The text reports the main researches done with 29.777 students registered in the undergraduate courses of the Federal University of Ceará (UFC - Brazil) in the year 2000 with the following goals: (i) check the Differential Functioning of the Item (DFI) among the 30 items of the Portuguese Language as well as of the Math tests, and (ii) compare the students' learning level having been conditioned to both aims, the kind of school (private versus public). In order to analyze the presence of DIF it was used the Mantel-Haenszel (MH) method. In this ambit 13 items were detected with the DIF (72, 2% of the total), with six cases with DIF favourable to private school students. In the Math test were detected 12 items with the DIF (80% of the total), with five cases with DIF favourable to private school students. As far as the students' learning level is concerned, it t was detected favorable meaningful differences to private school learners in all the items of the Portuguese test. In just two of the Math test items, the differences noticed were favorable to the public school teachers.

Educational assessment, item response theory (IRT), high education, learning evaluation, differential functioning of the item (DFI).