LPAD: A Tool for the School of the Future

Abstract

The educational poverty characterising this historical period confronts educators with the need to rethink interventions able to solve today’s problems. This contribution proposes to re-start from Feuerstein whose theory and tools such as the dynamic evaluation (the Learning Propensity Assessment Device) offer a modern answer to the needs of the Italian schools, who are nowadays undergoing a deep crisis. This article argues that, when included in the school curriculum, Feuerstein’s dynamic evaluation can be fruitful to build a new type of school with renewed tools and indicators to evaluate students’ progress. This is because, on the one hand, the dynamic evaluation is an effective tool to deal with generalized and specific learning needs, and, on the other hand, it can be integrated in everyday school practice by trained educators. In this way, this paper contends that group or single dynamic evaluations allow for an in-depth understanding of the class or the single student’s specific needs. In doing so, the educator can flexibly plan inclusive meta-cognitive interventions, thus reaching students that are often doomed to fail, and prevent issues that, when unaddressed, can become chronic and therefore difficult to overcome.