Student Data Collection Is Out of Control

The collection of student data is out of control. No longer do schools simply record attendance and grades. Now every test score and every interaction with a digital learning tool is recorded. Data gathering includes health, fitness and sleeping habits, sexual activity, prescription drug use, alcohol use and disciplinary matters. Students’ attitudes, sociability and even "enthusiasm" are quantified, analyzed, recorded and dropped into giant data systems.

Some schools use radio frequency identification tags to track student location throughout the school day. Other schools use “human monitoring services” that read student email and then contact local law enforcement if something is amiss. Students and parents will never see the vast majority of information collected.

The push for big data in education has also contributed to data breaches and has made student information susceptible to being sold for purposes unrelated to the collection. My organization sued the Education Department for weakening a forty-year-old student privacy law and allowing private companies increased access to student data.

Rampant data collection is not only destroying student privacy, it also threatens students’ intellectual freedom. When schools record and analyze students’ every move and recorded thought, they chill expression and speech, stifling innovation and creativity.

Students should have a right to a privacy framework that limits data collection, gives rights to them and their families, and places responsibility on schools and companies that gather data. Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and others are working to update student privacy protections in Congress. Enacting a Student Privacy Bill of Rights is a top priority.

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