Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas As the collection of educational data on students has dramatically increased across the K-12 Sector so has concern about who has access to the data and how to best shield it. Across the nation parents are protesting the data mining of their childrens highly personal information.
Many lawmakers in dozens of states have stepped forward with bills to protect the privacy and security of sensitive student information. Texas legislators in both the House and Senate are working on Student Data Privacy Bills to be filed during the 85th Legislative Session.
Today every aspect of a students personal life and that of their families is being gobbled up by tech companies which have nearly unlimited access via digital devices and textbooks online resources and classroom apps and computer adaptive/personalized learning. With the 2011 gutting of Family
Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA) by the Obama Administration there is unlimited sharing of student data with literally anyone in the world being able to attain access as long as the disclosing
agency uses the correct language for justification.
No longer is parental approval needed.
At the U.S. Department of Education hosted conference in 2013 Datapalooza" the CEO of one educational technology company boasted
We are collecting billions of records of data…pulling data from everywhere…tens of thousands of places." He said the data will help students develop the 21st century skills" that the government has deemed they will need.The National Education Data Model has over 400 data points including psychological evaluations medical records religious affiliation political affiliation family income behavioral problems disciplinary history career goals hobbies addresses sex of each parent and bus stop times/locations. The U.S. Department of Education has become increasingly aggressive about demanding Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in conjunction with various federal grants especially for those states that refused to adopt Common Core. In addition the federal government is encouraging widespread sharing
of student data within states such as with departments of labor corrections public health etc.
The thinking is that the State should know everything about a student so that government can better direct his personal life and where he fits into our new State Planned Economy (workforce development) to be exploited as human capital."
When the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was passed in 2015 many activists tried without success to get lawmakers to include data privacy protections or to close the loophole in FERPA. Therefore it is up to each state to protect its students.
In response to growing evidence of misuse of student data data breaches and student privacy violations the Software & Information Industry Association together with the Future of Privacy Forum created the Student Privacy Pledge. Since 2014 more than 300 companies have signed the pledge which applies only to targeted advertising specifically prohibiting the selling of personal information and creating student profiles for targeted advertising.
Many states have adopted legislation that merely codifies the Student Privacy Pledge about the use storage and sharing of student data in targeted advertising.
Targeted advertising however is only the tip of the iceberg of data mining. The real danger is the collection of student Personally Identifiable Information (PII) which identifies an individual or student in digital learning programs.
All privacy legislation which contains the same or very similar language allows an exception for the collection of PII.
Nothing in this pledge is intended to prohibit the use of student personal information for purposes of adaptive learning or customized education."
The definition of PII in privacy statutes and pending bills in other states (including Arkansas California Connecticut Delaware Georgia Idaho Kansas Maine New Hampshire Nevada and Oregon) as well as those bills being drafted in Texas is as follows:…including but not limited to information in the studentsBiometric information the measurement of physical and behavioral characteristics is useful for tracking
- educational record or email
- first and last name
- home address
- date of birth
- telephone number
- unique pupil identifier
- social security number
- financial or insurance account numbers
- email address
- other information that allow physical or online evaluations
- criminal records
- medical records
- health records
- biometric information
- disabilities
- socioeconomic information
- food purchases
- political affiliations
- religious information
- text messages
- documents
- other student identifiers
- search activity
- photos
- voice recordings or
- geo-location information."
school attendance and food purchases. However biometrics can include:
- DNA
- Fingerprints
- Face Hand and Ear Features
- Voice Recordings
- Iris Scans
- Gait
- Typing Rhythm and
- Gestures
An agency or institution…may not...collect obtain or retain information on the political affiliation voting history religious affiliation or biometric information of a student or a parent or sibling of the student."
However nothing bans the use of childrens DNA fingerprints heart rate or iris scans. Big tech claims such data is needed to build their educational tools. But that is a Big Tech lie. Their products dont need biometric information to function. Alarmingly they are allowed access to this information without any parental consent.- Is there any reason why Texas cannot stop data mining for none of your business" information?
- Is there any reason why Texas cannot protect its children with a ban both on the collection and the use of this biometric information?
Since Big Government and Big Tech are running rough shed over our lives and those of our children it is up to parents to put a stop to this data mining madness. It is up to parents to put a stop to government hawks recording every hiccup that Johnny has.
This folks is America not the Soviet Union! The angry backlash by fed up Americans has only begun.
Follow Dr. Carole Haynes at www.drcarolehhaynes.com and on Twitter at CaroleHHaynes. Additional articles by Carole Hornsby Haynes include:
- Part 3 of a Technology in the Classroom" Series: WILL TEXAS LAWMAKERS ADOPT COMMON CORE STUDENT ASSESSMENTS?
- Part 2 of a Technology in the Classroom" Series: CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY: RESEARCH INCREASINGLY SHOWS NO MEASURABLE IMPROVEMENT
- Part 1 of a Technology in the Classroom" Series: ARE TEXAS LAWMAKERS FUNDING DIGITAL HEROIN FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN?
- TEXAS STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TURNS BACK COMMON CORE EFFORT STANDS FIRM ON ENGLISH STANDARDS
- COMMON CORE FACTION TRIES TO TAKE OVER TEXAS ENGLISH STANDARDS
- HAYNES: IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE STAAR PROBLEM?
- Part 5: COMMON CORE MATH IN TEXAS: TEXAS MATH SCORES DROP WORST IN U.S. SAYS EXPERT
Part 4: COMMON CORE MATH IN TEXAS? AND WHY HAS THE SBOE DONE NOTHING TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE?- Part 3: COMMON CORE MATH IN TEXAS: IS THERE A SOLUTION FOR THE MATH STANDARDS SHIPWRECK?
- Part 2: COMMON CORE MATH IN TEXAS? DID THE TEA OVERSTEP ITS AUTHORITY ON MATH CURRICULUM STANDARDS?
- Part 1: COMMON CORE MATH IN TEXAS? WHY TEXAS SCHOOLS SHOULD NOT USE CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT CONTROL
- WHY TEXAS MUST START EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
- WILL TEXAS STATE BOARD OF ED ADOPT COMMON CORE-COMPLIANT STANDARDS?
