K12 Student Privacy Policy Guide

[Raynise]

Using technology in classrooms can transform the learning experience and provide immense benefits for both students and educators. But before it’s used, it is imperative to ensure that our students’ information and privacy are protected. Read this article to learn more. 

[lborkenhagen]

This is great and really helpful - thanks for sharing! I'll be passing this along to our team that helps faciliate our vetting process in our district as a resource they can share with staff. We're always looking to educate our staff on what they can do as a first line of vetting a tool before submitting a review request. This will also help build the knowledge of our school-based tech coaches as they support teachers in understanding what to look for in a tool. Demystifying privacy policies is such a tricky, but important step in this process.

[Kristal]

Thanks for responding.  I also think that while technology holds immense potential to transform education, prioritizing student privacy is non-negotiable. Schools must adopt a multi-faceted approach, including robust data privacy policies, secure platforms, data minimization, parental consent, and transparency in data practices. Additionally, training educators on data privacy and conducting regular audits are vital to ensuring student information remains protected while leveraging the benefits of technology in the classroom.

[Jacksonic-2024]

This is a very good article, it seems well thought out. My district used to use Lightspeed and I thought the company was very responsible in their treatment of information and knowledgeable in student safety. Their input is valuable. Thank you for sharing.

[marija]

This article is an example of concrete and direct help to teachers in their dilemmas regarding using certain technologies in the classroom.

I consider the following guidelines from the article particularly useful for teachers:

- the article gives teachers advice on how to quickly find problematic points in terms of the privacy of educational products
- it emphasizes changing the mindset when considering new educational products - instead of looking at the topic of privacy as an administrative obstacle, it is necessary to really think about the privacy conditions that the product represents
- a helpful tip is to check if a particular product also offers a special, educational version that could be more beneficial for students and the learning process; also, the article reminds us that a different version of the product could have different privacy rules

As the most significant conclusion of this article, I would highlight the importance of raising awareness of the existence of "edge cases" within the privacy policy. Examples are if the policy grants the platform an unrestricted license to use, modify, or distribute student data for any purpose and if the policy does not mention how control can be exercised over data collected from students.

[shossj1]

This article provides a quick and ready guide in an area where, frankly, most school boards/districts are not deeply resourced. We struggle to keep up with the demands on our privacy team, which fall under my portfolio, with respect to system audits (video surveillance, records management, Personal Health Information, etc.), PIAs, contract reviews, software and technology review and approval processes (e.g., for apps teachers want to use in their classrooms), FOI requests, and more. This is exacerbated by the fact that we don't have in-house legal counsel - a lot falls on the plates of my team (and me). AI has now added to the demands, as well, as we navigate its use in our system. That said, however, I can't help but wonder how AI tools might assist with some of the workload in the future in partnership with and under the supervision of the humans who currently do the work.