CEO of Knewton, shares his vision for use of student data.
Knewton's incredibly telling video explains how they collect up to 10 million data points per student per day, "tagging students down to the atom" and they share it with Pearson, among others. All of this daily data collection, over a number of years, is a predictive road map to your child's brain, his/her personality, family situation, strengths and weaknesses. It's a record of your child, in fact, Colorado Dept. of Education (CDE) calls it a "Golden Record."
Dan Domagala, CIO of the CDE Speaks at Informatica World
CDE creates the Golden Record of your child's data and shares this with other vendors and agencies across the state and the country. Millions of personally identifiable data are stored in the Golden Record are shared with the Dept of Corrections, Dept of Labor, Social Services and Higher Ed and the Federal government. The intent is to track children from pre-k through the workforce.
“We should be able to look every second grader in the eye and say, ‘You’re on track, you’re going to be able to go to a good college, or you’re not.” — U.S. Dept of Education Secretary Arne Duncan
|
Why Data Privacy Bill Is Needed
K-12 Student Database Jazzes Tech Startups, Spooks ParentsBy Stephanie Simon | Reuters
An education technology conference this week in Austin, Texas, will clang with bells and whistles as startups eagerly show off their latest wares. But the most influential new product may be the least flashy: a $100 million database built to chart the academic paths of public school students from kindergarten through high school. - Read More Concern with Data HandlersSafely managing data and data privacy is a serious concern according to the Fordham Institute Study which finds the data is not stored securely and "there are serious deficiencies in privacy protection." In fact, amid privacy concerns, Colorado withdrew from its contract with data handler inBloom. However, CDE has now contracted with RANDA Solutions to manage and store our children's data.
RANDA does the same service as inBloom except RANDA has an additional claim to fame: Classroom video observation software, called TOWER. A few other data gathering companies currently used in Colorado schools are Pearson, Knewton, Emergenetics, Strategic Data Partners, Teaching Stategies Gold, and Common Assignment. These vendors collect psychometric data evaluating student personality and behavior. Pearson, the world’s largest education company, owns mulitple subsidiaries including ADHD diagnostic software. Pearson also holds the contract for the Common Core aligned PARCC test which will be used in all Colorado schools. Who Decides Your Child's Future?ACT, as in college-entrance exams, has developed a career test to look at academic and behavioral skills for kindergartners. ACT anticipates that entire states or groups of states will choose to utilize the kindergarten career test this fall.
Who ulitmately decides if your child is college material or which career path he or she should take? Should it be decided by the government? What part do parents play in all of this if they aren't even allowed to see their children's educational record and data? IT's Time for Parents to Take ActionDemand to see your child's data and find out what CDE, Arne Duncan and vendors are predicting for your child's future. Demand your child's Golden Record. If CDE is worried about breaking laws, they should take a look at COPPA (which forbids the collection and selling of children's personal identifiable information.) They should also be aware that they are contributing to a national data base, which also is prohibited.
|