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School Data Committee Selects Options for Further Discussion
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 17, 2016
From The Wheeler Report . . .
At the conclusion of today’s committee Chairman Thiesfeldt asked committee members to start compiling ideas for Legislative Council to have available for the September 14 meeting. Committee members asked for options on:
Student Privacy Officer’ written into statutes, hired and supervised by the Department of Public Instruction. There was discussion about looking at the Georgia legislation with regards to this suggestion.
- More information and definition regarding an ‘Inventory of data’ from DPI.
- The committee had discussion about online service providers and what the committee members could ask for within the scope of the committee.
- Appropriate time periods for retention of data and what should be retained for longitudinal studies.
- Destruction of data.
- Student, parent and public notification on data breeches.
The study committee heard from the DOA Chief Information Officer, David Cagigal. Cagigal told members that Wisconsin has an advantage over other states because they have a centralized data information center, meaning it is easier to protect against intrusions and hacks from outside sources. Cagigal said that in March the state received 146 million emails and 95% of them were bad (non-business related). Cagigal said that number is high, and that the average monthly emails are usually closer to 70-90 million emails.
DPI testified on specifically what information the agency (and schools) collects, and what information the agency (and schools) don’t collect on students.
A presentation by Brennan McMahon Parton of Data Quality Campaign. Parton told committee members that Wisconsin is not unique in studying student data. In 2013, one state had a bill related to student data privacy. In 2014, there were 110 bills related to student data privacy in 36 states. In 2015, there were 188 bills related to student data privacy in 47 states. In 2016, there were an additional 113 bills related to student data privacy in 34 different states. The presentation made the following recommendations for building a state data privacy and security policy:
- Statement of the policy or law’s purposes.
- Selection of a state leader and advisory board.
- Establishment of public data inventory and description of data elements.
- Strategies for transparency about data use, storage, retention, destruction, and protection.
- Statewide policies governing personally identifiable information.
- Statewide data security plan.
Caitriona Fitzgerald, a policy coordinator from the Electronic Policy Information Center (EPIC) provided information about the risks to students when data is collected. She completed her presentation with recommendations on how Wisconsin could adopt a Student Privacy Bill of Rights:
- Access and Amendment: Students have the right to access and amend their erroneous, misleading, or otherwise inappropriate records, regardless of who collects or maintains the information.
- Focused Collection: Students have the right to reasonably limit student data that companies and schools collect and retain.
- Respect for Context: Students have the right to expect that companies and schools will collect, use, and disclose student information solely in ways that are compatible with the context in which students provide data.
- Security: Students have the right to secure and responsible data practices.
- Transparency: Students have the right to clear and accessible information privacy and security practices.
- Accountability: Students should have the right to hold schools and private companies handling student data for adhering to the Student Privacy Bill of Rights.
Documents and Presentations from today’s meeting:
- Presentation: Caitriona Fitzgerald, State Policy Coordinator, Electronic Policy Information Center (EPIC).
- Presentation: Brennan McMahon Parton, Associate Director, State Policy and Advocacy, Data Quality Campaign. Make data work for students.
- NCSL: Letter on examples of “student data inventories” published and make publicly available in other states.
- DPI: What student data is collected in Wisconsin? Fact sheet. Handout.
Next Meeting on Wednesday, September 14. Rep. Thiesfeldt said the committee will probably not meet in October.
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