Technology is central to nearly everything districts do, from accelerating student math learning to payroll to communicating with parents.
However, the potential benefits of high-tech platforms for student learning and district management come with significant risks of exposing sensitive student data.
80% of school IT professionals report their school has previously been affected by ransomware, according to a global survey of 3,000 IT and cybersecurity leaders conducted by cybersecurity company Sophos. doing. From January to March last year. In fact, a higher percentage of K-12 schools report cybersecurity threats than schools in other sectors, such as financial services and health care.
Most school districts do not have the ability to carefully examine all platforms and tools to see what kind of student data is being collected and how it is used. This is especially true in heavily rural states like Oklahoma. In many small school districts, technology leaders oversee curriculum, teach classes, and even coach school sports teams.
Introducing Jun Kim, the technology director for Moore Public Schools near Oklahoma City. In addition to creating an educator-friendly system for vetting his own district’s technology platforms, Kim has helped technology leaders across the Sooner State understand which platforms and applications meet other school districts’ privacy standards. As you can see, I also spearheaded the creation of a statewide database. Twenty-six other states have systems similar to Oklahoma’s.
Education Week spoke with Kim over Zoom about how to address student data privacy at both the state and district level.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
When a colleague asks you why it’s important to protect student data, what do you say?
Students and children are prime targets for scammers because their information is very clean. [since they haven’t had any debts or other problems]. They can sell their children’s data over and over again. It won’t be 100% [protected]. No one can say that. But how can you reduce or minimize the risk?
What questions do I ask to determine if a learning platform meets Moore’s safety standards?
First, does it meet the needs of our curriculum? Is it redundant? If we really want to help teachers learn the program with success, we need an application or two that really works. Choose one and use it.
Next, let’s look at interoperability. Can we integrate it with the technology we already have?
And the last element is actually data privacy. The company must send us a privacy agreement.they must meet certain conditions [requirements] About how they use data.teeth [they] Be willing to discard data when no longer in use [their] service?
How can you get teachers to respect the value of data privacy procedures when doing so might mean losing access to the tools they love?
Thousands of websites are developed every day. You can’t block everything. If I were still a classroom teacher, I would be the first to throw a fit. I say, “I want this.” I need this. Please allow access, sorry. ”
It’s a cultural shift. Teachers are starting to ask those questions. “Hey, are you safe here? I need to enter this information, are you sure?” Five years ago, that would never have happened.
I think 99% of it is communication. We have open communication. I say, “Let’s take a look.” [the platform you want to use.] Don’t say no, but make sure it’s safe. There is information that cannot be entered or shared here. ” It’s amazing to see how our teachers react to that.
In my position, it’s about finding that balance and making sure the IT team is comfortable with the decisions and making sure the teachers get what they need. And in some cases, the no is for both parties.
Why was it important to create a state-level database that shows which platforms have been approved by other districts?
In fact, my focus is on rural schools and small school districts. I’m imagining a so-called slash IT director. They could be an assistant director of curriculum, slash IT director, slash bus driver, or a physical education coach. I try to make their lives easier.
I am blessed to have the team I have. I have a great IT team and I also have a great educational technology team that I work with. So there are some more resources available to you. With this, I would like to give some time back to small schools. I want to say, “I’ve already taken measures.” It has been vetted for you. ”
