Abstract

LEAVY, Marina López. Beyond the numbers: the political uses of the national large-scale assessment Aprender in education policymaking. A document analysis of national policies in Argentina (2016-2019). J. Pol. Educ-s [online]. 2023, vol.17, e92211.  Epub Apr 08, 2024. ISSN 1981-1969.  https://doi.org/10.5380/jpe.v17i0.92211.

Over the past three decades, large-scale learning assessments (LSAs) have undergone unprecedented expansion and institutionalization processes in Latin American education systems. However, research on this issue has tended to focus on the adoption of the policy instruments; while the uses made of LSAs data in education policy formulation have received little attention. The article presents the findings of a qualitative case study utilizing documentary analysis (n=31), focusing on eight national policies formulated between 2016 and 2019 in Argentina. This period witnessed a new government administration emphasizing evidence-based policy discourse and recovering the national learning assessment, Aprender (formerly ONE). The study is based on a review of the literature on the uses of evidence in education and in public policy making, with a special focus on the distinction between instrumental, conceptual, symbolic, and non-uses (COBURN; HONIG; STEIN, 2009). The findings reveal that LSAs data influenced the formulation of five out of the eight policies. The utilization of data encompassed both instrumental and symbolic purposes, while conceptual use was less prominent and linked to other forms of educational evidence, such as qualitative studies. The research provides theoretical insights into the close relationship between the political rationales for legitimating the national assessment and the logics offered for using (or not) its data in policy making.

Keywords : Large-scale learning assessment; Education policy formulation; Data uses.

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