Advances in literacy will yield bonuses for schools in SP – 02/20/2024 – Education

Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) announced this Tuesday (20) that he will pay a bonus of R$100 per student to schools that reach a target of improving literacy rates. The bonus is part of the Alfabetiza Juntos SP program.

With resources from the federal government and following the model structured by the MEC (Ministry of Education), the state program will provide pedagogical support for municipalities in São Paulo to teach children literacy at the right age, at seven years old, when they finish the 2nd year of elementary school.

To encourage municipalities to join, the State Department of Education set aside R$200 million to reward schools that reach a target of literate children. According to the folder, each unit will have a goal to achieve.

The goals will be defined based on the results of Saresp (São Paulo State School Performance Assessment System) in 2023 and will also take into account the different realities of schools, such as, for example, the socioeconomic index of the region in which they are located.

Both state and municipal schools will be able to receive the bonus if they reach the targets established annually.

“I believe that financial incentives can be positive. This [recurso] It will make a difference in terms of infrastructure and equipment. And it’s the school competing with itself, it’s not competing with anyone. It’s overcoming your own limit”, said the governor this Tuesday morning.

The São Paulo state network already has a system for paying bonuses to teachers, according to the results obtained in the Ideb (Basic Education Development Indicator). According to the Secretary of Education, Renato Feder, this model will continue to exist.

The bonus system was implemented in the state network in 2008 under the José Serra (PSDB) government and became a flagship of tucana administrations in São Paulo, despite internal evaluations indicating, for successive years, that the model is not effective in improving the state educational outcomes.

Feder explained that the Alfabetiza Juntos SP program will cost around R$500 million — with R$200 million being a bonus from the state government’s own funds. The remainder will come from federal government resources, through the National Literacy Child Commitment, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) main banner for education.

As stated by the Sheetthe governor promised to reach the end of his term, in 2026, with 90% of public school children across the state of São Paulo literate by the end of the 2nd year of elementary school.

Currently, only 40.62% of children in public schools in São Paulo reach the end of the 2nd year with a set of skills in which they are considered literate, according to the country’s main assessment, Saeb (Basic Education Assessment System).

The Tarcísio government, however, decided that it will not use the results of the national assessment to measure the evolution of the rate of literacy children. A state test, called Reading Fluency, will be used as a parameter.

This state assessment, applied for the first time last year, brought more positive results from São Paulo’s educational framework, showing that 64% of children were considered readers and 36% were in the pre-reading stage at the end of the 2nd year.