Assessment is considered an indispensable part of the teaching-learning process. We tried to uncover the relationship established between what teachers think about assessment and how they really evaluate. The way teachers think assessment influences their behavior and hence the quality of the whole process of teaching and learning adopted in the classroom. The objectives of the study were: identify the conceptions that teachers have about assessment; detect how the assessment is carried out in the educational context, or, in other words, describe how the teachers evaluate the knowledge of their students in practice; and see how the concepts are presented in the way teachers assess. To reach this objective, was made, besides the research of literature on the subject, a field research through interviews and documentary analysis with the assessment tools provided by the interviewed people. Was treated the conceptual and historical aspects, which are instrumental in how people think the assessment process today. The analysis of the interviews and documents have shown that, despite the conceptions of the individuals surveyed demonstrate knowledge of new theories of assessment, the inertia of the current system overrides their ability to incorporate these concepts to practice.

Assessment, Pedagogical practice, Conceptions of assessment, Assessment tools.