Hello, Great Lakes Center subscriber:

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused hundreds of thousands of school closings, affecting approximately 44 million students. To assure learning continues, American educators are scrambling to create as many meaningful online learning opportunities as possible.  

In this issue, we address concerns about student privacy. Thanks to subscriber Amy V. Bland for her ideas and assistance with this issue.

THE ISSUE

Rapid national deployment of online learning solutions heightens concerns about student and family privacy, data collection and its use.

WHAT WE KNOW

Student privacy is a huge concern for schools. In a recent survey conducted by the Consortium for School Networking, it was the number one concern of K-12 IT leaders. In fact, the same report states cybersecurity attacks are increasingly targeting schools over the private sector because they are perceived to be less able to afford sophisticated defenses.

Last year, after several large data breaches, the FBI issued this warning about  the use of educational technology.

This year, Missisippi  and New Mexico have sued Google over student privacy concerns.

Many states have weak or nonexistent student privacy laws. National student privacy protection is limited to FERPA . The U.S. Department of Education recently held a webinar and provided some guidance on virtual learning and privacy under FERPA.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

Children's personal data may be exposed, even if the vendor has taken significant precautions and does not use or sell the data themselves. Data theft happens every day. If data is maintained and not deleted, there is the possibility of its inappropriate or illegal use.

Vendors of online programs may vary considerably in their actual policies and adherence to strict privacy. Parents and educators are encouraged to closely examine their school district privacy policies--especially as virtual learning proliferates.

HELPFUL RESOURCES

1. The National Education Policy Center has published a newsletter on student privacy that is well worth a read.
2. A compilation of state laws compiled by FERPA Sherpa can be found here.
3. FERPA rules can be found here.
4. Parents and teachers can obtain a free toolkit and valuable information from the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy.

SOCIAL SHARES