Nuances of “Evaluation” as a Quality Indicator in Curricular Documents for Brazilian High School

Abstract: This article analyzes the role of national curricular documents established from the educational reform of the 1990s and the impact of evaluation on Brazilian Basic Education. The analysis focuses on Law 13.415/17 (BRAZIL, 2017) and the National Common Curricular Base for High School (BNCCEM) (BRAZIL, 2017), using “evaluation” as the central category. The research considers the curricular documents in their prescriptive form, identifying factual and contextual information. The hypothesis is that the reorientation of evaluation, introduced in the curricular reform of the 1990s, was a primary strategy to incorporate the Theory of Competencies, reflecting economic influences in the educational field. The BNCCEM establishes guidelines for increasing the workload and organizing formative itineraries, discursively encouraging school autonomy. The analysis highlights the overvaluation of classificatory mechanisms and competition, criticizing the reduction of education to an economic activity. The reorientation of evaluation promoted meritocracy and ranking, contradicting the democratic discourse of collective construction of curricular policy. This focus limits the integral development of individuals, emphasizing the need to rethink educational policies to balance the pursuit of academic excellence with the promotion of humanitarian and democratic values.

Key words: evaluation, curriculum, competencies, basic education