A deal to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is in place, with votes in both chambers of Congress expected in the coming weeks.
Our friends over at Politics K-12 have you covered on all the policies and provisions鈥攆rom accountability to standards to school turnarounds鈥攖hat made it in to the . So far, reaction has been mostly positive.
But what about one of the key issues that mostly 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 make it into the newly dubbed Every Student Succeeds Act?
Congress largely punted on student data privacy, declining to include in the ESEA reauthorization amendments that would have updated the country鈥檚 major federal student-data-privacy law or created a special committee to consider the best way forward on the issue. The changes there were included don鈥檛 represent any big shifts in policy, but do signal Congress鈥� attention to the issue.
That lack of tangible action will mean continued uncertainty for educators and ed-tech vendors alike, as we detailed in our October special report, 鈥淒ata: Sharing + Privacy.鈥�
A number of or FERPA, have been introduced in the past year, including a proposal authored by the bipartisan leadership of the House education committee. There had been some hope that work would get folded into ESEA, but the sense from observers was that it proved too complex an issue to try to add to an already cumbersome proposal.
鈥淎t some point, it was decided strategically that ESEA couldn鈥檛 be any more complicated,鈥� said Amelia Vance, the director education data and technology for the National Association of State Boards of Education.
鈥淏ut we obviously know from past statements that [Reps. John Kline, R-Minn. and Bobby Scott, D-Va., the chair and ranking member of the education and workforce committee] have made that they are committed to student data privacy,鈥� Vance said. 鈥淭his could indicate that they have a plan for dealing with this issue in the future.鈥�
Many want to see the 40-year old FERPA law updated to better encompass digital records, among other modernization efforts.
On the committee idea, meanwhile, Rachel Anderson, a senior associate of policy advocacy at the nonprofit Data Quality Campaign, was among those disappointed that an amendment originally introduced by U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Edward Markey, D-Mass. 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 win approval.
鈥淭here was a lot of support, but not quite enough,鈥� Anderson said.
Not all was lost for those hoping to see federal movement on the issue, however.
Every Student Succeeds does include language that specifies that states and districts can use federal Title II funds for 鈥渟upporting and developing efforts to train teachers on the appropriate use of student data to ensure that individual student privacy is protected.鈥�
Such professional development is 鈥渁bsolutely essential,鈥� Vance said, because 鈥測ou can have all the policies in the world, but if you don鈥檛 include ways for teachers to be trained how to protect and use the data, the policies won鈥檛 be of any help.鈥�
Such uses of those funds were not disallowed before, but there was some confusion among states and districts that would be cleared up if the bill is signed into law.
Every Student Succeeds also includes non-binding language that offers a 鈥渟ense of Congress鈥� on the issue, basically saying that student data privacy is important and suggesting that the U.S. Education Secretary 鈥渟hould review all regulations addressing issues of student privacy, including those under this Act, and ensure that students鈥� personally identifiable information is protected.鈥�
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