READING PERFORMANCE OF 9TH-GRADE STUDENTS: AN ANALYSIS OF CYCLES I AND II OF THE LEARNING ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING PLATFORM IN AÇAILÂNDIA, MARANHÃO, BRAZIL

Abstract

This study analyzes the evolution of performance in Portuguese Language, Reading, among 9th-grade students in the municipal school system of Açailândia, Maranhão, Brazil, comparing the results of Cycles I and II of the Plataforma de Avaliação e Acompanhamento das Aprendizagens nos Anos Finais (Assessment and Learning Monitoring Platform for the Final Years of Elementary Education), within the context of learning recovery initiatives. This is a documentary study with a quantitative and qualitative approach and a descriptive-analytical design, grounded in the theoretical contributions of Luckesi, Hadji, Perrenoud, and Fernandes on the diagnostic and formative functions of assessment, Sacristán on curriculum, and Carvalho on the diagnostic assessment of reading skills. The results show a reduction in the proportion of students classified in the Defasagem (Learning Gap) category, from 39% to 36%, and an increase in the Aprendizado Adequado (Adequate Learning) category, from 20% to 22%, although 78% of the students assessed still remained outside the latter category in Cycle II. The analysis of the seven skills common to both cycles revealed heterogeneous patterns: the largest positive variation occurred in the identification of pronominal referents (8EF20_P), followed by topic recognition (8EF03_P), while the largest negative variation occurred in the location of explicit information through paraphrase (8EF01_P), whose percentage decreased from 64% to 32%. It is concluded that the evolution of performance is not uniform across the assessed skills and that the data provided by the Platform, when pedagogically interpreted, can support the diagnosis, planning, and monitoring of learning recovery initiatives, without establishing direct causal relationships between the assessment instrument and the observed results.