In the last quarter century or more student evaluations have been used as a form of punishment. Instead of the traditional assessments that invite reflection and a path towards progress, mostly, newer high-stakes examinations determine a student’s fate. Frequently, a young person struggling to learn a newer concept is labeled a failure before he or she has a chance to internalize novel information. The classification opens the doors for greater exposure. A “diagnosis” can mark a child for life. Nevertheless, Legislators and adults who have forgotten the trials and tribulations that come when learning, laud the practice. Perhaps practical realities such as facts and figures shade their truth. Maybe these older and wiser individuals do not realize the harm the release of private data cause.
For parents and their children, initially education and esteem were prominent considerations. However, today, there is another issue on the horizon. Privacy! Student data is being shared publicly and a little ones can be scarred for life. What exists in “your permanent record” follows you forever. Poor performance on a test cannot define you; yet, once shared with the world, it does. First impressions linger and sadly few fade. Imagine what people might think of you if your history were ever revealed. Then consider what is happening to our children without parental consent or knowledge. Their records are being released publicly and widely! By whom you may ask, inBloom.
What is inBloom? Cogitate over inBloom practices. Read their mission…“Our Mission… inform and involve each student and teacher with data and tools designed to personalize learning.” Consider their services “inBloom enables a wide range of applications to use student data more effectively and efficiently, with the ultimate goal of unleashing innovation in the marketplace. Then ask yourself are our children a commodity meant only to expand the marketplace or are the little learners much more?”
EmpathyEducates wishes to thank Schools Belong to the Children for compiling and sharing the information. What is inBloom? Highlights of national opposition to inBloom and an illustration of what can be done in your state to restore ethics in education.
Nine “pilot” states agreed to share confidential student and teacher data with a Gates-funded corporation called inBloom Inc.
- The states currently listed on the inBloom website include Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. Some states (NY and LA) are planning to share the entire state’s data; others are sharing the data from only selected districts at this point.
- According to inBloom, more states and districts will join this project soon.
- The confidential data being collected and shared include personally identifiable information, including student names, addresses, emails, photos, grades, test scores, detailed disciplinary, health and attendance records, race and ethnicity, and economic & disability status.
- The operating system for inBloom Inc. is being built by Wireless Generation, a subsidiary of News Corporation. News Corp is owned by Rupert Murdoch and has been found to illegally violate the privacy of individuals in Great Britain and in the United States.
- The data is being stored on a data cloud managed by Amazon.com; in a recent survey, a recent survey, 86% of technology professionals said they did not trust clouds to hold their “more sensitive” data.
- inBloom Inc. has already stated that it “cannot guarantee the security of the information stored … or that the information will not be intercepted when it is being transmitted” to others.
- inBloom plans to make this information available to for-profit vendors to help them develop and market their “learning products” and in 2015 or earlier, to charge all participating states and districts with a per student fee.
1. According to reports, the “piloting” state of Louisiana has withdrawn student data from inBloom’s data store. The states of Georgia, Kentucky and Delaware will not share student data with inBloom as originally planned.
2. Sources close to the inBloom project are reporting that a pilot district in Illinois has decided not to participate; the state of Massachusetts is also reportedly reconsidering their involvement.
3. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is helping parents in inBloom pilot states urge education officials to end their relationship with inBloom.
4. State Assembly-members in New York have proposed privacy bills that would stop inBloom from collecting sensitive student data without parental consent.
5. The teachers union in NY is publicly supporting the bills described in item 4 above. They are also asking members to attend a rally to oppose the sharing of students “personal information, including their state assessment results and their IEPs and other personal data…” without parental consent.
6. The MA PTA and ACLU has publicly opposed inBloom.
7. The NY Civil Liberties Union has criticized this project’s violation of student privacy.
8. The Electronic Privacy Information Center has filed suit against the U.S. Dept. of Education for allegedly operating outside its legal authority to relax FERPA regulations which allows inBloom to collect and share confidential student data without parental consent.
9. Passionate and informed parents and community members speak out against inBloom in NY…as do the people of Colorado.
The photo above is a screen shot from inBloom’s promotional video showing the database’s capability of character profiling our children.
Did you know that Jefferson County Public Schools will share confidential and personal student records with a corporation and store them on a data “cloud” without parental consent? Did you know that this corporation, called inBloom, Inc., will help school districts share the information with vendors to help them develop and market their “learning products?”
The data will include children’s name, address, email, test scores, racial, economic and special education status, and may include detailed disciplinary and health records as well. See here for a sample of data they can collect.
Colorado (Jefferson County) is one of nine “pilot” states that originally agreed to partner with inBloom Inc. According to a May 29, 2013 Reuters report, only three of the nine are still active participants: New York, Illinois and Colorado. Other states have backed away because of privacy concerns.
Jefferson County Public Schools refuses to consider parental concerns and is scheduled to share student data with inBloom starting in early 2014. The Colorado Department of Education Commissioner Robert Hammond has signaled that other districts in Colorado will follow Jeffco’s lead. He stated publicly their plan is to bring inBloom to Colorado “district by district.” Your district – your children – could be next.
The national organization called Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has stepped in to help Colorado parents stop this egregious effort to collect our children’s confidential student data, store it on a “cloud” in a centralized schema, and allow districts to share it with third-party corporations without parental consent.
Please visit their action page to send a letter to Colorado Department of Education officials urging them to end their relationship with inBloom. Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood Colorado Action Page
And read on to learn how parents and Colorado State Board of Education members are sharing their concerns about inBloom.
Student privacy concerns spark debate in Jefferson County
The Denver Post, May 16, 2013
Colorado school board worries IT program state picked risks Jefferson County student privacy
The Columbine Courier, May 28, 2013
School district’s ‘cloud’ storage plan criticized: Parents concerned data would be vulnerable to hackers
Ed News Colorado, May 16, 2013
Data fears aired before State Board
Columbine Courier, May 24, 2013
Parents assail schools’ plan to store student data
Colorado State Board of Education Board Meeting Audio (May 16, 2013 inBloom public study session)
2013-05-16 Board Meeting – Pt. 1
2013-05-16 Board Meeting – Pt. 2
At the Chalk Face education reform talk show with Shaun Johnson and Time Sleker, May 12, 2013
inBloom, Jeffco and student privacy discussed on blog radio.
The Network for Public Education news brief, May 18, 2013
inBloom might be withering in Jefferson County Colorado – Susan Ohanian Speaks Out
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