NOOR: Saudi Arabia’s National Platform for Educational Data Governance and Digital Transformation

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Please see the attachment.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

I cannot assess the level of English because I am not a native speaker of it.

Author Response

Figure 5. Comparative Performance Metrics of the NOOR Platform (2018–2024)

We, as authors, tried, since the days where the manuscript was being written to look for interviews or conduct surveys. However, the government here in Saudi Arabia is so conservative about any private information so that no school director or ministry officer is able to answer any  interview questions or provide us with any relatable data but the ones published officially unless authorized. Thank you for understanding this point.

We sincerely thank the reviewer for these constructive comments, which helped us improve both the analytical depth and structural coherence of the article.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The text has an interesting and important topic, but it requires a thorough revision.
I respect that the journal to which the text was submitted has a specific character. However, the text could have a clearer structure and more transparent information about the methods on which the findings are based, especially where they are of an evaluative nature. Some conclusions are insufficiently supported by evidence: The described platform creates conditions that can be assumed to facilitate learning and other desirable outputs of education. However, in a descriptive study of this type, causal conclusions cannot be made in the sense that there is a direct connection between the introduction of the system and improved learning.

The authors should better describe the situation in the implementation of EMIS in an international perspective. The text briefly mentions several countries that have followed a somewhat different path of decentralized solutions (around line 318). I suggest adding brief review of successful EMIS or other national platforms for educational data earlier in the paper.

The text is unnecessarily redundant. Some ideas and statements are repeated in several places, and towards the end of the text the same sentences even start to repeat themselves: for example, the sentence from line 290 is repeated from line 334; similarly, lines 342-344 are almost identical to lines 345-347. The information that the system has 11+ million users is repeated in at least three places, and so on. Perhaps instead of repeating themes, the authors could provide the reader with brief contextual information about the educational system in KSA and the main challenges it faces.

Similarly, it would be good to elaborate and illustrate some of the information that is only repeated so far. For example, the authors repeatedly state that the system allows for monitoring key performance indicators - what are they in KSA? The authors praise predictive analytics as part of the system in several places, but do not provide more specific examples. Is this functionality related to, for example, warning systems for student attendance or performance data? Could you be more specific?

How is the data in the system accessible to researchers and can we already refer to some research projects and academic publications for the KSA system, based on analyses of data from NOOR? 

The paper focuses sufficiently on technical aspects. However, the authors could have paid more attention to the complex social context of datafication and digitization in education. There is already a rich literature containing critical perspectives on how digital platforms and embedded algorithms and datafication processes shape social life in schools and beyond. 

Overall, the paper can be a useful source of information after addressing some of the weaknesses mentioned.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The language level is generally good, the global structure of the text needs improvement however. As mentioned above, the information in the text is often excessively repeated. In several places, the language requires some polishing. For example, line 327 reads more like a policy recommendation quote than an academic text (verbs in the imperative).

Author Response

Reviewer 2

The text has an interesting and important topic, but it requires a thorough revision.
I respect that the journal to which the text was submitted has a specific character. However, the text could have a clearer structure and more transparent information about the methods on which the findings are based, especially where they are of an evaluative nature. Some conclusions are insufficiently supported by evidence: The described platform creates conditions that can be assumed to facilitate learning and other desirable outputs of education. However, in a descriptive study of this type, causal conclusions cannot be made in the sense that there is a direct connection between the introduction of the system and improved learning.

Reply:

We thank the reviewer for this valuable observation. We have carefully reviewed the structure of the manuscript and agree that some sections previously reiterated key arguments. To improve clarity and reduce repetition, we have revised the Definitions, Origin and Policy Context, and System Architecture sections. Specifically, we now present each main thesis only once, followed by analytical discussion in later sections. Redundant explanations have been merged or removed to streamline the narrative and strengthen the academic tone of the paper. These revisions are visible in highlighted text of the revised manuscript.

In addition, to address the reviewer’s concern about causal interpretation, we now explicitly state in Section 4.3 (“Limitations and sources”) that, given the descriptive and documentary nature of this work, the associations reported between the NOOR platform and educational outcomes should not be interpreted as causal effects, but rather as indicative of potential contributions and enabling conditions.

Change in the structure of part 2 to combine three subsections corresponding to three thesis proposed into this study:

• System architecture: dealing with the system architectures and it describes This section describes how NOOR is technically built, how it operates, how it integrates with other systems, and how it supports the digital transformation of education in Saudi Arabia.
• Institutional architecture: This section highlights NOOR’s institutional architecture and governance functions—showing how it empowers different users, facilitates transparency and data-driven decision-making, and enables Saudi Arabia’s education system to operate efficiently, fairly, and strategically at all levels.how it supports governance, accountability, and day-to-day educational operations across Saudi Arabia’s public schooling system.
• User centred services: This section explains the functional dimensions and practical applications of the NOOR platform, showing how it evolved from a management system into a comprehensive national digital infrastructure that supports all aspects of education in Saudi Arabia. This section highlights NOOR’s functional architecture and evolution, showing how it integrates management, analytics, communication, and governance into a single, secure platform that supports educational excellence and digital transformation nationwide.

 Section 3 now holds the title: 3. Operational Impact and Performance Outcomes of the NOOR Platform

It provides a comprehensive overview of NOOR’s impact, maturity, and strategic importance within Saudi Arabia’s digital education transformation.

Section 4. holds the title: Results and Analysis 4.1 Centralised Digital Governance the section portrays NOOR as both a crisis-resilient digital backbone and a sustainable model for national digital governance—one that advances equity, efficiency, and innovation while demanding continuous investment and ethical oversight.

4.2 Analytical Performance

 For the coherence of the text, some changes were made, notably:

• Table 1 is moved to part 2,2
• Line 212 to 222 (old draft)were moved to section 3 Operational Impact and Performance Outcomes of the NOOR Platform
• Section 5 in the old draft is now presented as section 4 with a better conceptualization of the title: Centralised Digital Governance. The section title gains back the title of the manuscript about the relevance of the digital data in the education sector.

The authors should better describe the situation in the implementation of EMIS in an international perspective. The text briefly mentions several countries that have followed a somewhat different path of decentralised solutions (around line 318). I suggest adding brief review of successful EMIS or other national platforms for educational data earlier in the paper.

The following text that cites many similar and successful EMIS was added to the text:

Similar advanced EMIS have been implemented for educational governance in the USA (Statewide Longitudinal Data System, SLDS), the UK (National Pupil Database), Singapore (School Cockpit system), and Finland (Vipunen platform). NOOR is presented in the revised manuscript in comparison with these benchmarks in developed nations.

The following references are added:

16. von Zastrow, C. (2024). The Statewide Longitudinal Data System Landscape. Policy Guide. Education Commission of the States.
17. Jay, M. A., McGrath-Lone, L., & Gilbert, R. (2019). Data resource: the National pupil database (NPD). International Journal of Population Data Science, 4(1), 1101.
18. CIOL Bureau. S’pore School Cockpit system checks in Accenture. CIOL, 21 April 2010. Available online: https://www.ciol.com/spore-school-cockpit-checks-accenture/ (accessed on 10 November 2025).
19. Thrupp, M., Seppänen, P., Kauko, J., & Kosunen, S. (2023). Finland’s famous education system: Unvarnished insights into Finnish schooling (p. 466). Springer Nature.

The text is unnecessarily redundant. Some ideas and statements are repeated in several places, and towards the end of the text the same sentences even start to repeat themselves: for example, the sentence from line 290 is repeated from line 334; similarly, lines 342-344 are almost identical to lines 345-347. The information that the system has 11+ million users is repeated in at least three places, and so on. Perhaps instead of repeating themes, the authors could provide the reader with brief contextual information about the educational system in KSA and the main challenges it faces.

Thank you for your comment, in fact, the overall text was restructured to respond to your comment, and I believe you can see great improvement in the coherence.

In the revised version, we have also removed repeated sentences at the end of Section 4.1. Two overlapping paragraphs on centralised governance, digital divide and international benchmarks (Germany, Spain, UNESCO/OECD) have been merged into a single, more concise discussion, while Section 4.2 now focuses exclusively on empirical performance indicators and future directions. This reduces redundancy and clarifies the analytical focus of each subsection.

Similarly, it would be good to elaborate and illustrate some of the information that is only repeated so far. For example, the authors repeatedly state that the system allows for monitoring key performance indicators - what are they in KSA? The authors praise predictive analytics as part of the system in several places, but do not provide more specific examples. Is this functionality related to, for example, warning systems for student attendance or performance data? Could you be more specific?

Thank you for your valuable insight. The text has been added in line 237

In fact, recently NOOR system has been authorized to enable notifications feature by sending warning to parents whom children are absent for more than 5 consecutive days in a period of no-vacation.

How is the data in the system accessible to researchers and can we already refer to some research projects and academic publications for the KSA system, based on analyses of data from NOOR? 

In fact, this was a main challenge to us while conducting the research. Access to the NOOR system’s internal datasets is strictly regulated by the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia. The platform’s data is not publicly available, and researchers require prior authorization from the Ministry to obtain access for analytical or academic purposes. Consequently, independent or external research projects directly analyzing NOOR data are limited. The available information about the platform is largely derived from official Ministry publications, government reports, and publicly accessible statistics provided through national education portals. Therefore, the present study relies on these verified secondary sources and published performance indicators rather than direct access to raw platform data

The paper focuses sufficiently on technical aspects. However, the authors could have paid more attention to the complex social context of datafication and digitization in education. There is already a rich literature containing critical perspectives on how digital platforms and embedded algorithms and datafication processes shape social life in schools and beyond. 

We appreciate the reviewer’s insightful observation regarding the broader social dimensions of datafication and digitization in education. In this paper, we have briefly addressed these aspects to maintain focus on the technical and infrastructural framework of the NOOR platform. However, we fully recognize the importance of the sociocultural implications of data-driven education systems. A more in-depth exploration of how datafication processes influence educational practices, equity, and governance is planned as part of our future research agenda.

Overall, the paper can be a useful source of information after addressing some of the weaknesses mentioned.

Thank you for your comment, we are glad with it and we are excited to take the research further.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The language level is generally good, the global structure of the text needs improvement however. As mentioned above, the information in the text is often excessively repeated. In several places, the language requires some polishing. For example, line 327 reads more like a policy recommendation quote than an academic text (verbs in the imperative).

Response:
We appreciate this insightful comment. To address it, we have expanded the Results and Analysis section to include additional empirical evidence.

 We now provide comparative performance metrics collected over multiple academic years, (2) a brief analysis of system usage statistics (user growth and reliability indicators), and a discussion of how NOOR’s outcomes align with broader digital transformation benchmarks in Saudi Arabia’s education sector. These additions reinforce the analytical foundation of the study and help demonstrate the platform’s practical impact. The new material appears in Section 3 and 4.2

The following text was added to section 3:

Recent analytical data from the Ministry of Education [10, 12] demonstrate the dynamic success of the NOOR platform as a central element of Saudi Arabia’s educational digitalization. Since its nationwide implementation, the number of active users has increased by over 70% between 2018 and 2024, encompassing more than 12 million students, teachers, and parents [12]. System efficiency indicators reveal a reduction in administrative processing time by 65% and a decline in data-entry errors from 15% to below 3%, reflecting enhanced workflow automation and reliability [14]. Platform performance reports confirm 99.5% system uptime and consistent scalability during peak periods, such as national examination cycles [15].

The following text was added to section 4.2 with the following graph:

Recent analytical data from the Ministry of Education [10, 12] demonstrate the dynamic success of the NOOR platform as a central element of Saudi Arabia’s educational digitalization. Since its nationwide implementation, the number of active users has increased by over 70% between 2018 and 2024, encompassing more than 12 million students, teachers, and parents [12]. System efficiency indicators reveal a reduction in administrative processing time by 65% and a decline in data-entry errors from 15% to below 3%, reflecting enhanced workflow automation and reliability [14]. Platform performance reports confirm 99.5% system uptime and consistent scalability during peak periods, such as national examination cycles [15].

The graph illustrates the steady growth and performance improvements of the NOOR educational platform across multiple academic years. Between 2018 and 2024, the number of active users increased substantially, reflecting the platform’s expanding adoption nationwide. Login frequency also rose consistently, indicating higher engagement levels among students, teachers, and administrators. Task completion rates and user satisfaction both improved markedly over the same period, demonstrating enhanced system reliability and a more user-friendly experience. The sharp rise during 2020–2021 corresponds to the COVID-19 period, when NOOR’s digital infrastructure played a crucial role in ensuring educational continuity. Overall, the upward trends across all indicators confirm the platform’s growing efficiency, scalability, and positive impact on educational management in Saudi Arabia.

Figure 5. Comparative Performance Metrics of the NOOR Platform (2018–2024)

We, as authors, tried, since the days where the manuscript was being written to look for interviews or conduct surveys. However, the government here in Saudi Arabia is so conservative about any private information so that no school director or ministry officer is able to answer any  interview questions or provide us with any relatable data but the ones published officially unless authorized. Thank you for understanding this point.

The language level is generally good, the global structure of the text needs improvement however. As mentioned above, the information in the text is often excessively repeated. In several places, the language requires some polishing. For example, line 327 reads more like a policy recommendation quote than an academic text (verbs in the imperative).

. The overall English of the text has been revised and checked for typographical errors. In particular, we have corrected minor issues such as “connexions”/“connections” and “draught”/“draft”, and we have reviewed the manuscript to improve consistency in the use of English spelling conventions.

We sincerely thank the reviewer for these constructive comments, which helped us improve both the analytical depth and structural coherence of the article.

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is filled with diagrams revealing the algorithm of the NOOR platform. An evidence base of the social significance of the Saudi Arabia's National Platform for Educational Data has emerged. In general, the article has acquired a sufficient scientific evidence base. however, the authors were inattentive and there are references that do not have references in the text.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

I cannot assess the level of English because I am not a native speaker of it.

Author Response

We sincerely thank the reviewer for the constructive feedback. We appreciate the acknowledgment that the article now presents a clearer algorithmic representation of the NOOR platform and demonstrates a solid scientific evidence base regarding the social significance of Saudi Arabia’s National Platform for Educational Data.

Regarding the reviewer’s note about references that appear in the bibliography but are not cited within the text, we fully agree with this observation. We have carefully reviewed the manuscript and identified all inconsistencies. Uncited references have either been integrated into the text where relevant or removed from the reference list when they were not essential to our argument. The revised version now ensures full alignment between in-text citations and the reference list.

In addition, the newly added table on comparable EMIS platforms includes four new references (16, 17, 18, 19), and the surrounding text has been adapted accordingly to maintain consistency.

For ease of review, all changes implemented in response to your comments have been highlighted in yellow in the revised manuscript (NOOR_R2).

We appreciate the reviewer bringing this issue to our attention and believe that these corrections further enhance the clarity, coherence, and rigor of the manuscript. We hope this fully addresses the reviewer’s concern.

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have substantially edited the text and added important sections that respond to the reviewer's fundamental comments. I particularly appreciate the expansion of the discussion on the limits of their data sources. Here there would be even more room for critical reflection on the risks associated with the power asymmetry in terms of access to data that a centralized system creates, and the ethical risks that are amplified in some forms of government.

However, the discussion of limits provided was not consistently reflected in other parts of the text, which often have an evaluative tone. The tone of evaluation (while being aware of the limitations of the methodology) could be somewhat more sober. An overly strong claim about learning effects remained, for example, on Line 22. It is also good to realize that the mere identification of a student's or school's problem through a data system is still a long way from its effective solution, and sometimes, thanks to datafication, we can have a false feeling that the problem is being sufficiently addressed by just having detailed data. 

Despite the above reservations, this is an informative text on a current topic that illustrates the situation outside the traditional countries of the global North, which are still overrepresented in pedagogical scholarship.

Author Response

Reply to Reviewer 2:

We sincerely thank the reviewer for the thoughtful and insightful remarks. We appreciate the recognition of the substantial revisions made, particularly the expanded discussion of limitations and data-source constraints. The reviewer’s feedback has been invaluable in strengthening the critical and reflexive dimension of the manuscript.

Power asymmetry and ethical risks

We acknowledge the reviewer’s important point regarding the risks associated with centralized data systems, including power asymmetries and the ethical concerns that may arise in certain governance contexts. In response, we have added the following paragraph to the section “Limitations and sources”:

“Centralized educational data infrastructures, while offering significant opportunities for system-wide coordination, also carry inherent risks that warrant careful consideration. Such systems may inadvertently reinforce existing inequalities in access or control, given that decision-making power becomes concentrated among a limited number of institutional actors who have privileged access to comprehensive datasets.”

The reviewer also noted that the evaluative tone in some sections was not fully consistent with the more cautious stance adopted in the discussion of limitations. In the revised manuscript, we have systematically reviewed the text to ensure a more sober and analytically balanced tone throughout. This includes moderating overly strong claims, such as the original statement on Line 22 regarding learning effects, to better reflect the methodological constraints and the complexity of establishing causal impacts. The relevant passage now reads as follows:

 “By verifying achievement data, supporting more equitable access, facilitating cooperation between organizations, and providing information to guide decision-making, NOOR can contribute to improving learning processes, although these outcomes depend on broader instructional and institutional factors.”

Appreciation of the reviewer’s Assessment

We are grateful for the reviewer’s concluding remarks recognizing both the relevance of the topic and the contribution of perspectives from contexts beyond the traditional global North. This acknowledgement reinforces the motivation behind our study, and we have worked to ensure that the revisions further strengthen this contribution.

For ease of review, all modifications made in response to your comments have been highlighted in yellow in the revised manuscript (NOOR_R2).

Once again, we thank the reviewer for their constructive feedback, which has significantly improved the clarity, balance, and scholarly rigor of our manuscript.