Tag Archive for No Child Left Behind Act

| February 14, 2013
Comments Off on School Kids’ Data at Risk

School Kids’ Data at Risk

School Kids' Data at RiskGerry Smith writes about the growing amount of school kids’ data being stolen across the country. In the Huffington Post article, “In Push For Data, Schools Expose Students To Identity Theft” the author explains why.  Data thieves want this information to commit identity theft. The author cites several recent cases:

Child identity theftThe article says these incidents highlight the growing risk of school kids’ vulnerability to identity theft. Across the country, schools have become conduits for children’s pristine Social Security numbers. The students’ numbers are increasingly falling into the hands of credit-hungry identity thieves. The frequent data breaches have prompted calls for schools to stop collecting sensitive student data. The breaches have angered parents like Art Staehling, whose 14-year-old daughter was among 18,000 Nashville students who had their Social Security numbers accidentally exposed online for three months in 2009.

They left the gate wide open for data theft

“They left the gate wide open,” Mr. Staehling told The Huffington Post. “It’s clumsiness. There’s no excuse for it. If schools want that information, there should be some sort of penalty paid if they don’t guard it with their lives. I haven’t found a reason why they honestly need it.”

Schools collect students' Social Security numbersSchools collect students’ Social Security numbers as part of a campaign to more precisely track their progress. But privacy experts told Huff Post there are less risky ways to identify students. The privacy experts accuse schools of needlessly exposing children to identity theft by gathering their Social Security numbers. Mn then not securing them.

The push for collecting student data began under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Financial incentives in the 2009 stimulus package, including Race to the Top‘s $250 million in competitive grants drove schools to collect student social security numbers, according to Reidenberg.

No Child Left Behind Act drove schools to collect student social security numbersThe U.S. Department of Education has warned schools not to use students’ Social Security numbers in their databases. The Huff Post says the Feds urge schools to create other unique identifiers. The National Center for Education Statistics warned schools last fall that. They told educators that Social Security numbers are “the single most misused piece of information by criminals perpetrating identity thefts.”

School abuses student’s Social Security numbers

Despite the warnings, the collection and use of student’s Social Security numbers in K-12 schools remain “widespread.” An audit last year by Patrick O’Carroll, the Social Security Administration‘s inspector general. The IG found students’ Social Security numbers printed on transcripts, tests, and athletic education forms. According to the article, the audit concluded that schools were using the numbers “as a matter of convenience.” Mr. O’Carroll found there have been at least 40 data breaches of confidential student information at K-12 schools since 2005.

In his report, O’Carroll wrote.”We believe the unnecessary collection and use of Social Security numbers is a significant vulnerability for this young population. Each time a student provides his or her Social Security number, the potential for a dishonest individual to unlawfully gain access to, and misuse, the number increases.”

Read Part 2 here.

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Consumers Unions points out that Michigan law restricts how Social Security numbers can be used. In Michigan, SSNs cannot be printed on ID cards, intentionally communicated to the public, and/or publicly displayed or mailed within an envelope.

Related articles
  • Young children can be identity-theft targets (goerie.com)

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| April 24, 2012
Comments Off on States Collect More School Kid Data Than Needed

States Collect More School Kid Data Than Needed

States Collect More School Kid Data Than NeededStates often collect far more information about school students than necessary and fail to take adequate steps to protect their privacy, a national study by Fordham University concludes. The Washington Post reports that dossiers go far beyond test scores, including Social Security numbers, poverty data, health information, and disciplinary incidents.

PrivacyThe study from the Fordham University Center on Law and Information Policy casts light on data systems created at the urging of the federal government to track student progress. One finding: States often fail to spell out protocols for purging records after students graduate.

“Ten, 15 years later, these kids are adults, and information from their elementary, middle, and high school years will easily be exposed by hackers and others who put it to misuse,” said Fordham law professor Joel R. Reidenberg, who oversaw the study. States, he told the Washington Post, “are trampling the privacy interests of those students.”

No Child Left BehindThe movement toward statewide databases with unique student identifiers, rooted in the standards-and-testing movement of the 1990s, has grown significantly in this decade under the federal No Child Left Behind law and is getting a fresh push this school year from the Obama administration. The article says federal officials want to link student test scores to teacher files to help evaluate instruction. They also envision systems that track students from pre-kindergarten through college, to help raise college completion rates.

Nearly all states, have built or are planning virtual education “data warehouses,” aided by federal funding. Advocates say the warehouses have strong privacy protections, but they acknowledge potential shortcomings according to the author.

Data mining“Is there data collected that’s not necessary anymore?” asked Aimee Guidera, executive director of the Data Quality Campaign, based in the District, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. “Probably.” She cited Kansas and Tennessee schools as leaders in establishing rules for data control.

But a larger concern, Guidera said, is that states often lack “a strategic, thoughtful way of connecting information and using it to answer questions.”

The Fordham study canvassed public information on state data systems and compliance with federal privacy law writes the Washington Post. Among the findings, at least 23 states note reasons for withdrawal from schools such as jail, illness, or mental health issues. At least 22 count student absences. At least 29 track whether students are homeless.

Data theftThe study also found that at least 16 states use or allow the use of Social Security numbers to identify school students and at least 10 note whether a student is a single parent. Another finding: Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, and North Carolina track the date of a student’s last medical exam.

The Washington Post says Fordham recommended that states tighten protocols to keep data anonymous, with special provisions for those in local schools who need to know more; that they articulate reasons for collecting data and jettison what is unjustified; and that they appoint officers to oversee compliance with state and federal privacy laws.

Charles Pyle, a Virginia Department of Education spokesman, said data are protected through policies and programming that prevent unauthorized access. The data help the states comply with NCLB, he said, and help pinpoint student needs. “You need a statewide system to keep track of the kids,” Grover Whitehurst of the Brookings Institution, told the paper. He oversaw education research for President George W. Bush’s administration and claims, “Otherwise, they fall off the screen.”

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The lackadaisical attitude toward data security and privacy I see in K-12 amazes me. This article tells me it’s a national problem. – Why don’t I feel any better about that?

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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