Abstract

This paper emphasizes the importance of assessment and incentive systems in education. In particular, it analyzes the design and implementation of the National System of Performance Assessment applied in Chile since 1996. In the first place, we discuss the methodological challenges faced by evaluation and incentives systems in education, particularly in relation to the indicators that should be taken into account for evaluations, and how comparisons can be made between schools serving student populations with widely differing socioeconomic characteristics. In the second place, we describe how the Chilean school evaluation system has been implemented and present some results of its application. Finally, we contrast the Chilean system with alternative measures of school performance