Dive Brief:

• As classrooms incorporate more educational technologies and schools subscribe to services that require sensitive data collection, the job of keeping that personal information safe becomes a shared responsibility at all levels.
• EdTech: Focus on K-12 reports the Bristol Warren Regional School District in Rhode Island is among those using the Future Ready Schools Framework, which has a Data and Privacy Dashboard that outlines how districts should tackle data and data systems, policies/procedures/practices, data-informed decision-making and the creation of data-literate staff members.
• The Talladega County schools in Alabama considers educating staff members a key priority, given that end users are the last defense, and it also manages vendor relationships with official data use agreements and requires applications that feature significant data sharing to be approved at the district level.

Dive Insight:

School districts that develop safeguards to keep student and staff personal information confidential have to think about where their own policies and practices run up against third-parties. Student and staff users of district networks are often the victims of phishing attempts that convince them to voluntarily give away username and password information that can help hackers unlock troves of personal data.

Beyond users, however, are the third-party vendors with whom schools and teachers partner for educational technology. When apps are free, profit has to come from somewhere, and it may very well be from selling personal data to other companies. That’s why districts might consider centralizing approval of all educational apps teachers want to use in the classroom. IT professionals are in the best position to consider all the risks.