NC and SC are First Two States Committing to Student Data Privacy Partnership

 

WASHINGTON, DC (September 26, 2024) – The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) today announced the North Carolina Department of Instruction and South Carolina Department of Education have partnered with CoSN on a program to improve student data privacy practices in their school districts. By subscribing to the CoSN Trusted Learning Environment (TLE) State Partnership Program, the Carolinas are helping to ensure that K-12 education institutions across their states are equipped with the necessary tools, training, and guidance to build and improve their school districts’ student data privacy programs.

North and South Carolina’s Partnership Programs provide free TLE Seal applications to all districts in their states. In addition, the TLE Partnership Program makes available exclusive data privacy benchmarking reports that provide aggregate measures of each state’s district privacy programs compared with aggregate measures from TLE Seal recipients across 25 specific privacy practices. This is accompanied by CoSN’s student data privacy resources designed to support areas of growth for each state’s districts, which means supporting the privacy of more than 2 million students. The CoSN TLE Seal is a national distinction awarded to school districts that demonstrate a tangible commitment to protecting student data through modern, rigorous policies and practices.

“The top priority for North Carolina schools is safeguarding our students. From a Digital Teaching and Learning perspective, this includes ensuring the safety of our student’s data,” said Dr. Ashley McBride, Digital Learning Initiative Section Chief at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. “Through the North Carolina Digital Learning Initiative funds and our collaboration with CoSN’s Trusted Learning Environment State Program, the Department of Public Instruction has been able to offer valuable resources and training to ensure student data protection is prioritized when using any technology. With the increasing threat of bad actors attempting to access and misuse student information, it’s crucial that our schools have every possible advantage and tool at their disposal to protect sensitive data.”

“In South Carolina, we prioritize building and maintaining high standards of privacy and security across all of our school districts. By partnering with CoSN through the Trusted Learning Environment State Partnership Program, we are ensuring that every district in South Carolina has the opportunity to access the tools and guidance necessary to help build robust student data privacy programs,” said Valarie Byrd, Senior Consultant-School District Technology Services with the Division of Data, Technology & Agency Operations at the South Carolina Department of Education. “This subscription reinforces our commitment to keep our students safe as they access digital platforms.”

TLE Partnership Programs provide state education agencies with:

  • Exclusive state data privacy benchmarking reports that provide aggregated measures of student data privacy practices as compared with those of current TLE Seal recipients.
  • Resources to support improvements across common areas of challenge for the state’s districts and updated benchmarking reports to measure improvements.
  • Unlimited free applications for the TLE Seal for LEAs in the state.

Additional supports can include student data privacy training and seats in CoSN’s Certified Education Technology Leader (CETL®) preparation and exam.

“Protecting student data privacy has never been more important or more complex. From securing internal systems to assessing vendor technologies and providing adequate training for employees, the work takes expertise, persistence, and an organizational culture that prioritizes privacy,” said Keith Krueger, CEO of the Consortium for School Networking. “The Carolinas are leading the charge to support their school districts in maintaining and improving privacy practices. Through participation in CoSN’s TLE State Partnership Program, they are ensuring that their school districts are equipped with the tools, training, and resources to more effectively safeguard student information.”

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 that improvement through a reapplication process every two years.

About CoSN
CoSN is the premier professional association designed to meet the needs of K-12 edtech leaders, their teams, and other district leaders. CoSN provides thought leadership resources, community, best practices, and advocacy tools to help edtech leaders succeed in the digital transformation. CoSN represents over 13 million students and continues to grow as a powerful and influential voice in K-12 education. For more information, visit 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 CONTACTS:
Jennifer Kendall
480.518.5075
jkendall@gavinadv.com