Exercise in Contradiction?" in Evaluation as Policymaking: Introducing Evaluation into a National Decentralised Educational System, ed. Marit Granheim, Maurice Kogan, and Ulf Lundgren (London: Kingsley, 1990).
23. Jeffrey Puryear, "International Education Statistics and Research: Status and Problems," International Journal of Educational Development 15 (1995): 79-91, quotation on 88.
24. John Meyer and Brian Rowan, "The Structure of Educational Organizations," in Environments and Organizations, ed. Marshall Meyer (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1978); Karl Weick, "Education Organizations as Loosely Coupled Systems," Administrative Science Quarterly 21, no. 1 (1976): 1-19.
25. John Meyer and Brian Rowan, "The Structure of Educational Organizations," in Environments and Organizations, ed. Marshall Meyer (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1978); Karl Weick, "Education Organizations as Loosely Coupled Systems," Administrative Science Quarterly 21, no. 1 (1976): 1-19.
26. Charles Perrow, Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993); Thomas Popkewitz, "Some Problems and Problematics in the Production of Evaluation," in Granheim, Kogan, and Lundgren, eds., pp. 103-18.
27. Charles Perrow, Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993); Thomas Popkewitz, "Some Problems and Problematics in the Production of Evaluation," in Granheim, Kogan, and Lundgren, eds., pp. 103-18.
28. George Noblit and Deborah Eaker, "Evaluation Designs as Political Strategies," in The Politics of Reforming School Administration: The. 1988 Yearbook of the Politics of Education Association, ed. Jane Hannaway and Robert Crowson (New York: Palmer, 1989).
29. Doug Archbald and Fred Newmann, Beyond Standardized Testing: Assessing Authentic Academic Achievement in the Secondary School (Reston, Va.: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1988).
30. Ernest House, "Decentralised Evaluation for Norway," in Granheim, Kogan, and Lundgren, eds., p. 215.
31. George Noblit, "The Prospects of an Applied Ethnography for Education: A Sociology of Knowledge Interpretation," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 6, no. 1 (1984): 95-101; Peter Airasian and George Madaus, "Linking Testing and Instruction: Policy Issues," Journal of Educational Measurement 2, no. 2 (1983): 103-38.
32. George Noblit, "The Prospects of an Applied Ethnography for Education: A Sociology of Knowledge Interpretation," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 6, no. 1 (1984): 95-101; Peter Airasian and George Madaus, "Linking Testing and Instruction: Policy Issues," Journal of Educational Measurement 2, no. 2 (1983): 103-38.
33. This account is based on policy documents and over 100 individual and group interviews conducted in 1998 with national government education officials, regional government representatives, school supervisors, principals, teachers, and union leaders.
34. Maria Lucrecia Tulic, "Una aproximación a la evaluación de las políticas públicas: El caso del SINEC," Revista Iberoamericana de Educación 10 (1996): 159-76; Argentina - Ministerio de Culture y Educación, "Sistema Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad: El caso Argentino," Revista Latinoamericana de Innovaciones Educativas 6 ( 1994): 111 -54. The acronym SINEC stands for Sistema Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad, or National Program for the Evaluation of Educational Quality. At present, the Ministry of Culture and Education is known as the Ministry of Education.
35. Maria Lucrecia Tulic, "Una aproximación a la evaluación de las políticas públicas: El caso del SINEC," Revista Iberoamericana de Educación 10 (1996): 159-76; Argentina - Ministerio de Culture y Educación, "Sistema Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad: El caso Argentino," Revista Latinoamericana de Innovaciones Educativas 6 ( 1994): 111 -54. The acronym SINEC stands for Sistema Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad, or National Program for the Evaluation of Educational Quality. At present, the Ministry of Culture and Education is known as the Ministry of Education.
36. The acronym SIMCE stands for Sistema de Medición de la Calidad Educativa, or National Program to Measure Educational Quality.
37. Josefina Olivares, "Sistema de Medición de la Calidad de la Educación de Chile: SIMCE, algunos problemas de la medición, " Revista Iberoammcana de Educación 10 (January-April 1996): 177-96; Erika Himmel, "National Assessment in Chile," in National Assessments: Testing the System, ed. Paud Murphy, Vincent Greaney, Marlene E. Lockheed, and Carlos Rojas (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1996).
38. Josefina Olivares, "Sistema de Medición de la Calidad de la Educación de Chile: SIMCE, algunos problemas de la medición, " Revista Iberoammcana de Educación 10 (January-April 1996): 177-96; Erika Himmel, "National Assessment in Chile," in National Assessments: Testing the System, ed. Paud Murphy, Vincent Greaney, Marlene E. Lockheed, and Carlos Rojas (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1996).
39. The acronym UMRE stands for Unidad de Medición de Resultados Educativos, or Center for the Measurement of Educational Results. The acronym MESyFOD stands for Programa de Modernización de la Educación Secundaria y Formación Docente, or Secondary Education and Teacher Training Modernization Project.
40. UMRE, Evaluación censal de aprendizajes en lengua materna y matemálica. Material informativo para maestros y directores. Fundamentos (Montevideo: Administración Nacional de Educación Pública, 1996).
41. See, e.g., Benjamin Alvarez and Monica Ruiz-Casares, eds. (n. 8 above); Helena Bomeny, ed., Avaliação e deteminação de padróes na educação Latino-Americana: Realidades e desafios (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fundação Getulio Vargas, 1997); Murphy, Greaney, Lockheed, and Rojas, eds.; Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos, Evaluación de la calidad de la educación (Madrid: OEI, 1996); Rojas and Esquivel (n. 1 above); Wolff (n. 1 above).
42. See, e.g., Benjamin Alvarez and Monica Ruiz-Casares, eds. (n. 8 above); Helena Bomeny, ed., Avaliação e deteminação de padróes na educação Latino-Americana: Realidades e desafios (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fundação Getulio Vargas, 1997); Murphy, Greaney, Lockheed, and Rojas, eds.; Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos, Evaluación de la calidad de la educación (Madrid: OEI, 1996); Rojas and Esquivel (n. 1 above); Wolff (n. 1 above).
43. See, e.g., Benjamin Alvarez and Monica Ruiz-Casares, eds. (n. 8 above); Helena Bomeny, ed., Avaliação e deteminação de padróes na educação Latino-Americana: Realidades e desafios (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fundação Getulio Vargas, 1997); Murphy, Greaney, Lockheed, and Rojas, eds.; Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos, Evaluación de la calidad de la educación (Madrid: OEI, 1996); Rojas and Esquivel (n. 1 above); Wolff (n. 1 above).
44. See, e.g., Benjamin Alvarez and Monica Ruiz-Casares, eds. (n. 8 above); Helena Bomeny, ed., Avaliação e deteminação de padróes na educação Latino-Americana: Realidades e desafios (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fundação Getulio Vargas, 1997); Murphy, Greaney, Lockheed, and Rojas, eds.; Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos, Evaluación de la calidad de la educación (Madrid: OEI, 1996); Rojas and Esquivel (n. 1 above); Wolff (n. 1 above).
45. See, e.g., Benjamin Alvarez and Monica Ruiz-Casares, eds. (n. 8 above); Helena Bomeny, ed., Avaliação e deteminação de padróes na educação Latino-Americana: Realidades e desafios (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fundação Getulio Vargas, 1997); Murphy, Greaney, Lockheed, and Rojas, eds.; Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos, Evaluación de la calidad de la educación (Madrid: OEI, 1996); Rojas and Esquivel (n. 1 above); Wolff (n. 1 above).
46. Other variables considered in SNED include (a) initiative, measured by teacher-training activities and institutional educational projects; (4) labor conditions, measured by whether the school cadre is complete and substitute teachers are readily available; (c) equality of opportunities, measured by student retention and promotion rates; and (d) parental integration, measured by parent approval rates in S1MCE surveys and their participation in parent-teacher associations.
47. Osvaldo Larrañaga, "Descentralización de la educación en Chile: Una evaluación económica," Estudios Públicos 60 (Spring 1995): 243-86.
48. Himmel.
49. Diario Oficial de la República de Chile, Ley número 18.962, ley orgánica constitutional de enseñanza (Santiago: Presidencia de la Nación, 1990), p. 6.
50. Himmel, p. 14.
51. The management and finance of primary education had been decentralized already in 1978 by former president Jorge Rafael Videla's military junta. The transference of primary schools to provincial jurisdictions had been initiated in the late 1960s by another military government, but it was interrupted during a brief democratic interregnum between 1973 and 1976. Despite the decentralization of educational management, the central government had retained authority for dictating curricular programs and supervising school performance (Adriana Puiggrós, ed., Historia, de la educación en la Argentina, vol. 4 [Buenos Aires: Editorial Galerna, I993]).
52. Argentina - Ministerio de Cultura y Educación, Conozcamos la ley (Buenos Aires: Ministerio de Cultura y Educación, 1995).
53. Argentina - Ministerio de Cultura y Educación, Perfil estratégico del nuevo ministerio aspectos clave de la nueva estructura (Buenos Aires: Ministerio de Cultura y Educación, 1993).
54. Personal interview, AGN8, 1998.
55. Renato Opertti, "La reforma educativa: Reinvindicación del estado benefactor," Cuadernos del CLAEH 22 ( 1997): 146-47. José Batlley Ordóñez was President of Uruguay twice, in 1903-7 and 1911-15. He spurred a social movement that is still vigorous today, and his political philosophy is at the core of the Colorado Party. Battlismo is grounded on the state as an agent of interventionist practice in the economic and social spheres.
56. German Rama, La reforma, educativa en Uruguay (Montevideo: Administración Nacional de Educación Pública, 1998).
57. UMRE, Manual del aplicador (Montevideo: Administración Nacional de Educación Pública. 1996), pp. 1-2
58. UMRE, Fundamentos y objetivos de la evaluación muestral de aprendizajes en 3er año educación primaria (Montevideo: Administración Nacional de Educación Pública, 1997), p. 6.
59. "Los resultados no son satisfactorios," El Observador (Montevideo; November 29, 1996).
60. UMRE, Manual del aplicador, p. 1, bold in the original.
61. UMRE, Material informativo para maestros y directores: Fundamentos (n. 27 above). The containment of school accountability has been an important factor in securing support from the teacher cadre for state-sponsored evaluative practices. "The teacher-run Technical-Pedagogical Assemblies have been vocal advocates of this doctrine. Neither schools' nor teachers' sustained efforts can revert the motivational problems in learning that emerge from the socioeconomic crisis that a great number of our students and their families are undergoing. Critical living conditions and family insecurity determine that these children lack minimum vital necessities (food, lodging, hygiene, etc.) to guarantee their subsistence. To think that schools and teachers can revert this situation would be to deposit a large degree of omnipotence on them and ascribe responsibilities for situations and problems that overcome them" (Asamblea Nacional Técnico Docente, "Resoluciones" [Asamblea Nacional Técnico Docente, Montevideo, 1998, mimeographed], p. 29).
62. UMRE, Material informativo para maestros y directores: Fundamentos (n. 27 above). The containment of school accountability has been an important factor in securing support from the teacher cadre for state-sponsored evaluative practices. "The teacher-run Technical-Pedagogical Assemblies have been vocal advocates of this doctrine. Neither schools' nor teachers' sustained efforts can revert the motivational problems in learning that emerge from the socioeconomic crisis that a great number of our students and their families are undergoing. Critical living conditions and family insecurity determine that these children lack minimum vital necessities (food, lodging, hygiene, etc.) to guarantee their subsistence. To think that schools and teachers can revert this situation would be to deposit a large degree of omnipotence on them and ascribe responsibilities for situations and problems that overcome them" (Asamblea Nacional Técnico Docente, "Resoluciones" [Asamblea Nacional Técnico Docente, Montevideo, 1998, mimeographed], p. 29).
63. Personal interviews, UGN6, UGN37, 1998.
64. "Estado no puede entregar la educación a manos privadas," El Diario (Montevideo; November 6-7, 1996).
65. In fact, during the PER period, the Chilean military regime was concerned about being blamed for mediocre test outcomes. Hence, PER results were largely treated as if they were "a state secret" (C. Escobar Cáceres, "Impacto del Programa de Evaluación del Rendimiento Escolar [PERJ a nivel macroinstitucional" (Masters thesis, School of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 1989). In Argentina, the press heralded the appraisal of student competencies as providing irrefutable evidence of "the decay of the Argentine education" ("Burrolandia no será vagolandia? Falta de culture del trabajo en Argentina," Ámbito Financiero [Buenos Aires; February 23, 1994], p. 16).
66. In fact, during the PER period, the Chilean military regime was concerned about being blamed for mediocre test outcomes. Hence, PER results were largely treated as if they were "a state secret" (C. Escobar Cáceres, "Impacto del Programa de Evaluación del Rendimiento Escolar [PERJ a nivel macroinstitucional" (Masters thesis, School of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 1989). In Argentina, the press heralded the appraisal of student competencies as providing irrefutable evidence of "the decay of the Argentine education" ("Burrolandia no será vagolandia? Falta de culture del trabajo en Argentina," Ámbito Financiero [Buenos Aires; February 23, 1994], p. 16).
67. Chile - Ministerio de Educación, Programa de las 900 escuelas: Orientaciones 1998, rediseñoy metas del P-900 (Santiago: Ministerio de Educación, Division de Educación General, 1998).
68. Escobar Cáceres, pp. 213-14.
69. Personal interview, AGN1, 1998.
70. "Los chicos aprenden mal y poco en escuelas y colegios de todo el país," Clarín (Buenos Aires: February 1994), pp. 12-13.
71. Juan Prawda, "Educational Decentralization in Latin America: Lessons Learned," International Journal of Educational Development 13, no. 3 (1993): 253-64; Anton Luyten. "The Role of Testing Agencies in International Education," in International Perspectives on Academic Assessment, ed. Thomas Oakland and Ronald Hambleton (Boston: Kluwer Academic, 1995).
72. Juan Prawda, "Educational Decentralization in Latin America: Lessons Learned," International Journal of Educational Development 13, no. 3 (1993): 253-64; Anton Luyten. "The Role of Testing Agencies in International Education," in International Perspectives on Academic Assessment, ed. Thomas Oakland and Ronald Hambleton (Boston: Kluwer Academic, 1995).
73. Alvarez (n. 8 above), p. 6.
74. Wolff (n. 1 above), p. 8.
75. Lilia Toranzos, "Evaluation y calidad," Revista Iberoamericana de eEducación 10 (January-April 1996): 63-78.
76. Hans Weiler, "Control versus Legitimation: The Politics of Ambivalence," in Decentralization and School Improvement: Can We Fulfill the Promise? ed. Jane Hannaway and Martin Carnoy (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993), p. 78; Sverre Kvale, "Evaluation and Decentralisation of Knowledge," in Granheim, Kogan, and Lundgren, eds., pp. 119-38.
77. Hans Weiler, "Control versus Legitimation: The Politics of Ambivalence," in Decentralization and School Improvement: Can We Fulfill the Promise? ed. Jane Hannaway and Martin Carnoy (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993), p. 78; Sverre Kvale, "Evaluation and Decentralisation of Knowledge," in Granheim, Kogan, and Lundgren, eds., pp. 119-38.
78. Cecilia Braslavsky and Gustavo Cosse, Las actuates reformas educativas en America Latina: Cuatro actores, tres tógicas y ocho tensiones (Santiago: PREAL, 1997).
79. Personal interviews, CESS1. CESM9, CGM6. and CGN11, 1998.
80. Toranzos, p. 70.
81. Clarín (n. 51 above), p. 12.
82. Personal interview. AGP3b, 1998.
83. Personal interview, AER14, 1998.
84. For instance, a former minister of culture and education of San Luis discredited the 1995 results of SINEC that positioned this province among the four lowest in the country. He accused the federal government of "blasting a low and treacherous blow" by conducting a biased sample that favored private over public establishments ("Objetó el Ministro de Educación puntano la evaluación nacional de rendimiento escolar," La Nation [Buenos Aires; July 11, 1995]). Similarly, the former director general of schools of the province of Buenos Aires lambasted the reliability of SINEC and offered as proof the fact that her jurisdiction jumped from fourteenth to first place in the provincial ranking tables ("Adiós al promedio en el secundario," La Natión [Buenos Aires; March 3, 1999], p. 8). The press has also given coverage to claims of possible wrongdoing in the correction of exams, unclear grading schemes related to open-ended questions, and exam graders that had not been paid ("El 5 y el 6 de Julio evaluaran la calidad en el secundario" La Natión [Buenos Aires; March 31, 1999], p. 10). Newspapers have reported as well about irregularities in test-taking procedures, principals who gained access to tests in advance, and the disclosure that the highest ranking private school in the province of Buenos Aires had actually provided students with the answers to the exam beforehand ("Un colegio jaqueado por machetes," La Nation [Buenos Aires; November 19, 1998], p. 12).
85. For instance, a former minister of culture and education of San Luis discredited the 1995 results of SINEC that positioned this province among the four lowest in the country. He accused the federal government of "blasting a low and treacherous blow" by conducting a biased sample that favored private over public establishments ("Objetó el Ministro de Educación puntano la evaluación nacional de rendimiento escolar," La Nation [Buenos Aires; July 11, 1995]). Similarly, the former director general of schools of the province of Buenos Aires lambasted the reliability of SINEC and offered as proof the fact that her jurisdiction jumped from fourteenth to first place in the provincial ranking tables ("Adiós al promedio en el secundario," La Natión [Buenos Aires; March 3, 1999], p. 8). The press has also given coverage to claims of possible wrongdoing in the correction of exams, unclear grading schemes related to open-ended questions, and exam graders that had not been paid ("El 5 y el 6 de Julio evaluaran la calidad en el secundario" La Natión [Buenos Aires; March 31, 1999], p. 10). Newspapers have reported as well about irregularities in test-taking procedures, principals who gained access to tests in advance, and the disclosure that the highest ranking private school in the province of Buenos Aires had actually provided students with the answers to the exam beforehand ("Un colegio jaqueado por machetes," La Nation [Buenos Aires; November 19, 1998], p. 12).
86. For instance, a former minister of culture and education of San Luis discredited the 1995 results of SINEC that positioned this province among the four lowest in the country. He accused the federal government of "blasting a low and treacherous blow" by conducting a biased sample that favored private over public establishments ("Objetó el Ministro de Educación puntano la evaluación nacional de rendimiento escolar," La Nation [Buenos Aires; July 11, 1995]). Similarly, the former director general of schools of the province of Buenos Aires lambasted the reliability of SINEC and offered as proof the fact that her jurisdiction jumped from fourteenth to first place in the provincial ranking tables ("Adiós al promedio en el secundario," La Natión [Buenos Aires; March 3, 1999], p. 8). The press has also given coverage to claims of possible wrongdoing in the correction of exams, unclear grading schemes related to open-ended questions, and exam graders that had not been paid ("El 5 y el 6 de Julio evaluaran la calidad en el secundario" La Natión [Buenos Aires; March 31, 1999], p. 10). Newspapers have reported as well about irregularities in test-taking procedures, principals who gained access to tests in advance, and the disclosure that the highest ranking private school in the province of Buenos Aires had actually provided students with the answers to the exam beforehand ("Un colegio jaqueado por machetes," La Nation [Buenos Aires; November 19, 1998], p. 12).
87. For instance, a former minister of culture and education of San Luis discredited the 1995 results of SINEC that positioned this province among the four lowest in the country. He accused the federal government of "blasting a low and treacherous blow" by conducting a biased sample that favored private over public establishments ("Objetó el Ministro de Educación puntano la evaluación nacional de rendimiento escolar," La Nation [Buenos Aires; July 11, 1995]). Similarly, the former director general of schools of the province of Buenos Aires lambasted the reliability of SINEC and offered as proof the fact that her jurisdiction jumped from fourteenth to first place in the provincial ranking tables ("Adiós al promedio en el secundario," La Natión [Buenos Aires; March 3, 1999], p. 8). The press has also given coverage to claims of possible wrongdoing in the correction of exams, unclear grading schemes related to open-ended questions, and exam graders that had not been paid ("El 5 y el 6 de Julio evaluaran la calidad en el secundario" La Natión [Buenos Aires; March 31, 1999], p. 10). Newspapers have reported as well about irregularities in test-taking procedures, principals who gained access to tests in advance, and the disclosure that the highest ranking private school in the province of Buenos Aires had actually provided students with the answers to the exam beforehand ("Un colegio jaqueado por machetes," La Nation [Buenos Aires; November 19, 1998], p. 12).
88. Personal interview, AGP2, 1998
89. Lorrie Shepard, Will National Tests Improve Student Learning? (Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing, 1991); A. LaPointe, "Assessing the Quality of Education over Time: The Role of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)," in University Examinations and Standardized Testing, ed. Stephen Heyneman and Ingemar Fägerlind (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1988).
90. Lorrie Shepard, Will National Tests Improve Student Learning? (Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing, 1991); A. LaPointe, "Assessing the Quality of Education over Time: The Role of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)," in University Examinations and Standardized Testing, ed. Stephen Heyneman and Ingemar Fägerlind (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1988).
91. Personal interview, UGN3, 1998.
92. Daniel Filmus, Estado, sociedad y educación en la Argentína de fin de siglo: Procesos y desafios (Buenos Aires: Troquel, 1996); Juan Carlos Tedesco. El desafío educativo: Calidad y democracia (Buenos Aires: GEL, 1987).
93. Daniel Filmus, Estado, sociedad y educación en la Argentína de fin de siglo: Procesos y desafios (Buenos Aires: Troquel, 1996); Juan Carlos Tedesco. El desafío educativo: Calidad y democracia (Buenos Aires: GEL, 1987).
94. Cristian Cox. La reforma de la educación Chilena: Contexto, contenidus, implementación (Santiago: PREAL, 1997), p. 20.
95. Braslavsky and Cosse (n. 57 above); Cecilia Braslavsky, "Reconversion of the Argentine Educational System, 1984-1995," in Argentina: The Challenges of Modernization, ed. Joseph Tulchin and Allison Garland (Wilmington, Del.: SR, 1998).
96. Braslavsky and Cosse (n. 57 above); Cecilia Braslavsky, "Reconversion of the Argentine Educational System, 1984-1995," in Argentina: The Challenges of Modernization, ed. Joseph Tulchin and Allison Garland (Wilmington, Del.: SR, 1998).
97. Weller, "Control versus Legitimation" (n, 56 above), p. 78.