Action Research for Promoting Evaluation Literacy Among Teachers: Between Rigor and Reality, Evidence From Emilia-Romagna

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Action Research to Promote Researcher and Practitioner Collaboration

Abstract

The paper reflects on the power of action research for training evaluation literacy among teachers by showing the processes and the effects of an action research conducted into the school year 2016/2017 in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. The local decision-maker supported the schools in realizing the self-evaluation report and in defining the improvement plan, into the frame of the Italian School National Evaluation System. The paper describes the aims and the phases of the action-research, examines the questions of the balance between practice and research and of the validity of the applied research tools, focuses on its implications at micro-level into driving decision-making, and reflects on its rule to sustain the evaluation culture from a multilevel governance standpoint.

Author

• Michela Freddano, Istituto nazionale per la valutazione del sistema educativo di istruzione e di formazione