The Top 10: Student Privacy News (Feb-March 2017)

1. New America has released an ethical framework to help colleges use predictive analytics to benefit students (this report follows their previous report discussing the promise and peril of predictive analytics last fall).
2. Predictive Analytics was a hot topic in the past month. In addition to the New America report and FPF’s SXSWedu panel last week, The Hechinger Report reported that students are worried ed tech will predict failure before they have a chance to succeed. This article argues that the UK should “ditch the humans, leave [routine interventions with students] to the machine” and raises some interesting points. RealClearEducation says it is “Time for a Better Dropout Diagnosis.” Inside Higher Ed has an article that worries that predictive analytics’ probabilities can create self-fulfilling prophecies, and then posted the responses of companies that work on analytics.
3. Chicago Public Schools had a major breach of student data, including detailed information about hundreds of K-8 students and the disability services they received that was posted publicly on their website in an excel spreadsheet of district expenditures (also see articles from the parent who found the breach at Diane Ravitch and the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy). This may be a good time to remember the Student Privacy Principles, which say that everyone who handles data, including administrative, financial, and medical staff, should be trained in how to protect it.
4. Many privacy groups are raising concerns about a bill that would amend the 2016 California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (see this fantastic summary about how the law applies to schools from F3 Law). This law unintentionally applies to schools and significantly limits districts’ control over the electronic devices they issue to employees and students (and likely violates some school responsibilities under CIPA as I discuss in my previous surveillance and privacy report). However, privacy advocates say that this amendment acts as a “sledgehammer, not a scalpel” and undermines student privacy.
5. The National School Boards Association released “Data Security for Schools: A Legal and Policy Guide for School Boards.”
6. The SLDS Grant Program has released a “Data Governance Manual Rubric” and an “Attributes of Effective Data Products Checklist.”
7. A major student data tool – the Data Retrieval Tool, which automatically filled in FAFSA applications with information from tax returns through a data connection with the IRS – went down without notification due to “concerns that information from the tool could potentially be used by identity thieves.” Completing the FAFSA will now be much more difficult for students and their families, and it is unknown when the tool will be back up.
8. One of my favorite student privacy scholars, Elana Zeide, has published a new law review article on “The Limits of Education Purpose Limitations” in FERPA and state laws.
9. The Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities (APLU) partnered with colleges and universities to develop 14 case studies highlighting ways in which institutions use student level data to improve student outcomes.
10. Immigration data and schools continues to be a hot button issue.
    • Leah Plunkett from the Berkman Klein Center writes a great article on “How the New Immigration Agenda Violates the Promise of Plyler v. Doe & What School Decision-Makers Can Do to Protect Their Students & the Constitution.”
    • States and districts continue to worry about potential ICE requests of student immigration status data. You can sign up to attend a March 30th webinar discussing “The Educational Rights of Immigrant Children.”
    • In the meantime, lawyers have been pouring over US Code to figure out which laws and regs apply and where FERPA and ECPA fit in. FPF members were able to attend two webinars on this topic over the past month, so let us know if you are interested in joining us!
    • There is still no word on how the Trump Administration will deal with DACA students, but at least one DACA student was arrested and released in mid-February after speaking at a rally and another was arrested as part of a immigrant crackdown and is now suing the United States. A USA Today article noted that 2.1 million students could be affected by DACA being ended.

*Want more news stories? Email Amelia Vance at avance AT fpf.org to subscribe to our student privacy newsletter.

Cross-posted with the Future of Privacy Forum website.