*Starred titles are groups with troubling or uncertain goals surrounding technology and schools.
ACLU
Works to expand digital privacy and a person’s right to control their personal information. They seek to ensure that civil liberties are enhanced and not compromised by technology and innovation. Here’s one report STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS (STUDENT DATA PRIVACY) MODEL LEGISLATION.
A4L’s Student Data Privacy Consortium
A4L’s Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC) collaborates with schools, districts, divisions, regional, territories, and state agencies, policymakers, trade organizations, and marketplace providers to address solutions for growing data privacy concerns. The Consortium includes work by partner organizations but focuses on issues being faced by “on-the-ground” practitioners.
*Aurora Institute
New name for iNacol. They are about transforming schools to online learning and making students accountable through technology.
Children’s Commissioner
Based in England and led by The Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield OBE. It describes much about how student information is collected and used, and how to decrease a child’s digital footprint.
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (“COPPA”)
Information about protecting children’s online privacy.
Children’s Screen Time Action Network
This Action Network is a coalition of practitioners, educators, and advocates working to promote a healthy childhood by reducing the amount of time kids spend with digital devices.
Do-It
Website through the University of Washington that provides information about assistive living through technology to those with disabilities.
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Defends digital privacy, free speech, and innovation. Here is one report Electronic Frontier Foundation Spying on Students: School-Issued Devices and Student Privacy by Gennie Gebhart, April 13, 2017.
EPIC.org
was established in 1994 to protect freedom of speech and democratic values while protecting privacy. Here is their School Privacy Policy.
A website that reminds us there’s no credible research to show that tech used for instruction works! They provide information to help parents and teachers navigate the world of technology in schools. Parent Toolkit for Student Privacy.
Fairplay: Childhood Before Brands
The Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood campaign began as a way to provide a Screens in School Action Kit to help educators, parents, and the community better understand the threats of the overuse of technology in and out of schools. Here is their Parent Toolkit. This describes how data is collected with easy-to-understand graphics. They include resources and research. Here is another report Technology in Schools: Promise and Perils with questions concerning the effects of technology.
FOIA
FOIA stands for the Freedom of Information Act. It is useful to request information from a school or governmental agencies and to hold the government accountable. Everyone has the right to request and inspect and get copies of government records with some exceptions. Federal agencies must disclose any information requested under the FOIA unless it falls under one of nine exemptions. The exemptions protect interests like personal privacy, national security, and law enforcement.
Gary S. Stager
Education technology consultant who once provided workshops pertaining to software development, online learning, and planning. Archived information.
Hack
Audrey Watter is a technology journalist and a recognized reviewer of the history of technology and its use in schools.
*International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
Corporate policy positions involving the global/digital world.
Missouri Education Watchdog
The website is gone but still some information here. Activist moms who covered information about school reform and technology and how it affects students.
The Parent Coalition for Student Privacy
Founded in July 2014 by Leonie Haimson of New York and Rachael Stickland of Colorado, these two-parent advocates successfully led the battle to stop nine states from disclosing their personal student data to inBloom Inc. They share information about for-profit data-mining vendors and concerns about other groups collecting information about students in schools without parental notification or consent. The Coalition includes parents of almost every co-chaired by Leonie and Cassie Creswell of Illinois Families for Public Schools.
Save Maine Schools
A teacher described the technology takeover of public schools. What is happening in Maine is happening across the country.
Screens and Kids
“Information and advocacy for classroom screen safety in Maryland schools.” The subtitle says it all. Maryland’s largest school district is Montgomery County, and they are watching everything about tech.
Teach, Train, Love
Suggestions and exercises to help develop good student-teacher online relationships.
Technology and Media Division (TAM)
The Council for Exceptional Children works to assist students with disabilities through technology. The topics are relevant to tech use in today’s classrooms.
Videos
Who’s Got My Data: What To Know About Your School’s Software & The Personal Data It Collects.
Describes the kinds of data collected on students, and how to obtain information about school contracts using FOIA. An easy-to-understand explanation about data collection obtained on students and what it means.
Reports
College Prep Software Naviance Is Selling Advertising Access to Millions of Students – The Markup
DEY Defending the Early Years: Young Children in the Digital Age A Parent’s Guide by Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Ed.D.
“Knowledge Universe and Virtual Schools: Educational Breakthrough or Digital Raid on the Public Treasury. by Gerald Bracey. George Mason University. Through the Educational Policy Research Unit (EPRU). Arizona State University. April 2004.
“The K-12 Virtual Primary School History Curriculum” by Susan Ohanian. Independent Researcher. Education Policy Research Unit. Arizona State University. April 2004.
National Education Policy Center (NEPC). NEPC Resources on Computing, Technology, and Information Systems. Many reports about technology issues by a variety of expert researchers.
Online Learning: What Every Parent Should Know A Network for Public Education Report. This report clearly lays out the online threat to teachers and public schools. It packs a lot into 20 pages. If you’re confused about the meaning of “Future Ready” start reading about it here.
“Online K-12 Schooling in the U.S.: Uncertain Private Ventures in Need of Public Regulation.” by Gene V. Glass and Kevin G. Welner. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center. October 2011.
Our Children @ Risk. EdTech Position Paper by Parents Across America There is much background and documentation for parents and educators here. 2016.
60% Of School Apps Are Improperly Sharing Student Data With Third Parties | AdExchanger
*Sophia Joffe and eLearn.fyi a comprehensive list of online programs for students up to post-secondary.
Books
A Place Called School by John I Goodlad
Disrupting Class: How Innovation will Change the Way the World Learns by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael B. Horn, and Curtis W. Johnson
Failure to Connect by Jane M. Healy
The Flickering Mind: The False Promise of Technology in the Classroom and How Learning Can Be Saved by Todd Oppenheimer
Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids – and How to Break the Trance by Nicholas Kardaras
Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom by Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary Stager, Ph.D.
Teaching Machines: The History of Personalized Learning by Audrey Watters
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