The SOPIPA recently became law in California but many district leaders are unsure of its existence or how to respond.
Based on your experience, what steps would you put into place in the school or district you are studying?
SOPIPA stands for Student Online Personal Information Protection Act. This is claimed to the closing point to what is not covered under FERPA. This act protects student information and data that has been collected through a company to be exploited. This means that companies cannot sell student information and data, but only use the data for the purpose of education. Online data at HSHMC can be collected through student Google mail accounts; every student is assigned an account. Students use these accounts for signing up for Weebly, Educreation and Prezi for example. This act would prevent Google from using student information to create ads that are targeted to them. Some steps that are in place right now are how students and parents are aware of the Google accounts and HSHMC agreement with this 3rd party company Google. Google Community is blocked from these accounts. We need to keep students and parents aware of their rights and if any secure information is vulnerable to be exploited.
What advice would you give to the leadership team based on your analysis?
There is another 3rd party agency that our school uses. It is Achieve3000 and this is an online program where students reading levels are accessed and are assigned leveled reading articles. As students perform better, they get more challenging articles. We need to make sure that parents are aware of student use of Achieve3000 and continue to have open dialogs with all the stakeholders. Additionally, if HSHMC continues to use this program, and parents want to opt out for confidential reasons, we would need to put in place alternative reading programs. Lastly, I would advise that the school website add some specific links addressing FERPA, CIPA, COPPA and SOPIPA on the technology page of HSHMC’s website.
California Moves to Develop More Protection for College students On the Web. (2014, October 3). Retrieved March 8, 2015, from http://www.besteducationnews.com/california-moves-to-develop-more-protection-for-college-students-on-the-web.html
Based on your experience, what steps would you put into place in the school or district you are studying?
SOPIPA stands for Student Online Personal Information Protection Act. This is claimed to the closing point to what is not covered under FERPA. This act protects student information and data that has been collected through a company to be exploited. This means that companies cannot sell student information and data, but only use the data for the purpose of education. Online data at HSHMC can be collected through student Google mail accounts; every student is assigned an account. Students use these accounts for signing up for Weebly, Educreation and Prezi for example. This act would prevent Google from using student information to create ads that are targeted to them. Some steps that are in place right now are how students and parents are aware of the Google accounts and HSHMC agreement with this 3rd party company Google. Google Community is blocked from these accounts. We need to keep students and parents aware of their rights and if any secure information is vulnerable to be exploited.
What advice would you give to the leadership team based on your analysis?
There is another 3rd party agency that our school uses. It is Achieve3000 and this is an online program where students reading levels are accessed and are assigned leveled reading articles. As students perform better, they get more challenging articles. We need to make sure that parents are aware of student use of Achieve3000 and continue to have open dialogs with all the stakeholders. Additionally, if HSHMC continues to use this program, and parents want to opt out for confidential reasons, we would need to put in place alternative reading programs. Lastly, I would advise that the school website add some specific links addressing FERPA, CIPA, COPPA and SOPIPA on the technology page of HSHMC’s website.
California Moves to Develop More Protection for College students On the Web. (2014, October 3). Retrieved March 8, 2015, from http://www.besteducationnews.com/california-moves-to-develop-more-protection-for-college-students-on-the-web.html