The day some Seattle teachers said ‘no’ to standardized tests
It all started with one teacher who got fed up. Teachers at Garfield High School in Seattle recently banded together to boycott mandated standardized district tests called the Measures of Academic Progress because, they say, the exams are bad measures … Continue reading →
Lawsuit charges Ed Department with violating student privacy rights
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The U.S. Education Department is being sued by a nonprofit organization for promoting regulations that are alleged to undercut student privacy and parental consent. The rules allow third parties, including private companies and foundations promoting school reform, to get access to private student information.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center has been fighting for the department over 2011 regulations involving the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, also known as FERPA, a law that is supposed to protect the privacy of student education records at all schools that receive federal education funds. FERPA was passed to give parents specific rights in regard to their children’s education records, rights which transfer to the student he/she becomes 18 or goes to a school beyond the high school level.
But in 2011, regulations issued by the department changed FERPA to allow the release to third parties of student information for non-academic purposes. The rules also broaden the exceptions under which schools can release student records to non-governmental
The problem with high-tech ‘personalized’ learning tools
SWSXedu was a big hit in Texas last week, where technology companies (such as Rupert Murdoch’s Amplify Education) hawked their new education gadgets that they promised would help kids learning by providing “individualized” instruction. Really? Here’s a skeptical view on … Continue reading →