Policies for the assessment of educational quality in Argentina (2016-2018)

Abstract

This paper describes our analysis of the proposals, projects, and policies of the Argentine federal government headed by President Mauricio Macri to evaluate educational quality at a national level. The plan includes the standardized tests APRENDER and ENSEÑAR, the PLAN MAE-STR@ and the project to establish the Instituto de Evaluación de Calidad y Equidad Educativa. The current administration justifies these measures as a means of improving on the policies of the previous government. We argue that these efforts apply to the national stage the experience accumulated in the Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires during the years in which Macri served as the city’s Jefe de Gobierno. This is a jurisdiction governed since 2007 by the Alianza Cambiemos in which Macri’s PRO Party is the dominant party. Using a qualitative approach and various sources, we analyze the characteristics and organization of the government’s plan, and its conceptual basis. In addition, we analyze the difference between these policies and those implemented by the former Kirchner administration/s.