INCLUSION THROUGH DATA: MONITORING, GOVERNANCE, AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN MUNICIPAL SPECIAL EDUCATION

Abstract

This article investigates how a computerized monitoring system transforms scattered data on students who are the target audience of special education into devices of diagnosis, governance and accountability in the municipal management of inclusive education. The research problem is the persistent gap between the legal obligations of municipal school networks regarding specialized support and their actual capacity to monitor whether that support takes place. A qualitative case study approach was adopted, through the analysis of the structure, modules, approval flows, access profiles and data categories of a monitoring system developed for a municipal school network in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro. Results show that the system simultaneously produces diagnostic visibility, by making previously invisible gaps measurable, and administrative governance, by structuring accountability relationships between network levels. A framework of five analytical dimensions is proposed for evaluating similar systems: formal coverage versus actual support; territorial visibility; internal heterogeneity of the target audience; human resource and logistics flow; and source data quality. The conclusion is that the effectiveness of such systems depends on organizational conditions that precede and transcend the technology.