Management Tarcísio releases São Paulo Test before the date – 04/09/2024 – Education

The Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) administration made the Prova São Paulo tests available on digital teaching platforms last Friday (5), the start of which was scheduled for this Monday (8).

The tests ended up being released, over the weekend, by teachers and principals to students, in order to prepare them for the state assessment, which aims to measure student performance every two months. In a note, the Department of Education confirmed that the test was made available in advance “only for teachers in the network and without access to the answer sheet”.

The Prova São Paulo is a standardized assessment of the network, and its result is not worth a grade. The objective is to identify schools or regions throughout the year where learning is below expectations.

Afraid of being the target of interference or demands, some principals instructed teachers to send the tests in advance to the students. This way, they would avoid having low results.

A Sheet had access to messages in which directors advised, for example, that test questions be worked on with students before application.

When questioned, the secretariat denies that bringing the test forward could interfere with the results obtained. “The results are used so that the teacher can see each student’s learning level and outline recovery strategies, if necessary.”

It also says that the test alternatives are changed with each access, which would prevent the use of answers, for example. “Whenever the test is accessed by a student, the questions and alternatives are presented randomly. Even so, the secretariat monitors exceptional cases of very discrepant correct answers, which may raise the suspicion of cheating,” he said in a statement.

Teachers reported to report has questions about the function of assessment, given the anticipation of questions and the pressure for good results from students.

“What diagnosis will be produced in this way? The students will get everything right. It will drastically improve the result. Because, apart from those schools where students boycott, the rest will have had access to the test questions and this will artificially improve performance” , says Fernando Cássio, professor at the Faculty of Education at USP.

Since the beginning of the Tarcísio government, the Secretary of Education, Renato Feder, has implemented a digitalization package for teaching in schools in São Paulo. In this context, the São Paulo Test began to be carried out digitally.

To access it, students and teachers need to log in and enter the São Paulo Media Center, where they can find the tests that have been released.

Until then, this type of assessment was done by students on paper, as is the case with Saresp (São Paulo State School Performance Assessment System). Schools received closed bags with the tests and could only open them at the time of administration.

According to the secretariat’s own schedule, this Monday and Tuesday (9) the São Paulo Test will be applied to students in the 5th and 9th year of elementary school and the 3rd year of high school. On the first day, they should complete the Portuguese language, geography and history questions. In the second, mathematics and natural sciences.

However, this Monday, students had access to the two days’ tests.

This is not the first time that an assessment made by the Tarcísio management has been leaked. In December, the topic of the Provão Paulista essay, a serial entrance exam for public school students, was leaked the day before the application.

In January, secretary Renato Feder confirmed that there had been a leak and error in the distribution of the tests, but denied any harm to the candidates.