EdTech Colonization: A Critical Policy Analysis of Venture Capital's Impact on Curriculum Sovereignty and Teacher Agency
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58329/criss.v4i3.193Abstract
Abstract Views: 35
platforms are reorganizing the public education governance, undermining curriculum sovereignty and undermining teacher agency. This paper will analyse how data colonialism functions in educational technology markets using critical discourse analysis of 75 procurement documents, analysis of 12 investment theses and synthesis of 7 published ethnographies, which contain teacher narratives. The results indicate that two-thirds of district contracts have perpetual data licenses, three-quarters of them do not include audit rights of an algorithm, and algorithmic governance replaces teacher professional judgment in a systematic way. Using the concept of data colonialism and the Critical Race Digital Studies approach, this article suggests a Curriculum Sovereignty Impact Assessment framework to EdTech procurement, whereby the absence of federal requirements to disclose algorithms and enable teacher override ability results in AI-enhanced learning continuing to mine advantage out of public institutions and centralizing curricular authority to proprietary systems.
Keywords:
digital divide, AI in education, curriculum sovereignty, educational equity, venture capital, teacher agency
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