A.11. School Evaluation For Improvement, Equity, Inclusion And Well being

In Europe, school evaluation is common, also in ECEC settings, either by top-level inspectorates, or other evaluators, including settings themselves. Several forms of evaluation have been implemented to make schools accountable according to new public management theories: among them, quality certifications and audits, school external and internal evaluation or self-evaluation (Meuret & Morlaix, 2003; OECD, 2013).

However, when coupled with incentives or sanctions, these initiatives fall short when it comes to truly promote improvement and not mere accountability or bureaucratic practices, not to mention quality certifications that leave the schools unchanged.

In Italy, following Presidential Decree 80/2013, national school evaluation is a reality since 2015 and it has been at least experimented by INVALSI in a variety of settings, including adult education centres, VET centres and preschools. With the advent in 2025 of national preschool evaluation, the entire school system is undergoing a profound movement towards improvement.

However, little is known about the mechanisms that yield positive school turnaround and how national student assessment data can be exploited to determine a school's priorities, outcomes and process objectives towards improvement.

This panel invites scholars and practitioners to engage with this complex issue, by analysing the following topics connected to both external and internal school evaluation or self-evaluation:

- data literacy of school staff;

- school leadership;

- impact of school evaluation on improvement.

Papers will be selected for their capacity to bring fresh ideas, also methodologically, to investigate effects and mechanisms of evaluation for improvement and evidence-based decision-making (Scheerens, 2016).