Similar to what John Eppolito experienced in Nevada, parents in Colorado are having a difficult time accessing their own student’s data, but 3rd party entities don’t seem to have trouble getting access.
From Watchdog Wire:
Colorado school districts are collecting broad, detailed educational and psychological data on their students for use by private companies and the federal government, yet parental access to the same information remains limited and difficult to come by.
Local districts are giving parents the run-around and stalling, while the state Department of Education claims that it simply doesn’t have the ability to connect parents with their children’s data.
Recently, Watchdog Wire spoke to parents in Colorado who have been trying for months, to see their children’s data and the vendors who have access to this data.
Ft. Collins parent Cheri Kiesecker has written to the Colorado Dept of Education (CDE), which has said it cannot share data with parents. Dan Damagala, CDE’s CIO of Information Management Services, replied that, “The Colorado Department of Education does not have a mechanism for verifying parent/guardian relationships to students– and the release of student information to an unauthorized entity would be a violation of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).”
In other words, CDE is citing the very law intended to assure parents access to justify denying them that same access.
Mrs. Kiesecker commented, “First, CDE said that they do not share student’s personal identifying information, with name, birth date, address, SSN, then we found their policy and video on how they do share it. Now CDE tells us that we can’t see the data or who it has been shared with? It seems crazy to me that complete strangers and vendors can have access to my children’s data, but I cannot.”
Jefferson County parent Natalie Adams was given a similar response by CDE. After personal requests to both State Commissioner of Education Robert Hammond and his Special Assistant Elliot Asp, Adams was told there was no way to connect her with her kids’ data, so she could not get data from the state.
Adams stated, “The state collects personally identifiable information about my child, that it gathered from my district, then CDE strips the parent from the record, which now allows CDE to have complete control over my child’s information and what happens to it.”