Data breach prevention is a battle, rarely plain and never simple. For higher education institutions, the Sisyphean aspects of the task are more complex than for industry and business. Two-year colleges have payrolls and vendor contracts like those enterprises. They also have public record and student confidentiality requirements. Colleges must…

Privacy and confidentiality are often of great concern to respondents answering sensitive questions posed by interviewers. Using the 1993-2010 General Social Survey, we examined trends in the provision of social security numbers (SSNs) and correlates of those responses. Results indicate that the rate of SSN provision has declined over the past…

In this article, the author states that school librarians can contribute to an atmosphere that supports intellectual freedom by drawing attention to the subtle messages about community values--messages that are communicated by virtue of what is included or excluded from curricular and co-curricular offerings. The author address issues with…

Increasingly, university and college administrators are contracting out their institutions' operational information technology (IT) needs. Specifically, this means moving from an IT system with a server based at the institution with an in house IT support staff to a cloud based system outside the institution where most of the staff resources are…

The evolution of the resident assistant position and its history are important to understanding its increasing complexities. In this article we examine how court cases and federal legislation, along with changes in popular culture, have altered and shaped the role of the resident assistant. Our premise is that this role, originally relatively…

Background/Context: As states and districts have begun adopting texts inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people, debates about how LGBTQ issues should be represented in the curricular canon have emerged. While existing research investigates curricular questions that are arising as a result of LGBTQ curricular…

Introduction: The analysis of detailed interaction records is fundamental to development of user-centred systems. Researchers seeking such data must recruit volunteers willing to allow tracking of their interactions. This study examines privacy and trust attitudes in the intent to volunteer for research requiring installation of tracking software.…

There is a dearth of research that examines legal literacy among pre-service teachers in Canada. Pre-service teachers' legal literacy refers to the knowledge level that teacher candidates in teacher education programs have with respect to educational law and policy and how it affects their preparation for entering the teaching profession. This…

This issue of "Policy and Practice" offers counselors and student affairs professionals strategies to effectively support the mental health needs of today's students. Students require transparent, connected, and flexible systems that meet the full range of mental health needs. To achieve such systems, institutions must have a robust…

Few scholarly publications have addressed in detail the question of student privacy when using social media for classroom educational activities. This study combined qualitative and conceptual methodologies to explore the implications of privacy law on learning activities, using the strict Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) in the…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Using Data for Action and includes: (1) Community and School Use of Data for College Readiness and Postsecondary Success (Karmen…

For most Americans, concerns related to students who identify as transgender are a new reality. The Obama Administration's response to this new reality was an unlawful attempt to force a one-size-fits-all policy on the entire nation rather than allow parents, teachers, and local schools the time, space, and flexibility to find solutions that would…

A recent Heritage Foundation report argues that Title IX does not require schools to protect students from discrimination on the basis of gender identity. It criticizes the Obama Administration for issuing guidance and enforcing Title IX to protect transgender students, and it urges the Trump Administration and courts to keep gender identity…

Homelessness is a devastating circumstance for any child or youth; but for youth on their own, the stresses of homelessness are multiplied. The myriad of challenges faced by youth experiencing homelessness on their own puts these students at risk of dropping out or school failure. Subtitle VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act,…

The study used qualitative case-study methodology and involved six participant superintendents in semi-structured interviews, two from each of western, Atlantic and northern Canada. The findings revealed work lives significantly impacted personal and family life. Regardless of location or size of school district, all described an all-consuming…