Dive Brief:
- A new set of recommendations released in the new "Time to Act" report, currently under embargo, from the Data Quality Campaign aims to encourage and guide states towards enacting policies for using data in student learning.
- The premise of the report is that robust longitudinal data systems can be used to provide a more individualized, personalized learning approach for every student, improving learning.
- According to the report, four priorities exist when it comes to using data for student learning: clear measurements, ease of access to data and analytics, transparency inside and outside the school community and with stakeholders, and privacy safeguards.
Dive Insight:
Three years ago, the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) released a similar report on how teachers can access data on students' performance to adjust how they teach. That report also noted that data can be used for parents, too, so that they can see how their children are doing in school. The DQC founder, Aimee Rogstad Guidera, also encouraged parents to push for access to student data, in part to stem privacy concerns. Various pieces of legislation provide protections, but some say they still aren't enough. Federal law prevents the use of student data for any commercial purpose, and the Education Sciences Reform Act explicitly prevents the creation of any federal database that consists of student data.
The student data debate has long been plagued by 'myths', some of which the Data Quality Campaign says have been debunked. Yet a recent FTC complaint from the Electronic Frontier Foundation alleges student privacy violations in cases where schools have used Google platforms. The EFF claims that when using Google for Education accounts, student personal information unrelated to education is collected, maintained, and used by the company. It also says a feature in the Chrome browser enables Google to collect and use students' browsing history and other data "unrelated to authorized educational or school purposes." Google has denied any wrongdoing.