This research brings up a discussion present in the current debates around policies concerned with student performance as measures of regulation and investment in education networks, based on the logic of the evaluating state. It reveals the complex relationship between the proposals of new public policies and their materialisation in school spaces, because at the same time as external evaluation generates information to support schools' pedagogical work, it creates a climate of competition by publishing the results of each school's Basic Education Development Index (IDEB). However, this Index provides schools, secretariats and society with data on student performance, even with certain limitations, and presents a more comprehensive view of the institutions assessed. This showed that educational management based on collective work contributes to the quality of education when the results are discussed by school members, mobilising actions that will bring benefits to the institution