T. Philip Nichols and Alexander Monea explore the spread of data-driven surveillance (i.e., dataveillance) technologies in schools, which are increasingly used as a strategy for mitigating safety risks. They argue that the sense of security schools derive from these technologies often comes at the cost of students' actual well-being and privacy.…

An introduction to the big picture conversation on student data privacy and the norms that are coming out of it. The author looks at the current state of federal law, and ahead to proposed legislation at the federal level. The intent is to help educators become familiar with the key issues regarding student data privacy in education so as to…

As technology has leaped forward to provide valuable learning tools, parents and policy makers have begun raising concerns about the privacy of student data that schools and systems have. Federal laws are intended to protect students and their families but they have not and will never be able to keep up with rapidly evolving technology. School…

Data use should be a continuous, integrated part of practice, a tool that is used all the time. Good teachers have been doing data-driven decision making all along, it just has not been recognized by that term. But there is more work to be done to ensure that educators know how to continuously, effectively, and ethically use data; that is, to help…

Using student information in schools is nothing new nor is the reliance on information technologies supported by external service providers. What is new is the adoption of innovations like cloud computing and data analytics that are increasing teacher and family data access, creating actionable information to drive instruction and decision making,…

Having data available is so important because it can improve upon our personal perceptions. Admittedly, statistics can sometimes be skewed to tell whatever story their handlers want them to tell, but by and large, high-quality data allow us to step back from personal perceptions and embark on an analysis with an eye toward identifying the root…