It's Data Privacy Day: Help us stop the College Board from selling our kids' data!
January 28th is Data Privacy Day, an international annual day of awareness to promote protection of our personal data.
Illinois has a state law to protect student data privacy, the Student Online Personal Protection Act---a law that will be even stronger when the amendments we worked to pass last year go into effect.
But, even as it stands now, vendors cannot legally sell, rent or lease student data they collect in Illinois' schools.
Read moreJanuary's News You Can Use: the Right to Play; College Board lawsuit
In this issue:
- Our newest campaign: the Right to Play Every Day!
- Keep pressure on the College Board to stop illegal data sales
- Graduated income tax on the ballot in November
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Read moreStatement for ISBE FY2021 budget hearings on assessment expenditures
The Illinois State Board of Education held four meetings this fall around the state to gather input on its budget for fiscal year 2021. You can see the budget for FY2020 as enacted here. Below you can read the testimony we submitted about our concerns about the funds to be appropriated for assessments to two test vendors, Pearson and the College Board.
November - News You Can Use: College Board, Cullerton retiring; & more
In this issue:
- College Board’s data sales — Ask your legislators for a subject matter hearing;
- FTC looking at changing privacy rules for schools — Submit comments;
- President Cullerton retiring — One of the biggest obstacles in the ongoing fight for an elected board for Chicago is stepping down in January;
- Quick links — What’s in the new contract for Chicago teachers; ISBE budget hearing & board meeting; delay on effective date for new law on IEP paperwork.
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Read moreISBE releases new parent consent form for College Board's data grab
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) recently posted a new parental consent form for the Student Search Service survey. This is an optional questionnaire that's administered along with SAT, PSAT and Advanced Placement exams sold by the College Board.
The new consent form is inadequate in several ways, and we sent State Superintendent Carmen Ayala a letter asking ISBE to address our concerns.
Read moreChicagoans, cure those Ninth-Day-of-the-Strike-Unelected-School-Board Blues
It’s nine school days into a Chicago teacher and staff strike, the second day of fall veto session in Springfield, and a great time to call your state senator and ask why Chicago families are still waiting for an elected, representative school board. (Find your state senator’s phone number here!)
Read moreAction alert HB256: Pearson can't be trusted with sensitive student data!
Update 1.29.2020:
HB256 would stop the IL State Board of Ed (ISBE) from requiring student teachers to videotape themselves and their students in order to get a teaching certificate in Illinois.
HB256 passed in the IL House last spring, but now it needs to be heard in committee in the Senate.
Read moreOctober news you can use: Veto session; testing & privacy; #RedforEd in IL
In this issue:
- Veto session — Call your legislators about HB256 & SB453;
- Standardized tests and student data privacy — College Board’s data sales and Pearson’s massive breach;
- #RedforEd — Teachers’ fight for resources around the state
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Read morePress release: IL Legislators to AG: Investigate College Board's Sale of Student Data
Ahead of next week’s administration of the PSAT exam in schools around the state, nine Illinois state legislators are asking Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to investigate the business practices of a major state vendor, the College Board, the standardized test maker that sells the SAT, PSAT and Advanced Placement exams.
Read moreCPS confirms Chicago affected by Pearson AIMSweb breach
On Wednesday September 25th, Chicago Public Schools Chief Information Officer Phil DiBartolo confirmed that Illinois' largest school district, Chicago Public Schools, was also part of the Pearson AIMSweb data breach that Pearson first announced in July.
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