Rising concerns about the privacy and security of vast amounts of student data are playing out across the country. That is especially true in Indiana, where the state is building a network that would gather and analyze academic information on students from the time they enter kindergarten to their days as adults in the workplace.
State lawmakers passed to create the Indiana Network of Knowledge, or INK, to link students鈥� data with state labor data and information collected from employers about desirable job skills. The goal is to help the state tailor its education system to meet employers鈥� needs and help close a workplace-skills gap.
But critics of the measure contend there has been little discussion about how to keep the student data private and secure, and they are drawing connections between INK and similar concerns that led to the demise of inBloom, a nonprofit data-management company that recently announced it would 鈥渨ind down鈥� operations.
States that had committed to working with the Atlanta-based inBloom, or considered doing so, cut ties after an outcry from parents and others who voiced worries about the security of the information the company planned to store.
But supporters of the Indiana plan say the state clearinghouse is linking existing student data to labor and employer information to provide insight on education and the job market.
Kristin Yochum, director of federal policy for the Washington-based Data Quality Campaign, which promotes the use of data to support school improvement, said national concerns about privacy are unfairly tainting the INK initiative.
鈥淒ata aren鈥檛 the monsters under our bed,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut the way people continue to frame this discussion, it makes it sound scary.鈥�
Tracking Down Students
But Fred H. Cate, the director of the at the Indiana University Mauer School of Law, in Bloomington, said he worries that the database could be used for unadvertised purposes, such as tracking down students with unpaid loans or those who might be deemed to pose a threat to national security.
He said he鈥檚 not against using data effectively, but believes that too little attention has been paid to protecting the information.
鈥淚 worry when the idea precedes the privacy plans,鈥� Mr. Cate said. 鈥淭he legislation says they will use state-of-the-art security, but we鈥檝e seen state-of-the-art security compromised again and again.鈥�
The INK database will link information from the state鈥檚 department of education, Commission for Higher Education, and department of workforce development. Officials also will try to persuade employers to share job and salary histories.
State officials say care will be taken to remove student names and other identifying information. INK will develop a security plan and procedures to protect the data in case of a breach.
鈥淭here is nothing that doesn鈥檛 meet the code, standard, the law, and the expectation of privacy,鈥� said Teresa Lubbers, Indiana鈥檚 higher education commissioner. The information collected will not include personally identifiable information like names or Social Security numbers. The initiative requires that data collection and use comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, a federal law meant to establish protections in that area.
Transparency Needed
The bill鈥檚 author, state Rep. Steve Braun, a Republican, said the legislation builds on Indiana鈥檚 previous work collecting data about the state鈥檚 labor market and its students.
With that data, 鈥渨e can align workforce training and education around what jobs will be available in five and 10 years,鈥� Mr. Braun said. 鈥淲e can go back and work with K-12 and higher education groups to develop the curriculum that reflects those skills.鈥�
Mr. Braun said INK will not collect any new types of student data鈥攊t will rely on information already being taken in by the state.
Mr. Braun said he is not surprised by the concerns around student data, because 鈥渢hose privacy issues are incredibly important.鈥� But in this case, he said, they arise from a misunderstanding of what INK will do.
That explanation hasn鈥檛 swayed Erin Tuttle, a co-founder of the advocacy group Hoosiers Against Common Core.
鈥淭he fear that people have is that [data] will be shared and sold,鈥� Ms. Tuttle said. 鈥淎 lot of people don鈥檛 want their data out there because of all the violations and all the ways that it can be manipulated. Those things get hacked all the time.鈥�
Such issues will likely continue to resurface as more states collect a lot of student information and put it to use, said Ms. Yochum of the Data Quality Campaign. As such work moves forward, Ms. Yochum said, states must make efforts to calm fears.
鈥淚t just shows us we need to be out there communicating,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here needs to be as much transparency in this process as possible.鈥�
