Within the Trentino school system, the organization of the upper secondary education is something unique at a national level, due to the high share of students enrolled in Vocational and Training Courses. This paper investigates the results of the INVALSI Italian language and Mathematics tests, focussing on two different, though complementary aspects. On the one hand, the paper examines students’ absolute scores by showing that the differences between upper secondary programs in the 10th grade are already present before the transition from lower to upper secondary education (8th grade). On the other hand, the paper aims at assessing the value-added provided by the school to students’ achievements, net of their personal characteristics. The results show that the effectiveness of schools does not reflect students’ absolute average scores, although remarkable achievements can be identified regardless of the school’s curriculum.
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