Part I: ADE Agrees To Share Students’ Personally Identifiable Information

“The human race is about to enter a totally data mined existence and it’s going to be really fun to watch.” ~ Jose Ferreira, CEO of Knewton

For Arizona’s conscientious educators, the idea of violating a child’s privacy rights protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (“FERPA”) has prevented them sharing virtually any information about their students. Those same concerns were obviously not shared by the staff and leadership of the Arizona Department of Education, which for years has entered into agreements with a wide variety of individuals and entities to deliver Personally Identifiable Information on demand.

While, the constraints of law and ethics have caused teachers to guard students’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII), as if their livelihood depended on it, the educrats in ADE have been entering into PII sharing agreements with everyone from grad students at the University of Chicago to the opinion makers at the Morrison Institute.

Few teachers would willingly share PII with anyone other than team teachers, site administrators and parents. As a matter of fact, concerns for – and lack of understanding about – “confidentiality requirements have even prevented schools and behavioral health providers from openly collaborating when personnel fear they may be revealing protected health information without proper consent,” according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Arizona parents, who were concerned about their children’s privacy, relied on that. They operated under the assumption that only those who must know, did know.

It was their protective nature and the pending administration of the data gathering Common Core-based AZMerit testing that sparked outrage and served as the impetus for a bill put forth by Arizona State Rep. Mark Finchem this year, HB2190, to prevent the sharing of PII.

That legislation was killed by a handful of Republicans and all Democrats, who know the value of PII to industry and opinion makers and recognize no value in anyone’s personal privacy but their own.

It is unknown yet, how much data was given in response to the Memorandums of Understanding, however what is known is that it is lack of regard that allowed the Arizona Department of Education to enter into those MOUs to share PII with the following:

Public Consulting Group, Inc
Agreement Date: 3-25-2013
The Department intends to pilot the use of EdPlan for purposes of audit and evaluation of student and teacher performance. This MOU will set out the terms and conditions under which PCG may have access to the Personally Identifiable Information necessary for the use of EdPlan. PCG may have access to such information only for use as described in this Memorandum and only under the terms and conditions described in this Memorandum.
ADE parties:
Stacey Morley, Director Government Relations and Policy Development
Read agreement here.

Arizona State University’s School of Social Transformation
Agreement Date: December 19, 2013
The purpose of this agreement is for ADE to designate ASU as its authorized representative, as that term is defined by FERPA, so that ASU may have access to Personally Identifiable Information about students on the terms, and for the purposes, stated herein. In furtherance of those purposes, ADE has provided and will continue to provide ASU with the data requested on Attachment A (Data request submitted by Dr. Scott) by means of a secure file transfer. ADE may provide additional data elements upon the written request of ASU, subject to the same terms and conditions as stated in this Agreement, and for the purposes stated in this Agreement.
ADE parties:
Carrie O’Brien, Director of Legal Services
Stacey Morley, Director Government Relations and Policy Development
Read agreement here.

Eric Hedberg on Behalf of NORC
Agreement date: May 1, 2014
As one of the oldest not-for-profit, academic research organizations in the United States, and through its affiliation with the University of Chicago, NORC serves the public interest and improves lives through objective social science research that supports informed decision making. NORC Senior Research Scientist Eric Hedberg has requested specific data regarding students, as described herein. Mr. Hedberg acknowledges that it has requested Personally Identifiable Information and will be responsible for complying with the terms of this Agreement and FERPA.

The purpose of this agreement is for ADE to authorize NORC to have access to Personally Identifiable Information about students on the terms, and for the purposes, stated herein. NORC will protect such data by the means described herein, and will destroy or return such data on the terms described herein. In furtherance of those purposes, ADE has provided and will continue to provide NORC with the data requested on the Request Summary (Attached as Appendix A) by means of a secure file transfer. ADE may provide additional data elements upon the written request of NORC, subject to the same terms and conditions as stated in this Agreement, and for the purposes stated in this Agreement.

The parties to this Agreement acknowledge that if ADE has provided NORC with certain student data in the past, including PII, then NORC will protect such data by the means described in previous agreements, and will destroy or return such data according to the terms of the previous agreements.
ADE parties:
Carrie O’Brien, Director of Legal Services
Eric Hedberg, NORC Senior Research Analyst
Read agreement here.

Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice
Agreement Date: January 15, 2013
Specifically, this project will examine whether parents are using ESA funds as they would with a traditional school voucher to attend a private school of choice, or if they are using ESAs to customize their child’s education, divvying up the money to pay for different education-related options and services
ADE parties:
Carrie O’Brien, Director of Legal Services
Stacey Morley, Director Government Relations and Policy Development
Read agreement here.

Mathematica Policy Research, Inc
Agreement Date: 3-14-2013
Mathematica will use the information provided by ADE as specified in this Agreement solely for the purpose of analyzing SNAP and TANF data used to directly certify children for free school lunches in the NSLP program for the USDA Food and Nutrition Service. The analysis will consist of evaluating students who have been matched through direct certification, and those who have been left unmatched, utilizing the key information (data elements used in match process) obtained from SNAP and TANF program data.

This Agreement is effective as of the date signed below and shall terminate when Mathematica submits a Certification of Destruction to ADE, as set forth in the Data Disposition provision below, unless otherwise agreed-to in a writing signed by both Parties.
ADE parties:
Carrie O’Brien, Director of Legal Services
Ed Jung, ADE Data Officer
Read agreement here.

Sheffield Hallam University
Agreement Date: 3-26-2013
Drew Alexander is a graduate student at Sheffield Hallam University and candidate
for a Masters Information Systems degree in the Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences Department. He is conducting research related to the use of assistive technology & computer aided instructional in rural Arizona schools for students in grades K-5 who are suffering from autism spectrum disorder for his dissertation.
ADE parties:
Carrie O’Brien, Director of Legal Services
Stacey Morley, Director Government Relations and Policy Development
Drew Alexander
Address: 1718 Timberlane Prescott, AZ 86305
Read agreement here.

In the article, Opponents to “totally data mined existence” face stiff opposition, a video by the Office of Educational Technology at the US Department of Education, in which Ferreira explains at the Office’s Education Datapalooza event, how much data they harvest from our children is discussed. In the video, Ferreira states that the “human race is about to enter a totally data mined existence and it’s going to be really fun to watch.”

Others watch in horror as the ADE enters into agreements to hand over data, for which Arizona taxpayers foot the bill, is given so blithely to all comers.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, “The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (“FERPA”), § 513 of P.L. 93-380 (The Education Amendments of 1974), was signed into law by President Ford on August 21, 1974, with an effective date of November 19, 1974, 90 days after enactment. FERPA was enacted as a new § 438 of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) called “Protection of the Rights and Privacy of Parents and Students,” and codified at 20 U.S.C. § 1232g.”

Congress has amended FERPA a total of nine times since its enactment, according to the U.S. Department of Education. As education activist Diane Ravitch writes: “In January 2012, the Education Department and the federal Office of Science and Technology Policy created something called the Education Data Initiative. All these terms obscure what is going on: The Department of Education is colluding to release confidential student data to third-party vendors.”

The Electronic Privacy Information Center calls the Education Data Initiative a reflection of “a growing trend with student data: government agencies are taking personal information that students are required to provide, skirting federal regulations, and turning student data over to the private sector with few, if any, safeguards for privacy and security.”

Check back this week as we examine the players and the played.

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