The Transformation of State Monitoring Systems in Germany and the US: Relating the Datafication and Digitalization of Education to the Global Education Industry

Abstract

In this chapter, I examine the expanding datafication and digitalization of education, focusing on the transformation of monitoring systems in state-level school administration. This transformation is an important, yet underexplored, facet of the Education Technology (EdTech) market, related more broadly to the rise of the Global Education Industry (GEI). It has altered and introduced new roles for state, business, private, and philanthropic actors assembled around technology discourses and rationales that not only reframe educational monitoring practices but also the daily practices of school, student, and teacher data administration. These, as a result of increased standardization and interoperability, have become simultaneously more centralized, as well as more disaggregated and personalized.