Abstract

The graduate profile of teacher education emphasizes that future teachers develop competencies for the production of written documents, with the intention of disseminating information generated in their research. From the socio-formative approach, it is considered a priority to rely on evaluative procedures that strengthen the teaching and learning processes. However, a search of various documents in databases of indexed and indexed journals revealed few instruments that evaluated academic essays of teacher training students. None of these considered socio-formative assessment and most of them lacked scientific validity processes, making them not very objective and reliable. Considering the above, the present study had the following purposes: 1) to design a Socioformative Estimate Scale (EES) according to the taxonomy proposed by socioformation; 2) to submit the EES for review and expert judgment; 3) to conduct a pilot test of the instrument; and 4) to analyze the psychometric characteristics of content and construct validity. The results show that the EES presented relevant levels of content validity (Aiken's V >= 0.75). The application with the pilot group (n = 15) showed an adequate degree of understanding, relevance and satisfaction. With regard to the confirmatory factor analysis, it showed two factors, which is in accordance with what was expected at the theoretical level or in the design of the instrument, with reliabilities above 0.9. It is concluded that the EES is relevant for assessing academic essays. Further validity and reliability studies with larger populations are suggested.