Public schools to the test of the first Social Report provided by the National Evaluation System
The recent reforms in the public-school context have been characterized by the diffusion of performance evaluation and self-evaluation systems that have impacted the traditional School Accountability (SA) processes. The D.P.R.80/2013 has introduced the “National Evaluation System” which requires public schools to account for their performance to the community through the publication of a Social Report (SR). So far, the research that has dealt with social reporting practices in public schools is still limited. This study presents a content analysis of the SR produced by a sample of 76 Italian public schools in the first year of the adoption of the D.P.R.80/2013. The purpose is to verify the level of detail of the contents reported based on the legislation. The results show a low level of this content (around 32%) highlighting an approach to social reporting in schools limited to the mere “return of results” and typical of traditional administrative accountability logic. In these perspectives, the work contributes to the SA literature and more specifically to the research streams on social reporting processes in public schools.
Keywords: Performance Evaluation, Standard-Based Accountability, Social Reporting practices, Italian Public Schools, National Evaluation System
