An interview below with Leonie Haimson, co-chair of the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy.

Watch at #CRTV:https://t.co/x0VfMvUgcu pic.twitter.com/AcnuGD0l7o

— CRTV (@CRTV) April 10, 2018

80% of kids aged 6-12 watch YouTube yet parents are never asked for their consent before Google collects their personal data, as required by the federal law called COPPA.

Here is the complaint filed today to the FTC, demanding that they make Google/YouTube comply with the law , led by Center for a Commercial Free Childhood and signed onto by 22 advocacy groups including the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy.  The complaint was covered by the NY Times, Wired, the Guardian, the Associated Press, USA Today, and  Consumer Reports.

The press release is below.

A widely used classroom app called Mathletics produced by 3P Learning displays student first names, last initials, and schools on a public website if they’ve won enough points in online math games every week. There are hundreds of US schools participating. See the article posted below in Australian papers about this here. There was also a blog post about the data leak here.

A list of US schools that has allowing the company to post kids personally identifiable info online was provided to me a concerned Australian privacy expert; it is here . It shows that the personal data of over 114, 000 US children has been exposed since 2014. This public disclosure should ONLY be done with parent consent. Check out to see if your child’s school is on the list, and if you haven’t been asked for consent, demand this immediately.

It also has sections examining the efficacy of some of the most over-hyped online programs like Summit PLP, Rocketship and New Classrooms, as well as widely used online assessments like MAP and i-Ready. The press release is below.

____

MEDIA ADVISORY FOR March 9, 2018

For more information contact: Carol Burris, NPE Executive Director, 718-577-3276, [email protected]

Kew Gardens, New York – Today the Network for Public Education (NPE) released a new report, Online Learning: What Every Parent Should Know, in response to the growing dependence on technology in K-12 education. Schools are increasingly implementing digital instruction, often requiring that students use online programs and apps as part of their classwork. Many students even attend a virtual, full-time charter school, never meeting teachers or classmates face to face.

Yet there is scant evidence of educational technology’s success and growing concerns regarding its negative impact. This guide presents a frank assessment of the intended and unintended consequences of online learning in K-12 school and offers questions parents should ask principals if their child’s school adopts computerized programs to deliver instruction, assessment or behavior management.

Rachel Stickland, Co-Chair of the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, had the following to say about the report: “NPE’s Online Learning report is essential reading for anyone questioning the research behind the national push toward digital education. With this report in hand, parents can discuss their concerns with online learning confidently with school leadership – whether it’s the lack of evidence showing that it actually works, the political and moneyed interests advancing it, or how it places student privacy at risk.”

Dr. Faith Boninger of the University of Colorado Boulder researches and writes about commercial activities in schools. Commenting on the importance of the report she said, “As much as companies are eager to sell digital technology to schools, and schools are eager to increase children’s achievement, research does not support claims that shifting to digital educational platforms achieves the desired goals. What a growing body of research does indicate, however, is that excessive computer use by children leads to negative health effects such as vision and sleeping problems, social-emotional disturbance, and addiction to digital devices. NPE’s report on on-line learning is an important, timely, resource for parents. In plain language, its review of what we know about online learning shows that parents would do well to not accept promises or bland reassurances, but rather be extremely skeptical consumers. Armed with this report, parents will be able to ask administrators the very hard questions that must be answered adequately in order to justify the use of digital technologies to teach children.”

The 18-page guide is a parent-friendly review of the research on virtual schools, online courses, blended learning and behavior management apps. It also includes a discussion of the student privacy issues that arise when highly sensitive personal student data is collected by online programs and then distributed to third-party vendors without parent knowledge or consent.

The guide’s harshest criticism is reserved for virtual charter schools, whose academic ineffectiveness, coupled with fraudulent attendance practices, resulted in NPE’s recommendation that parents refrain from enrolling their children in online charters.

Based on the report’s findings, NPE President Diane Ravitch advises parents to “be wise consumers.” According to Ravitch, “Technology can be used creatively in the classroom by well-prepared teachers. But most of what is sold as ‘digital learning‘ is a sham that allows vendors to mine student data. Worse, online charter schools are educationally worthless. Students learn best when there is human interaction between teachers and students and among students. Parents must beware of false promises by profiteers.”

Online Learning: What Every Parent Should Know is available online at https://networkforpubliceducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Online-Learning-What-Every-Parent-Should-Know.pdf.

The Network for Public Education (NPE) was founded in 2013 by Diane Ravitch and Anthony Cody. Its mission is to protect, preserve, promote, and strengthen public schools for both current and future generations of students. We share information and research on vital issues that concern the future of public education. For more information, please visit: networkforpubliceducation.org.

###

The Parent Coalition of Student Privacy is creating a Privacy Toolkit just for teachers and other school and district staff.  Please take our survey now so we can ensure that the Toolkit is what you need to protect your privacy and that of your students.    Your answers will remain fully confidential!