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Online Accounts for Students - The Privacy Factor
The number of websites and apps that present teachers and students with exciting new tools and resources grows daily. Many of these require students to set up individual online accounts in order to get the most out of the site. But despite how good an online site might be, teachers should not rush into having students create online accounts. Here's why:
Under the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) all public school personnel must be careful in how they treat student records and information. This federal law requires that schools a) protect access to their students' educational records and, b) enable parents/legal guardians to view these records upon request. In general, FERPA considers the following to be part of a student's educational record:
grades, including student work that has been graded
attendance records
discipline records
special education status and information
medical and health records that the school creates, collects, or maintains
personal information such as social security number
Many online sites/apps, especially free ones, share user information with advertisers, 'partners,' and even the public. Even when the site's terms state that they only share data that has been aggregated so that no one individual can be identified, there are ways for advertisers to combine this data with data from other sites in order to target individuals with advertising or build profiles about them. In addition, some sites share what their users post, such as written work or artwork, with other users, the public, or their business partners. Some Terms of Use even state that whatever the user uploads belongs to the site's owners and allows them to share the user's work with whomever they wish, however they wish permanently. These situations can result in:
a student's educational records being exposed, stored, or utilized in ways that conflict with FERPA;
students being subjected to targeted advertising; or
students relinquishing their exclusive copyright claims to their own creative work.
A site's Terms of Use is equivalent to a legal contract. In most cases, these Terms state how old the person must be in order to create an account. Sites that are aimed at young people often restrict users under the age of 13 from creating accounts altogether or require verifiable parental permission. This is due to the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) which tries to prevent websites from taking advantage of children who will unwittingly give away personal data to sites without understanding the short and long term consequences. Many sites designed to attract teachers require them to collect and retain signed permission forms from parents or be held liable for damages if parents sue. Teachers must:
take into account that they are responsible for modeling good digital citizenship for students; and
recognize that online privacy is a big concern for today's parents. Parents are especially concerned about their child's education records getting shared with advertisers or others who may keep the data long term and build profiles about their child based on their child's other online habits. Teachers must respect the fact that even if a site is approved by Shelby County for use, that a parent may not want their child to have such online accounts.
"We must provide our schools, teachers, and students cutting-edge learning tools. And we must protect our children's privacy. We can and must accomplish both goals . . ." Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education
Shelby County Schools Approach to Online Accounts for Students
Finding a site's Terms of Use and Privacy Policies is generally pretty easy. Understanding them is another thing entirely. In order to help teachers avoid using sites that may put student data at undue risk and to alleviate them from having to collect and retain signed parent permission forms, Shelby County Schools has established the following process.
Parents are notified via the Code of Conduct that Shelby County Schools has established an review process for online student accounts. This process involves ensuring that sites are educationally relevant and have reasonable privacy policies. The process also allows the school system to 'give permission' to the student to create the online account in place of the parent doing so. This alleviates the teacher and parent from having to handle individual permission forms for various sites throughout the year in order to comply with each site's Terms of Use. Any parent that does not want the school system to act on their behalf must write a letter to the school denying such permission. In these cases, the principal should notify the teachers involved so that they do not have these students create online accounts for approved sites.
Once a site is reviewed and found to meet the district's criteria, it will be listed on the Technology website along with any individual restrictions or instructions to teachers. Parents can review the list and the Privacy Policies of each site. If a parent objects to any single site that their child's teacher wishes to be used, then they should notify that teacher and their child so that the student does not create an account for that site.
Before a teacher has a student create an individual online account regardless of the student's age, they must first check the approved site list.
If the site is not on the reviewed list, then teachers may enter a request for it to be added by using the form below. Teachers should do this in advance because it may take a day or two for the site's terms to be reviewed.
Students Creating Accounts On Their Own
Shelby County Schools acknowledges that teachers do not have control over whether students personally create accounts or download apps onto their personal devices. In addition, it would be impossible for Shelby County Schools to review every app in the App Stores for suitability. But teachers should never purposely suggest to students that they set up accounts at home or download certain apps to their personal devices in order to skirt the system's procedures or its intent.
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