In the long term, protecting student privacy means protecting children from surveillance culture at school and at home. Is it legal for a university to track your IP address despite you A school district must articulate specific criteria in its annual notification of FERPA rights and a contractor must meet those criteria. youre only monitored on campus), a lot of the information can leak between your personal and school life through your Internet activity or the devices you use. All stakeholdersstudents, parents, teachers, administrators, and other staff alikefaced an overwhelming number and range of ed tech apps, softwares, programs, and services. Working with districts. Lets use an example scenario to explore how this could happen: Youre socializing with friends from your school, and some who go to other schools. Make digital literacy part of the curriculum. Get a seat at the negotiating table. Over the next year, we heard from over 1000 students, parents, students, teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders about the student privacy experiences and challenges they had encountered in their own communities. Some questions to think about include: Notify parents. Actively discourage schools and districts from bad password hygienefor instance, using students birthdays and last names as passwords. Jeff went through several emails and a tense meeting before the district agreed to provide Katherine with a non-Google option for fourth gradebut once again declared that such an accommodation would not be possible for fifth grade. Not only does it know which sites students are going to, it keeps track of exact searches, and even the content of . All of this often happens without the awareness or consent of students and their families. At the same time, teachers felt that they carried the burden and blame when privacy violations occurred in the classroom. Student laptops and educational services are often available for a steeply reduced price, and are sometimes even free. They sell ads, they track information on folks. One public school parent in Pennsylvania wrote about their student accessing ed tech services on a personal device: I have no idea how to find out the extent of information they [ed tech providers] have access to on our personal computers. He negotiated with his daughters teacher so she could use a different computer and not have to use a Google account. Get parental consent. All children in the country are guaranteed a right to an elementary and secondary education, regardless of immigration status. Educate staff, colleagues, teachers, and decision makers about student privacy. FERPA, however, does not require schools to create or retain any such records. If you need a public account, consider using a separate, private account for topics, posts, or conversations youd like to keep private. With professional training and ethical commitments that prioritize user privacy, school librarians are in a unique position to advocate for student privacy. Parents as well as students felt this lack of choices. Kids Are Back in Classrooms and Laptops Are Still Spying on Them Which best describes you? Another public school teacher, this one in Florida, described the lack of training and knowledge as a district-wide issue: The county does not seem to be deliberately ignoring privacy concerns, but just lacks general knowledge about ongoing discussions about student privacy. 1. His first step has been to crank down the lid on privacy settings so that students use Google products as anonymously as possible by default, without associating their online profiles with identifying information. In Mississippi, a 16-year-old immigrant died Friday after he was injured while working at a poultry plant in the city of Hattiesburg. Transparency. In addition to getting involved with large-scale contract negotiations, think about how to ensure the quality and safety of websites, apps, and services adopted on a more ad hoc basis by teachers. In December 2015, we filed an FTC complaint urging the Commission to investigate Googles failure to live up to its commitments under the Pledge. Student dataor, more broadly, data collected on students in the course of educational activities at school, at home, and elsewheremay interact with advertising, drive inferences and profiles about individual students, or be shared with third parties. We alleged in our FTC complaint against Google that the Pledge does apply to data collection on general audience websites when that data collection is only possible by virtue of a student using log-in credentials that were generated for educational purposes. Google devices and platforms dominated survey responses. In addition to imposing surveillance on students at home as well as in the classroom,14 ed tech had the potential to make other members of the household feel vulnerable. President Obama's executive order on immigration could exempt from deportation more than five million undocumented immigrants -- almost half of the total undocumented population in the country . You may also want to review your current followers to make sure you know and trust them. GoGuardian said in a statement that the company cares "deeply about keeping students safe and protecting their privacy.". Instead, go through your school or districts approval process, or seek additional opinions, before adopting new ed tech tools. Dont let anyone tell you differently. It isnt clear who to speak with about the program and concerns. Limit personal information collection and retention to the bare minimum required to provide services, and ensure that it is stored in an encrypted form. 7 charts that explain the undocumented immigrant population While websites and other services are directed to delete students information if requested by the school or district, SOPIPA does not state a time period in which website and service providers must comply, nor does it include any other requirements for data retention and deletion. Here, again, Biden is moving forward with a forgiveness plan broader than anything . Surveillance Cameras: Some schools have installed surveillance cameras that have the ability to identify and track students as they move across campus, both inside buildings and outdoors. Download the complete Spying on Students: School-Issued Devices and Student Privacy report as a PDF. However, compartmentalized curricula are not enough to transform the way students interact with technology; it has to be reinforced across subjects throughout the school year. Refer to the ALAs guidelines for school library privacy policies41 to protect students privacy when they interact with the librarys systems, applications, and collections. ), 4. Its your privacy, not theirs. At a school issuing Chromebooks, one Iowa public school parent observed: Most homework must be done with these laptops. In 2016, Colorado passed the Student Data Transparency and Security Act (SDTSA)34 to improve protections for student personally identifiable information (PII). Below, we provide a few recommendations for students to act to preserve their personal data privacy: Finally, we provide best practices for ed tech companies, both for providing ed tech services in a privacy-conscious manner and for respecting student privacy on other, non-educational services. The trackers that are used are called RFID trackers. As new services are adopted, maintain a publicly accessible list of all the vendors that the school or district partners with, along with the corresponding privacy policies and any school or district evaluation.38 Ensure that staff do not use services beyond the ones the district has negotiated with and/or evaluated and approvedand, when they do, get it evaluated and publicly listed as soon as possible. The contractor must perform an institutional service or function for which the school district would otherwise use employees. One public school student in New Mexico specifically voiced a desire for courses on technology: I feel like in order to start using these devices, we should be taking courses to understand them first. Eric M. is the Director of Technology for the districts 2100 students. Avoid sharing sensitive personal information (which could include, for example, search terms and browser history) if it will be transmitted back to the provider. These contracts should include provisions on security, collection, use, retention, disclosure, destruction, access, and modification of data. Valued at over $8 billion,7 the educational technology sector in the U.S. has been described as the worlds most data-mineable industry by far.8 As companies race to produce and capture more student data, the U.S. Department of Education has encouraged schools to use big data analysis to improve assessment and educational innovation.9 Common Cores computerized testing requirements and other developments in education policy have also increasingly driven ed tech adoption forward.10 In the midst of these changing requirements, underfunded schools lack of resources can make them particularly susceptible to offers of free devices and educational software from large ed tech companies.11. Seek out other staff who share your concerns and coordinate with them to better advocate for student privacy across your school or district. Speak during the comment period for the topic if its on the agenda, or in the general comment period if its not on the agenda (arrive early and sit toward the front to give yourself the best chance of getting to speak). Parents and guardians can ask the school for information or student records. This plan also violates the . They are not required to report undocumented immigrants to federal agents. For instance, does it use the students personal information in connection with online behavioral advertising, or building user profiles for commercial purposes not related to the provision of the online service? If the answer to these questions is yes, the district cannot consent on behalf of the parent.. Schools in Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri and California have been testing out pilot programs that track students on campus through a device placed in their student identification card. The contract should also clarify the interaction between its terms and the companys general Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Do third-party services respect school policies? We address: In Part 3, we turn our analysis into a call for action and present our recommendations for: school administrators, teachers, librarians, system administrators, parents, students, and ed tech companies themselves. They never updated the agreement, and now use it as blanket permission for anything that occurs online. say they are respecting student privacy, I am uncertain what is really happening in the cloud. Click here to read the entire content.The bill stipulates obligations to internet applications and powers to an unspecified administrative authority to oversee compliance with PL 2630s rules. Industry self-regulation like the Student Privacy Pledge does not go far enough to remedy such loopholes. Im a district/school administrator reporting what happens in my district/school. Yes, but the school/district did not provide an alternative technology option. Trained as educators, privacy specialists, and technologists, school librarians like Angela bring not only the skills but also a professional mandate to lead their communities in privacy and intellectual freedom. Talk with your friends about the potentially sensitive data you reveal about each other online, and how you can protect each other as a team. Privacy is about protecting things that matter to you. York Technical College and Winthrop University Announce New Fast Track One-third of all K-12 students in U.S. schools use school-issued devices. Schools and districts should avoid asserting authority to consent on behalf of parents to the sharing of student data with third parties such as ed tech vendors, and should obtain written consent from parents directly. I dont know how opting out would even work. Take notice of discussions about services with which to contract as well as teachers ad-hoc adoption of tools for single-classroom use. First, the Pledges definition of student personal information calls into question the basic integrity of the Pledge. Next we discuss Colorado and Connecticut, both of which took the new step of distinguishing between third parties with which schools do and do not have contracts. Since their mobile device is tracking their location, this information is included in the pictures metadata . Some applications note that schools may implement their own privacy policies to govern personal data submitted to the services by student users. Ask the right questions. What kind of devices, applications, and other technology are being used to teach your child? Your friends who dont attend your school are now included in your schools surveillance system dragnet and dont know they have been surveilled. SOPIPA was the first attempt to regulate ed tech companies, and several other states have passed student privacy acts that track and expand on SOPIPA in their own states. According to conflict theorists, what is a criticism of tracking? a Schools are increasingly adopting surveillance technology to spy on students while theyre at school, at home, or even on their social media. The law prohibits a company from engaging in targeted advertising on its own website or any other website when the targeting of the advertising is based upon any information, including covered information and persistent unique identifiers, that the operator has acquired from a students use of the website. Finally, the survey concluded with an open-ended question requesting any additional information respondents wanted to share, from which we collected the quotes that appear throughout the findings below. Provide meaningful opt-out processes that give parents and students control over their use of technology in the classroom. Do not track students online behavior to create a profile on them, even when they navigate away from core educational services. Finally, the SDTSA is unique in its explicit focus on training local staff to handle student data. Further, 32 percent of all respondents reported that their schools or districts did not offer opt-outthat is, non-technological classroom alternatives for families who did not want students using certain technologyand 37 percent were not sure if opt-out was available. Take advantage of available settings and options in students devices and software to make sure they are as privacy-hardened as possible. Below we describe our methods and the characteristics of our respondents and their schools before delving into these eight findings in more detail. The constant surveillance in which ed tech results can warp childrens privacy expectations, lead them to self-censor, and limit their creativity.12 A surveillance environment built by trusted teachers and educators will socialize children to ignore and even accept the routine collection, retention, and sale of their personal information.13 Ed tech unchecked threatens to normalize the next generation to a digital world in which users hand over data without question in return for free servicesa world that is less private not just by default, but by design. Ensure that students are learning basic digital privacy and security techniques while utilizing new ed tech tools, including creating strong passphrases for their online accounts.39 Additionally, when applicable, convey that the data the students submit as part of their educational activity (including, for example, search terms, browsing history, etc.) While SOPIPA leaves large loopholes open and questions unanswered, it also paved the way for other states to build on it in their own student privacy legislation. Rather, tracking is usually based on achievement as measured by standardized tests or estimates of a child's ability. Few privacy policies address deletion of data after periods of inactivity, which would allow the applications to retain information even after students graduate. These interviews appear throughout our findings below as pull-out case studies, each digging into one individuals experience with a particular aspect of student privacy. Closing the skills gap for teachers is crucial because well-trained, informed staff are necessary to move beyond privacy by policy and implement verifiable, accountable privacy by practice. One of the biggest problems with privacy by policy is that it relies on all staff members being up-to-date on complex, sometimes vague policies, and having the time and resources to comply with them consistently. For many of the 43.6 million borrowers with federal student debt, the three-year pause created a financial cushion that allowed them to use the money for other purposes: buying homes, paying off . Giving parents and students the option to opt out of classroom technology use is a necessarybut not sufficientcomponent of protecting student privacy. 2. In some cases, student data is reported to school resource officers or the police. The U.S. Department of Education has published guidance for service providers to use learning analytics techniques to improve ed tech products.48 However, the guide ignores the privacy implications of using data analytics and readily acknowledges that a full discussion of privacy is beyond the scope of the document. Essentially, the guide assumes that data collection is a foregone conclusion, and doesn't begin to address the question of whether data should be collected in the first place, how to weigh the benefits and risks, how to get consent before collecting data, or how to manage the data once it's been collected. Rather than allowing Jeff to sign his daughter up for the Chromebook program, the district consented on his behalf, making the device mandatory for Katherinewith no ability to opt out. In addition to being responsible for administering, configuring, and maintaining a school or districts ed tech tools, sysadmins can function as in-house experts in selecting the right ed tech tool for a given problem or purpose. The quick answer is yes. (Select all that apply.). 3 Click here to read the entire content.Article 33, paragraph 6 of the bill extends the immunity that Brazil's Constitution ensures for members of Parliament for their opinions, words, and votes in Download the reportSince at least a decade ago, human rights institutions have acknowledged the enabling potential of the internet to realize a range of human rights.
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