Research question: What are the impacts and effects of school external evaluation in intermediate structures of management on organizational, curricular and pedagogical levels?

Objectives:

• Question school external evaluation in its theoretical and methodological basics;
• Critically review school external evaluation reports, as well as the contradictories used as referential in intermediate management;
• Understand the perspectives of teachers, school principals and department coordinators on the school external evaluation;
• Comprehend the point of view of school principals about the impact and effects of school external evaluation on school and community;
• Analyze the perspective of department coordinators about the impact and effects of school external evaluation on organizational dimension;
• Characterize teachers’ perspectives on the impact and effects of school external evaluation in terms of their curricular and pedagogical practices

Theorical Framework:

Rating is common to all society and schools, as part of society, don’t escape this reality. The process of school external evaluation results of political and social pressure to appraise the performance of public institutions, since at the eyes of society is necessary to be accountable of what they do. It seems that the evaluation of institutions will solve the problems highlighted by these institutions.

Being framed in transnational and supranational regulatory processes and policies that promote accountability and responsibility (Afonso, 2009), school external evaluation is linked, among other things, to the autonomy of schools, the professional development of teachers (Alves & Flores , 2011) and the movement of effective schools and school improvement, focusing, respectively, in the studies of effectiveness and efficiency. According to authors who have defined evaluation as the formulation of a judgment and award of merit evaluation has two components when reported to an institution or organization: the internal dimension and the external evaluation, the first being the responsibility of school and the second central government. For Marchesi (2002, p.35), these types of assessment "must be carried out simultaneously, but independently of each other. Both may become essential tools to change and improve schools, "even though the effects of internal evaluation are more recognized than the external evaluation (Simons, 1999). In this context, Bolivar (2012) considers the evaluation of schools as a dialogue between the external evaluation and internal evaluation, and the external evaluation is directed to the effectiveness in terms of results and internal evaluation for process efficiency. As a result, "the dialogue between the political accountability, a culture of evaluation and school self-evaluation is becoming an increasingly important issue" Barzanó (2009, p. 69).

The Portuguese system of school external evaluation was defined by the Law No. 31/2002 of 20th December and it was never subject of a thorough appraisal. The first external evaluation practices in Portugal, streamlined by the Ministry of Education, focused on the perspective of processes, with the purpose to institutionalize formative evaluation, with emphasis on the participation of schools and the integration of the dimensions to the evaluation of the object level. The process was elapsing with some normalcy and extended to all national public schools, but suffering some changes over the first cycle of evaluation based on what was proposed by the National Education Council.

Leadership has been identified as one of the solutions to solve many problems registering an increasing interest in the subject. In the perspective of many, strong leadership leads to a more productive and efficient organization. Top leaders are supported by the work of the rest of the team and, therefore, intermediate leadership exercised by the coordinators is vital. So, it’s imperative to understand to what extent intermediate leaderships are important and what the direct impact of their work is.

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