En la actualidad las evaluaciones de la calidad en el sistema educativo han adquirido gran importancia. A pesar de entenderse que por su naturaleza las evaluaciones de calidad conllevan a un mejoramiento continuo, existe un alto grado de desacuerdo acerca de lo que es la calidad educativa, como medirla y mejorarla. Partiendo del hecho, de que cuando se habla de la calidad educativa se prefija el termino como subjetivo, es importante conocer sus caracteristicas, origen, y el desarrollo de la misma. Entorno a esto, existen diversidad de posturas y reflexiones, que evidencian algunos de los riesgos y desventajas que dichas evaluaciones conllevan, pero tambien permiten evidenciar algunos aportes del modelo Calidad Total que son favorables para la educacion. Palabras clave: Calidad educativa, evaluacion, sistema de calidad. ABSTRACT Currently, evaluations of quality in the education system have acquired great importance. Although it is understood that by their nature, quality evaluations lead to continuous improvement, there is a high degree of disagreement about what is educational quality, how to measure it and improve it. Starting from the fact, that when we talk about educational quality, the term is prefixed as subjective, it is important to know its characteristics, origin, and the development of it. Surroundings to this, there are a diversity of positions and reflections, which show some of the risks and disadvantages that such evaluations entail, but also allow us to show some contributions of the Total Quality model that are favorable for education. Keywords: Educational quality, evaluation, quality system.