“We went in favor of rebellion”: The decisions that made India's Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) effort that examines primary education and children's learning across rural India. ASER has become an influential M&E model, especially among civil society organizations in Global South countries. Created by the Indian non-governmental organization Pratham, ASER's dual origins in grassroots educational programming and national policymaking have distinctly shaped its methodology and goals. This study examines the cumulative decisions that produced ASER's innovative design through the narratives of ASER's three main architects. The architects tell stories that highlight their design decisions—decisions that reflect not only their expertise in the technical aspects of data collection, but also their knowledge of India's context, cultures, and politics. The study concludes that examining the history of M&E regimes is valuable in assessing their data's validity and usefulness for achieving educational equity and quality goals.