District Technology Use and Student Data Privacy

STUDENT DATA PRIVACY LAWS

 

FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT (FERPA)
governs information in a student’s education record, restricting access and use of student information.

● Generally prohibits districts from disclosing students’ education records without written parent or eligible student consent.
● “Education records” are broadly defined to include any records, files, or documents maintained by a school district that contain personally identifiable information on students.
● Grants parents and guardians the right to inspect and review education records; request that a school amend the student’s records; consent in writing to the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the student's records, subject to certain enumerated exceptions. 

What Parents Need To Know About Their Student's Data

EXPLAINING PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION TO EDUCATION STAKEHOLDERS

Personally identifiable information (referred to as "PII") includes any information that can be used, either alone or in combination with other information, to directly determine or find the identity of an individual person. In the case of student education records, that might include a student's grade level, date of birth, and/or other personal information (e.g., gender, race, or ethnicity). PII stored in students education records is protected by federal and state law.

Although all PII is protected, some PII is considered sensitive information because if it is lost, exposed to unauthorized parties, or misused, there could be an adverse impact for the individual. The combination of two or more pieces of non-sensitive PII may result in sensitive information, as when a persons full name is associated with their date of birth and mother's maiden name-information often used to verify a persons identity for credit purposes. Both the potential for harm and the context in which the information is used are important determinants of what constitutes "sensitive" PII. For instance, a list of students attending a particular school may include PII (students names) but would not be considered sensitive, given that revealing only student names would not likely result in harm to the individual students.

A list of students receiving specific services at the school, such as academic tutoring or counseling, would be considered sensitive, given that exposing such information may open those student to harm such as ridicule from their peers or others based on the nature of the services they receive.

CHILDREN'S ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION CT (COPPA)
restricts the collection of personal information from children under 13 by companies operating websites, games, mobile applications, and digital services that are directed to children or that collect personal information from individuals known to be children.

● COPPA requires companies to have a clear privacy policy, provide direct notice to parents, and obtain parental consent before collecting information from children under 13.

STUDENT ONLINE PERSONAL PROTECTION ACT (SOPPA)
protects the privacy and security of student data when collected by companies operating websites, online services, or online/mobile applications primarily used for K-12 school purposes.

● Prohibits the use of student data for targeted advertising, the sale of student information gathered during the students’ use of the educational technology, and the use of data collected to amass a profile about a student.

A list of technology approved for students use by MVRSD can be found here.  - Vetted Applications

NEW HAMPSHIRE - DOE DATA GOVERNANCE POLICY


The mission of the Data Governance program is to ensure that the highest quality data are collected, protected, used and made available to key stakeholders through coordinated efforts within the agency for the purpose of improving efficiency and enabling better decision-making by policymakers and educators.


Link to App Vetting Procedure and list of applications reviewed by our district


Link to searchable list of approved MVRSD Applications

Chromebook