Analysis of the results of national and international standardised assessment can positively impact school systems and promote an improvement in teaching and learning processes. In Italy, national standardised tests are managed by a research organisation, INVALSI, which, among other tasks, carries out a periodic and systematic evaluation of students' knowledge and skills and of the overall quality of the educational offerings of educational institutions.

Mathematics INVALSI tests’ framework is aligned with National Guidelines, and INVALSI results are consistent with mathematics education research results. New items are released every year.
In the development of our models and materials, the background assumption will be:

• Standardised assessment may give to the teachers’ tools and benchmarks for their diagnostic assessment and show directions for their formative assessment. It will help in the analysis of students’ skills and in their capability to modify their teaching and assessment methods in accordance with students’ current needs.

• Standardised assessment may help teachers in making explicit their own implicit view of mathematics, in the sense of knowledge and beliefs about mathematics and mathematics teaching.

• Standardised assessment may help in understanding the requirements of National Guidelines.

• Absolutely, standardised assessment is not intended to replace daily teacher assessment, but it is intended to complement it by providing another point of view.

The project includes both theoretical goals, which focus on analysing and understanding the role of national standardised assessment in teaching, and operative oucomes, which involve developing professional development models for pre-service and in-service teachers of different school grade , and resources to help teachers make effective use of standardised assessment results in their classrooms.

Theoretical goals:

T1 - A better understanding of teachers’ beliefs and knowledge about assessment and Italian standardised assessment in particular.

T2 - A better understanding of how to develop teacher education programs on assessment, linking educational research, theoretical frames, and robust data.

Expected operative outputs:

O1 - A model for prospective teachers’ PDPs, to be implemented both in face to face and in blended or online modality. This model will help researchers in mathematics education, university committees and prospective teacher educators in designing and implementing initial educational programs, for both prospective Primary school teachers and future Secondary school Mathematics teachers.

O2 - A model for in-service teachers’ PDPs, to be implemented both in face to face and in blended or on-line modality. We therefore propose to transfer the research results to the national school system (social impact) by providing a model using the INVALSI tests (i.e. an information about the attained curriculum) as a basis for teachers to reflect on the implemented curriculum and the requirements provided in the National Guidelines, i.e. the key component of the intended curriculum. This model will help school directors and local/regional/national stakeholders in planning in-service PDPs.

O3 - A structured set of materials and tools for prospective and in-service teachers. These materials will be designed for both an institutional (as a component of the models above) and an autonomous use.

O4 - Guidelines for system stakeholders, to communicate effectively to the on-the-ground actors (teachers, students and families) the results and the significance of the National assessment results at school, local and regional level. These Guidelines will help to facilitate the spreading and the dissemination of official results, and their reception by teachers, students, and families.