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Thursday, April 3, 2014

Media Roundup 03/22/2014-03/28/2014

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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