A longitudinal analysis of the Italian national standardized mathematics tests

This paper presents a longitudinal analysis of the outcomes of the Italian national standardized mathematics tests. By intertwining quantitative and qualitative methods , we selected and analysed a set of linked questions among the tests administered to the same cohort of students first in grade 6 and then in grade 8. In particular, we focus on poor knowledge students and we argue an example of the analysis of two linked questions about graphical representation of fractions. The comparison between the two questions allows us to interpret some difficulties of students and to expect possible future behaviours .