Residence, entrance tests and curriculum: how schools manage redundancies

There is a phenomenon that has been going on for at least a decade that not even the demographic winter has managed to stop. We are talking about the tendency of students leaving eighth grade (and their families) to increasingly choose a high school. As if that were not enough, in the big cities the habit, based on word of mouth and die-hard customs, of concentrating on schools in the centre has remained. This explains the overbooking that annually affects the most sought-after science and classics schools. And which requires the individual institutions to set precedence criteria to be followed in order to dispose of any applications exceeding the available places. Here the choices are the most varied. They range from the place of residence to the presence of brothers/sisters already enrolled to the school curriculum and the infamous entrance tests (or orientation tests as they are now called).

In theory, in the online enrolment form - which can be filled in by accessing MIM's Unica platform between 8am tomorrow and 8pm on 14 February, ed - families can indicate up to three schools in order of preference. If none is able to accommodate the request, it is up to the last school indicated, with the help of the territorial school office, to support parents in finding another available slot in the same area. This support becomes even more important for pupils of compulsory school age (which in Italy lasts until the age of 16) and keeps many boys and girls on their toes because their future is at stake.

In the circular issued before Christmas, the Ministry of Education and Merit merely reminds us that pupils from primary schools in the same comprehensive school have priority in enrolling in secondary school over pupils from other schools. It says little, as it does every year, about the management of any surpluses. Limiting itself to prescribing that the criteria of precedence in the admission of pupils decided by individual schools by virtue of their autonomy be taken by resolution of the school council and conform to "principles of reasonableness", such as that of proximity to the school or that of the parents' particular work commitments. Recalling that this is not a click-day and that, therefore, priority cannot be given by reason of the submission of applications, the document calls for the drawing of lots to be considered an extreme ratio.

In the same circular, MIM suggests that 'the outcome of any assessment tests should be avoided as a criterion of precedence'. And yet some high schools continue to contemplate them. Let us take two of the most popular scientific high schools in Milan: the Alessandro Volta and the Leonardo Da Vinci. The former establishes that in the event of redundancy, a ranking is to be compiled that awards a maximum of 93 points and that must take various parameters into account. These include the middle school curriculum (which can be worth up to 20 points) and three tests: one on motivation and interests (0 to 15 points), another on logical-mathematical skills (0 to 26 points) and a third on text comprehension (another 26 points). The latter two were the subject of an (optional) orientation test that took place on 11 December.

The Leonardo Da Vinci one was held on the 9th. This, in turn, involves a ranking produced by the sum of the average of the final seventh grade marks in all subjects (maximum 10 points), the marks in Italian, English, Maths and Science (which can be worth another 40) and the results of the assessment test mentioned above (35 points).