Dive Brief:

• A new study from the Future of Privacy Forum finds that parents generally support the use of data such as test scores, grades, and attendance to inform educational practice.
• The question of who has access to that data and more was more divisive: Just 42% supported third-party access to student data.
• Nearly three-quarters supported using aggregated student data to measure teacher effectiveness and hold them accountable, while slightly more supported using the data to improve instruction.

Dive Insight:

The study’s authors say the results indicate that schools still have a long way to go in explaining to parents how they intend to use student data and the privacy controls around it. While parents’ concerns about privacy are high, they also have little understanding of the laws that protect students from exploitation.

“This survey makes it clear that we must do a better job of explaining to parents how their children benefit from improving the effectiveness of education products based on things learned in the classroom,” said Jules Polonetsky, the Future Privacy Forum’s executive director. “And parents want a commitment that their student data will never be exploited. I think that’s a commitment they deserve.”