INVALSI is the main source of data for the Italian education system. Through national surveys and international studies (OECD, IEA), it collects and disseminates essential information for analysing equity, dropout rates and the quality of education, as well as assessing the impact of educational policies.

The INVALSI Statistical Department provides various types of data — open, demographic, sample and international — as well as data processing on request. Despite the growing importance of this information, until now there has been no comprehensive overview of the use of INVALSI data in scientific research.

The scoping review: mapping the research

To fill this gap, INVALSI has carried out a scoping review, a methodology that allows for the systematic mapping of the scientific literature on a specific topic. Unlike systematic reviews, which answer specific questions and assess the quality of studies, scoping reviews take an exploratory approach: they identify which studies have been conducted, which methodologies have been adopted, which areas have been most extensively investigated and which gaps still remain in the literature.

The aim of the scoping review is to analyse the scientific output, from 2009 to the present day, that has used data from the INVALSI catalogue for studies in the field of education, answering specific key questions such as: 

• Which categories of INVALSI data are used?
• What topics do the studies cover?
• What are the characteristics of the contexts and the populations studied?
• What methodological approaches are adopted?

A wide-ranging project

The review involved:  

• over 20 international databases;
• the manual consultation of 271 Italian scientific journals;
• the proceedings of 21 conferences and 12 official websites of organisations and associations;
• direct contact with 255 researchers, students and professionals.

The result is a mapping of over 450 scientific articles, confirming the relevance and variety of INVALSI data as a source for research. This analysis highlights the value of the available information and promotes the informed and qualified use of data, fostering development in the field of education and laying the foundations for the creation of a systematic repository of studies, easily accessible to researchers and decision-makers. 

The protocol for the scoping review can be consulted on the Open Science Framework at the link https://osf.io/kg7va/overview