Abstract
Even if marks are crucial for students’ educational careers and school-related
decisions and although grading standards are a relevant topic in public debate about
Italian education, in our country this research topic has not attracted much attention. In
this article we investigate heterogeneity across Italian macro-regions in grading
standards (degree of strictness in attributing marks by teachers) and in the coherence
between teachers’ marks and students’ test scores. We use data from INVALSI-SNV
on the whole student population in the 5th, 6th and 10th grade in 2011/12, with relevant
information on two subjects (Italian and mathematics). We detect that Southern regions
are characterized by what seems higher generosity in grading students, who display
lower performance in the INVALSI assessment compared to their counterparts with the
same marks and socio-demographic profile. Moreover, this generosity in attributing
marks seems stronger for higher marks (9 and 10) and in mathematics, especially in
lower secondary schools and lyceums. At the same time, our analysis underlines that
the North-South divide is crucial but provides only a partial view of the phenomenon:
indeed, we find striking differences in grading standards among Italian provinces even
within macro-regions. We discuss the main implications of such geographical
heterogeneity for the Italian educational system.
Lingua originale | English |
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pagine (da-a) | 157-185 |
Numero di pagine | 29 |
Rivista | Italian Journal of Sociology of Education |
Stato di pubblicazione | Pubblicato - 2015 |
Keywords
- grading standards