Why Data Privacy Matters in EdTech: Compliance Challenges for U.S. Institutions

Organizations in most sectors or industries, such as ed-tech, are data-centric and rely on accurate information and reports to make necessary adaptations in their core operations. Hence, consolidated data is a crucial factor for informed decision-making and strategic planning.

For instance, educational institutes in the United States collect and reflect on student data to monitor student progress and the effectiveness of the curriculum. Simultaneously, protecting the student data is a top priority, without which sensitive information can be compromised.

Significance of Data Privacy in Ed-Tech

Incorporation of ed-tech solutions has grown exponentially in the last decade; institutes utilize tools like learning management systems, student information systems, etc. Such tools collect, store, and analyze student data and provide valuable insights into students’ performance, behavioral patterns, and attendance.

This data serves as the foundation for developing personalized learning experiences, identifying struggling students, and making strategic action plans. However, the lack of effective measures to safeguard student-related information can lead to unauthorized access, data breaches, and misuse.

Apart from security concerns, data privacy in ed-tech is a major issue that requires systematic handling and impacts trustworthiness and ethics. Educational institutions bear the responsibility of protecting the personal information of students, as a data breach can cause identity theft and legal consequences.

That is why institutions need ed-tech solutions that adhere to global security standards, helping to ensure data privacy.

US Student Data Privacy and Security Standards

Educational institutions in the United States must comply with federal and state-level data privacy laws, some of which are as follows:

FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)

FERPA is a federal law that makes it essential for schools to obtain written consent from parents or eligible students before revealing personally identifiable information.

COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act)

COPPA protects the privacy of children who are under 13 by restricting websites and online services from collecting information from minors.

State-Level Legislation

Specific states like California have implemented particular laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA). This ensures that educational institutions maintain data transparency, parental control, and security.

These laws aim to provide comprehensive data privacy, yet several institutions face challenges in complete compliance.

Common Compliance Challenges

Some of the common compliance challenges that US institutions encounter are as follows:

Lack of Standardization

The fragmented nature of data privacy regulations is a notable obstacle for educational institutes in the United States. For example, although federal laws like FERPA and COPPA provide overarching parameters, individual states also establish their own privacy laws, such as CCPA.

This makes it difficult for institutes that have multi-state operations, branches, and partnerships to function under a single privacy policy. Besides, a strategy or policy that coordinates effectively with one state’s regulation might not do the same in another, leading to compliance issues.

The lack of standardization leads to additional pressure, wherein compliance officers and IT departments often struggle and must constantly track the evolving legislation. On top of that, educational institutes need to invest their time and resources to adapt the compliance frameworks accordingly.

Vendor Management

Partnering with ed-tech vendors is key to establishing effective digitized operations and streamlining communication and administration. However, despite vendors handling the processing of data and security updates, institutes legally remain responsible for ensuring third parties comply with privacy regulations.

All ed-tech companies and vendors do not maintain transparency when it comes to data practices, and they fail to adhere to strict regulatory standards. In fact, some of them utilize ineffective security protocols and unclear data use terms that can cause schools/colleges to face legal risks.

Therefore, institutes must go beyond signing an agreement and carry out security assessments, privacy impact assessments, and regular audits of vendor systems. They must equally focus on developing and agreeing to a contract that specifies data use limitations, breach notification timelines, etc.

Data Silos and Legacy Systems

Fragmented IT infrastructures and legacy or outdated systems are still in use, and several educational institutions are dependent on them. These systems create data silos, making it difficult to store and maintain a consolidated database.

Besides, when schools and colleges store data across different platforms that don’t communicate with each other, it creates technical complications. For example, it becomes challenging to establish access controls, monitor data usage, or determine sudden or ongoing discrepancies.

As a result, institutional information becomes vulnerable to misuse, exposing valuable data to all sorts of online threats. Furthermore, legacy systems do not have the latest security features, increasing the likelihood of compliance violations. Hence, adopting cloud-based integrated ed-tech solutions is an ideal way to enhance the institute’s data privacy.

Limited Resources

Although digitization guarantees improved academic and administrative functionalities, all institutes cannot afford the hi-tech tools. For example, small-district schools and community colleges have limited budgets, which they leverage to fund educational resources and faculty.

In effect, they cannot afford to adopt sophisticated data privacy programs and mechanisms, hire IT staff or teams, and conduct risk assessments. These limitations prevent institutes from staying updated with the latest regulations and best practices.

Hence, they depend on outdated policies or fail to notice critical compliance requirements as they don’t have specialized legal or technical expertise. Consequently, the lack of data privacy personnel or technical experts and robust ed-tech tools hinders effective data auditing and breach response.

Inadequate Staff Training

The institute's stakeholders (teachers and administrators) make an error in storing and handling student information unintentionally, which might cause privacy breaches. They handle data daily, but many of them lack proper training, key to understanding privacy risks and regulations. For instance, they might click on a phishing email, store sensitive student details, or share login credentials ineffectively.

The only way to prevent such unintended errors and inconsistencies is by conducting comprehensive training programs. These programs provide an opportunity for teachers and staff to understand the privacy and data security protocols.

Additionally, they can understand what PII (Personally Identifiable Information) entails, identify phishing tactics, and know the immediate steps in case of a suspected data breach.

Best Practices of Educational Institutions

Establish Clear Data Governance Policies

One of the primary steps is to establish clearly defined policies, helping to outline student data collection, storage, access, sharing, and deletion. These policies must specify the institute staff who will manage data, maintain workflow approval, and establish standards for data integrity and accuracy.

This will help to create a comprehensive data governance structure, thereby ensuring interdepartmental consistency and reducing unauthorized data access.

Select Trusted Ed-Tech Vendors

Going beyond product descriptions and features and evaluating the ed-tech vendor’s security mechanisms and data privacy is the need of the hour. Besides, prominent ed-tech software companies like MasterSoft prioritize transparency about their data policies.

Furthermore, they agree to sign the data protection agreements and have certifications such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001, helping to comply with US federal and state privacy standards. Additionally, leading ed-tech vendors provide data portability and customizable privacy settings.

Carry Out Regular Audits

Partnering with reputable ed-tech companies or having an in-house IT staff can help to carry out regular audits of internal processes and third-party systems. Institute management can review user access logs, assess technical security, and confirm whether or not the vendor follows the standard practices that they agreed to.

Continuous audits are equally important for identifying whether or not the staff have been following the specific procedures and if they require additional training.

Provide Adequate Training to Staff

One-time training is not sufficient; therefore, institutes must provide continuous training to staff, which will help them maintain best practices. However, the training methods must cater to role-specific functions.

For example, the training of teachers in storing and handling student information is different from the training requirements of IT staff or administrators.