Student Data Privacy Mostly Missing in ESEA Reauthorization
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—from accountability to standards to school turnarounds—that made it in to the legislative language officially released Monday. So far, reaction has been mostly positive.
But what about one of the key issues that mostly didn't 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's 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't represent any big shifts in policy, but do signal Congress' 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, "Data: Sharing + Privacy."
A number of bills to overhaul the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 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.
"At some point, it was decided strategically that ESEA couldn't be any more complicated," said Amelia Vance, the director education data and technology for the National Association of State Boards of Education.
"But 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 Student Data Privacy Mostly Missing in ESEA Reauthorization - Digital Education - Education Week: