Avalia？？o e Qualidade: Dois Conceitos Indissociáveis na Gest？o Escolar

schools in portugal are in the public eye due to the growing importance of their assessment as working basis for the so desired autonomy. however, the assessment conducted by the schools themselves (i.e., self-assessment) only now starts to take its first steps. this paper discusses the theme of school assessment with the objective to provide a useful resource to management boards and teachers who need to assess their schools. the fundamentals of school assessment are revisited and the concepts of quality in education are introduced, followed by a discussion of how the excellence model of the european foundation for quality management can be successfully adapted to self-assessment of schools. the main argument is that the assessment is a necessary condition for improving the quality of schools. it is also argued that this model can play an important role in the design of self-assessment instruments for the schools.