The aim of this text was to systematize the initiatives which contributed to the creation of a National System of Educational Statistics in Brazil, given special attention to the period 1871-1931. The efforts, the accomplishments and some of the controversies that marked the process of consolidation of quantitative information as a legitimate tool to describe the reality and to guide State actions are presented and discussed.
HISTORY OF EDUCATION; STATISTICAL DATA; EDUCATION; NATIONAL SYSTEM OF EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS