Data on learning and teacher decision-making. An “Italian marriage”

Nowadays, the references to a teacher professional model that is evi- dence-based and data-driven have reinforced the need for teachers to avoid take decisions on the base of their perceptions and anecdotes. Furthermore, teachers are called to use data gathered from different sources in order to inform their teaching practice and to develop better levels of assessment and data literacy. Therefore, teacher data-driven decision-making rouses great interest. Different studies, moreover, have pointed out that if teachers (and principals) effectively use data, students’ learning achievements will im- prove. Data, especially those gathered from large-scale assessment programs, despite recent requests of a radical revision of their rationale and structure, can be used for different aims: school improvement, revision of instructional practice, accountability. If, on the one hand, it has been proved that contextual factors can influ- ence the use of data, on the other hand, it is true that data characteristics and data systems can influence how data are used. In this vein, the use of data from large-scale assessment programs depends on the users’ characteristics. Consequently, crucial elements are the teachers’ and principals’ assessment competences in analysing and interpreting data, in highlighting criticalities and problems on the school performance, and in designing what actions take (assessment literacy). Assuming that data, at macro and micro-levels, allow different uses, this paper reports on the first phase of a research project realized in a primary school in the South of Italy and aimed to implement an interim assessment system. Moving from an analysis of INVALSI data at micro-level (school year 2018/19), two different rounds of teacher professional development have been realized to train teachers to analyse INVALSI data, and to design new assessment tests on students’ learning. Recalling the main aspects of this study, the paper critically reflects on how to facilitate the standardized assessment data use for the teaching practice.