Media Roundup 03/22/2014-03/28/2014
National
“With the shift to computerized testing, tablets in the
classroom and digitized personal records, schools are collecting more data than
ever on how children are doing. Now, some educators believe, it's time to put
that data to use.” (The Wall Street Journal)
“At the Data Quality Campaign (DQC), we've been talking for
years about the great power data have to paint a full picture of a student's
learning. But when most people encounter the term education data, they still
hear just one thing: test scores.” (Huffington Post)
Last August, the state board of education approved new
regulations linking the Tennessee "value added" system, or TVASS, to
the license-renewal process. The rules, which were to have taken effect in 2015,
required teachers with individual estimates generated by TVASS to meet a
certain performance threshold in order to maintain a license. (Education Week)
“Google admitted in a sworn statement that it scans millions
of students' email messages to compile keywords for advertisements, despite not
displaying any visual ads on its app. The company has also come under fire for
allegedly using information from the scans to build "surreptitious"
profiles of users that could be used for such purposes as targeted
advertising.” (Jezebel)
Local News
“As an instructional coach it's Sharon's job to help
teachers become better educators. "Helping teachers look at data, helping
teachers with student achievement. That's my job, how can we best serve students
in the amount of time we have," said Boring.” (ABC9 Korg.com, IA)
“As schools move forward in the ever-increasing digital age,
school districts are being urged to be cautious with private student data and
how it’s stored.”(eMissourian.com, MO)
“The Kansas House will debate legislation today that
restricts the identifiable information collected on public school students.”
(KMUW Wichita Public Radio, KS)
“On its second try, the House Education Committee approved
compromise language Wednesday to restrict the sharing of student data while
still allowing information to be used to satisfy certain state and federal
reporting requirements.” (LA Politics, news blog, LA)
“A compromise proposal to limit how the state handles public
school student data has received the backing of the House Education Committee.”
(New Orleans City Business, LA)
“Data from all the schools involved in the field test across
the country will then go to the contractor that is working with SBAC who will
analyze data, looking for bias and functionality problems. […] Lindsey says
that not all parents have been backing the state in what might be called an
educational fact-finding mission.” (Big Horn Radio Network, WY)
“A proposal seeking to prevent school systems from
collecting students' biometric data won the support of the Florida Senate
Wednesday.” (The Miami Herald, FL, also The Buzz, FL)
“The Senate bill passed in the wake of complaints about the
Common Core standards, which have been the focus of conspiracy theories and
other wild claims in recent weeks.” (CBS Miami, AP, FL)
“The Kansas House is preparing to debate legislation
restricting the identifiable information collected on public school students.”
(KMBC.com, KS)
“Restrictions on access to data on Kansas public
school students would increase under a bill clearing the House on Wednesday, a
move described by legislators as a means toward increased privacy.” (Kansas
City Business, KS)
“A panel formed by Cuomo to examine Common Core
implementation and other related issues recommended ditching inBloom
specifically but largely embraced using data for educational purposes. The
Assembly voted for a temporary moratorium on the state's work with inBloom as
well as a provision that would allow parents to opt out their children from
data collection.” (Capital New York, NY)
“"Common Core thrives on data, the beast is fed by
data, so we have to cut off the food supply," said Mary Calamia, a LI
United Against Common Core.” (Local ABC, NY)
“The personal data of approximately 15,000 University of
Wisconsin-Parkside students may have been exposed, due to a hacker attack on
the school’s server.” (Journal Times, WI)
“The University of Wisconsin-Parkside says the personal data
of thousands of students may have been exposed due to a hacker attack on the
school's server.” (ABC9, WI)
“Members of the North Country Alliance for Public Education
want parents to refuse to allow their children to take the upcoming Common Core
tests in New York State.” (Northeast Public Radio, NY)
“The Cornell University College Republicans and the Cornell
Democrats have come together to oppose New York State’s adoption and funding of
inBloom, a non-profit that seeks to consolidate student information into a
single database. “ (The Cornell Sun, NY)
“Is there a breach in student privacy? Some parents are
saying schools and the state don't have the right to give away student's
information.” (KPLCTV, LA)
“The student data protection bill approved Wednesday by a
House committee isn’t as strong as he wanted, says Rep. John Schroder, but it’s
a good start.” (The Advertiser, LA)
“The brainchild of the Gates Foundation and Rupert Murdoch’s
NewsCorp, the idea was for multiple states to share each of their students’
personal information in a database, which would be used by the companies
administering Common Core’s new on-line standardized tests. It could also be
sold to private vendors of educational materials.” (89.9 WWNO University of New
Orleans, LA)
“Professor Beatham adds that the “stealth” aspect of the
Common Core is most frightening. “This data will then be uploaded and be
a permanent record. All that information, including infractions of any
sort and character scores, will be uploaded and made part of the permanent
record. And then sold off to third party vendors.”” (WAMC Northeast Public
Radio, NY)
But the bill stalled in committee as lawmakers tried to
reach a compromise with state agencies who say they need some access to data to
process financial aid requests and receive billions of dollars in federal
education assistance. (Ind Media, LA)
“In fact, many of the people implicated as key players in
the Columbus City Schools’ student-data scandal have criminal-defense attorneys
and are meeting with prosecutors. No charges have been filed; no plea deals
have been made. State and federal prosecutors can’t say whether they plan to
file charges or how long their investigations could take.” (The Columbus
Dispatch, OH)
"InBloom, Inc., a controversial nonprofit data company,
spent more than $50,000 on lobbying the first two months of 2014 as Governor
Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers consider whether to stall or end the state's
relationship with it." (Capital New York, Pro Subscription required, NY.)
News Blogs, Letters to the Editor, Opinion
“In Tennessee Voices last week, J.E. Stone suggested that
the State Board of Education made a mistake by rescinding its previous decision
to link teacher licensure to Tennessee Value Added Assessment Scores (TVAAS). I
disagree with Mr. Stone's perspective and offer evidence to suggest that TVAAS
data are unacceptable as an evaluation tool for teachers.” (The Tennessean,
opinion, TN)
“The people behind Common Core seem to have created a new
version of musical chairs, because they are continually swapping jobs between
various Common Core-related organizations and giving different versions of who
did what.” (Enquirer Herald, Opinion, SC)
Individual & Group Non-news Blogs
“Schools and districts have an important role in protecting
student privacy. The Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) released new
guidance to help educators and administrators evaluate policies and procedures
for disclosure of student data.” (Kentucky Teacher, KY)
“A lot of it is not academic, it’s personal information,”
Eppolito said. “Nevada has decided to have a third party store this data, and I
can’t opt out from the state collecting all this data on my child and I don’t
want them to have it. In many states, you’re allowed to opt out. In Nevada,
we’re not allowed to opt out.” (Reno Rebirth, blog, NV)
Even education insiders are beginning to acknowledge that
the data mining the federal government is now engaged in under Common Core
produces little in the way of education achievement. “The evidence that the
collection of data has led to improvements in education, we really don’t have
it,” Philip Piely, author of Assessing the Educational Data Movement, said
recently at an Educational Policy Forum. (Accuracy in Academia, blog)
“Knewton, the company whose rep is in the above video is
partnered with Microsoft and Pearson, is collecting data right down to what it
calls the atomic level… Test by test, question by question…” (Kavips, blog, DE)
Anti-common core and anti-inBloom documentary video. (NYC
Public School Parents, blog, NY)
“You can actually tackle these problems, or you can employ
the dark art of data manipulation. In 2012, a news story exploded onto the
national stage that was very instructive in how to magically lower school crime
statistics – yet nearly every major news outlet missed it.” (The Conservative
Tree House, personal blog)
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