📚 Grading on a curve

Every two years, Brazil's education system issues a report card on itself. The Basic Education Development Index (IDEB) compresses an entire school system into a single figure ranging from 0 to 10. The formula multiplies two factors: the share of students who pass their year and their average scores on Saeb, a standardized test of Portuguese and mathematics administered to fifth-graders, ninth-graders, and high school seniors. 

Created in 2007, during Lula's second term, the index has become the benchmark by which mayors, governors, and education secretaries are judged, and the yardstick that drives federal programs and political bragging rights alike…

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