This is a letter from Leonie Haimson, who leads the NYC advocacy group “Class Size Matters.” She suggests that you find out what is happening to the data collected about your child. This is what is happening in New York state.
Dear Parents: today is Data Privacy Day. Here are some questions you can ask your school about your child’s private education records.
Unfortunately, we already know that NY State intends to share the most private information from your child’s educational records with the Shared Learning Collaborative, a project of the Gates Foundation, without your consent, which in turn intends to hand it over to private for-profit companies.
This information is supposed to include your child’s name, test scores, grades, disciplinary and attendance records, special education status and much more. The information will be put on a data cloud run by Amazon.com, with a system built by Wireless Generation, owned by Rupert Murdoch and run by Joel Klein. Here is a fact sheet about this issue.
Please email State Ed Commissioner John King today, with a copy to Chancellor Walcott and Stacey Childress of the Gates Foundation, demanding that your child’s information NOT be shared with ANY third parties, including the Gates Foundation. Also copy the email to Michele Cahill of the Carnegie Corporation, which is supposedly in charge of the long-term governance and business plan for a new, separate corporation that will soon take over the project from the Gates Foundation.
CC: DMWalcott@schools.nyc.gov, stacey.childress@gatesfoundation.org , mc@carnegie.org
Dear Commissioner King:
As a NYC public school parent I demand that you NOT share any of my child’s confidential information with ANY third parties, including the Gates Foundation or ANY other private entity or corporation. I do not give my consent.
Instead, I ask that you hold public hearings in NYC to explain the purpose of this project, offer all New York parents the right to consent as the law requires, and inform the public who will be legally and financially responsible if this highly sensitive data leaks out or is used in an unauthorized fashion.
Yours,
Signed: [Your Name and address]
Parent [or legal guardian] of [your Child’s full name, grade and school]
Thanks and talk to you soon,
Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonie-haimson
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This summer I went to a week-long session on technology at Chautauqua and came away with the understanding (and resigned to the fact) that in the eyes of Google (and all other free internet services) I am a product and not a consumer… That is, someone is tracking and aggregating the web pages I visit and using that information to determine if I am a potential customer. I daresay that Amazon is probably finding out that I am writing a comment on your blog and will have a sidebar advertisement for your new book the next time I visit them….
That may all be true (I know it is) BUT when I was still teaching in public school, when we discussed students test scores, attendance, disciplinary matter it was all done without anonymously … allowing these corporations, which are certainly for profit entitities, to track these students from such an early age is just wrong …. by simply allowing this data to be collected anonymously would make it a tad less invasive ….
I agree that parents need to be in on this and their voices and concerns heard and listened to …. to blithely think they can just plow on with their ideas, without any consent or discussion shows their total distain/disregard for parents, school boards, standards of behaviour regarding privacy matters of other peoples children.. they would not allow it for their own.
Just in case any readers from Wisconsin read this…the new PALS assessment administered to all kindergarten kids as mandated by the state is under contract with the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center (SVHEC). In the contract SVHEC is defined as a “school official” which gives them complete access to students’ records in accordance with FERPA and autorizes them to share the info with other agencies they deem necessary. I’ve been told there is nothing we can do about this. PALS is supposed to be phased in to prek, 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade.
Parnets let your voices be heard. The great thing about data is … data never dies.
should be Parents
Does this apply across NY state or only NYC?
Keeping the data anonymous and safe is what is important here. Has anyone experienced identity theft? Our children, once data is electronic and personal (i.e. social security number, birthday, height, weight, sports, family members, test scores – including special ed testing/labels – hopes and desires via electronically collected survey data, etc) just sets our children up for a future constrained by the uses and misuses of this data. As a parent, I limit my children’s digital trail as much as possible. It is highly unethical for schools/states to believe they have the right to utilize this priceless data WITHOUT parental consent or knowledge. Our children deserve better.
Get in touch with your PTA.
I can’t believe today is actually called “International Data Privacy Day.”
http://www.microsoft.com/privacy/dpd/default.aspx
(apologies for the double-post – I think it is worth seeing in both places)
I think awareness is our best defense right now. Even the FTC cautions about “identity theft” when it comes to children:
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0040-child-identity-theft
I think our steps are:
1) Find out what your district reports via “Directory Information”
2) Opt-out of Directory Information
3) Determine if the assessment is for INFORMING INSTRUCTION or REPORTING.
4) Refuse to participate in adding to the data – i.e. opt-out of standardized testing at every level.
If the test does not directly inform the classroom teacher about his/her student needs, it is for reporting. Parents are beginning to opt-out: http://www.fairtest.org/get-involved/opting-out
The only way take back education and do what is best for students is to begin the conversation.
We agree data privacy is an important consideration and we therefore want to address some inaccuracies in the post above. States, districts and schools using the SLC technology retain ownership and control of their data, and of the privacy and security policies that apply to how that data is collected, retained and safeguarded, all in compliance with FERPA. Funders of the SLC, including the Gates foundation, have no access to student data. We encourage anyone interested in more details about the SLC to visit our data security/privacy page: http://slcedu.org/technology/privacy-and-security and to take a look at a blog post that addresses many of the concerns you raise: http://slcedu.org/blog/how-schools-use-data-power-personalized-learning-0
We’ve been reading your posts for a while
Have you seen this? It’s written by Rotenberg & Barnes? EPIC v US ED?
Amassing Student Data and Dissipating Privacy Rights
http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/amassing-student-data-and-dissipating-privacy-rights
[When FERPA was enacted almost forty years ago, Congress made it clear that students’ personal information should not be made widely available. Congress was particularly concerned that if student records fell into the hands of private parties, these records could hurt students later in life when, for example, students were seeking jobs]
Seems as though what Congress intended with FERPA is blatantly ignored by the SLC. Sure, they changed FERPA many times so what you’re doing isn’t against the law.
However, SLC facilitates a heightened state of risk for children, some who are already at great risk.
You’re welcome!
Sent from my iPad
To this I respond with two of my FB posts tonight:
Everyone must read this 1954 classic text: How To Lie with Statistics, by Darrell Huff.
“There is terror in numbers,” writes Darrell Huff in How to Lie with Statistics. And nowhere does this terror translate to blind acceptance of authority more than in the slippery world of averages, correlations, graphs, and trends. Huff sought to break through “the daze that follows the collision of statistics with the human mind” with this slim volume, first published in 1954. The book remains relevant as a wake-up call for people unaccustomed to examining the endless flow of numbers pouring from Wall Street, Madison Avenue, and everywhere else someone has an axe to grind, a point to prove, or a product to sell. “The secret language of statistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify,” warns Huff.
and…
Found this definition for MAP testing at safeplumbing.org
MAP Testing – A voluntary test protocol for toilets that measures the ability to remove solid waste, also referred to as “bulk.”