The evaluation grids of the first test of the State Examination: open issues

Abstract

After a brief introduction on the docimological difficulties related to the first test of the State Examination and its evolution, an overview of the evaluation grids used in recent years at the L. Einaudi Professional Institute of Varese is presented, as an example of what happens on the national territory. In the absence of a ministerial evaluative instrument, each school, annually, creates or selects, among innumerable models, its own evaluative grid: this practice leads to reflecting on the validity of these devices, their strengths and weaknesses, and the effects on the teaching of writing.

The lack of evaluative uniformity and consequent lack of homogeneous and functional practices in the teaching of writing open up multiple problems, especially in the current context. Some of the most urgent open issues will be set out in this paper, followed by an attempt to propose the debate and formative assessment as alternative to the grids. The conclusions focus on the importance for teachers to improve the teaching and assessment of writing in view of the State Examination.