Indiana Becomes the Fourth State to Commit to Student Data Privacy Partnership

 

Washington, D.C. (November 7, 2024) – CoSN today announced a partnership with the Indiana Department of Education to improve student data privacy practices in its school districts. By joining the CoSN Trusted Learning Environment (TLE) State Partnership Program, Indiana is helping to ensure K-12 education institutions across the state are equipped with the necessary tools, training and guidance to build and improve school districts’ data privacy programs for its 1.1 million students.

The Indiana Department of Education joins the Illinois Learning Technology Center, a program of the Illinois State Board of Education, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the South Carolina Department of Education in partnering with CoSN on this important work.

“By joining the TLE State Partnership Program, the Indiana Department of Education is actively advancing practices that improve data privacy across its districts and helping to build trust among educators, parents and students,” said Keith Krueger, CEO of CoSN. “This partnership offers Indiana the resources and frameworks to assist in building privacy-centered learning environments that prioritize student data protection.”

The CoSN TLE State Partnership Program provides state education agencies with:

  • Exclusive state data privacy benchmarking reports that provide aggregated measures of district student data privacy practices as compared with those of current TLE Seal recipients across 25 specific privacy and security requirements.
  • Resources and guidance to support districts in improving privacy practices that the benchmarking report indicates are common challenges.
  • Unlimited free TLE Seal applications for districts in the state.

Additional support available includes student data privacy training and seats in the CoSN Certified Education Technology Leader (CETL®) preparation and exam.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to leverage the industry-leading TLE Seal Program and expertise of CoSN while partnering with the Indiana CTO Council and participating schools to empower educators and school leaders to acquire knowledge, implement best practices and protect student data,” said Brad Hagg, Director of Educational Technology at the Indiana Department of Education.

The CoSN TLE Seal is a national distinction awarded to school districts that demonstrate a tangible commitment to protecting student data privacy through modern, rigorous policies and practices. The CoSN TLE Seal Program requires school systems to implement high standards for protecting student data privacy across five core practice areas: Leadership, Business, Data Security, Professional Development and the Classroom.

As the only privacy framework designed specifically for K-12 school districts, earning the CoSN TLE Seal requires that districts have taken measurable steps to implement, maintain and improve organization-wide student data privacy practices. All TLE Seal recipients are required to demonstrate improvement through a reapplication process every two years.

For further details on the CoSN TLE State Partnership Program, visit https://www.cosn.org/tools-resources/tlepartner/.

About CoSN
CoSN, the world-class professional association for K-12 EdTech leaders, stands at the forefront of education innovation. We are driven by a mission to equip current and aspiring K-12 education technology leaders, their teams, and school districts with the community, knowledge, and professional development they need to cultivate engaging learning environments. Our vision is rooted in a future where every learner reaches their unique potential, guided by our community. CoSN represents over 13 million students and continues to grow as a powerful and influential voice in K-12 education. For more information, visit www.cosn.org/

About the CoSN Trusted Learning Environment State Partnership Program
The CoSN Trusted Learning Environment (TLE) State Partnership Program is designed to measure and improve district student data privacy practices across all districts in the state. Through survey-based benchmarking, CoSN is able to aggregate district privacy performance across the 25 requirements of the CoSN Trusted Learning Environment Seal Program. CoSN provides comparisons of these results to the aggregated results of TLE Seal recipients. CoSN then provides each state with resources that are ready-made for its districts, providing guidance to improve the top three areas of weakness. The process is repeated on a cycle to continuously build up privacy practices across all districts. States are also provided with free TLE applications for all districts, providing the opportunity for districts to gain additional, customized feedback on their privacy programs and earn recognition for their efforts. For more information, visit CoSN.org/TLEpartner.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Makenzie Carlin, mcarlin@fratelli.com