This article gathers some reflections made during, and especially after completing the research for a doctorate degree. It analyzes the relationships that the policies produced in schools establish with the educational assessment system known as the Sistema de Avaliação de Rendimento Escolar do Estado de São Paulo (SARESP). As theoretical references for this research, some of the conceptual contributions formulated by Stephen Ball and colleagues were adopted, which affirm that the educational policies are characterized by negotiations and clashes that do not end in state action, and that the actions taken by the school actors need to be taken into account in the analyses. This theoretical-methodological perspective, in spite of valuing the micropolitical experiences elaborated in schools, and distancing itself from investigations that attribute centrality to the State in the production of policies, presents a certain weakness that will be discussed in the text. Lastly, some conceptual tools elaborated by Silvio Gallo are presented, as a new way of understanding and researching school routines.