KNOW YOUR PRIVACY LAWS: Nearly 80 percent of parents use school-related technology to track their student’s progress, compared with 58 percent of parents who reported to do so in 2015, according to research by the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF). Many guardians, however, still feel in the dark about the laws and practices intended to protect children’s information when collected or used in the classroom. The survey, Beyond One Classroom: Parental Support for Technology and Data Use in Schools, found that only 21 percent of parents claim to know about federal laws that limit a public school’s ability to use a child’s information, while 55 percent admit they do not know about restrictive data laws at all. More concerningly, fewer parents—44 percent this year, down from 57 percent in 2015—are confident new laws can effectively safeguard student privacy.
Despite that, technology use in schools is rampant and growing. According to the study about 90 percent of kids today use technology either provided or recommended by their school, up from 70 percent last year. Several other findings—like how parents are more comfortable with student data collection if is used closely in the classroom or for individual student benefit—parallel a similar study FPF released last year.
