The federal regulatory actions are examined in regard with the national evaluation of basic education in Brazil, from 1995 to 2002, with the purpose of emphasizing their extension and nature as an aspect of educational regulation during the eight years of the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration. In that period, we saw an extraordinary widening of the means and tools in the federal regulation of education "quality", combining measurement and evaluation methods. An intense intervention by the Executive branch is seen, signaling constitutional modifications and the editing of laws, widening the regulations of the area and extending the federal normative regulation. This normative scenario allows one to understand how power is used and how the Regulating-State manifests itself in the country.
BASIC EDUCATION; EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION; EDUCATION EVALUATION
