Remote learning platform used by Texas schools changes data collection after report
A remote learning company says it will change its data collection practices after a study, reported this week by the Star-Telegram and a consortium of other newsrooms, raised questions about the privacy and security of the platforms used in thousands of schools.
The research by Human Rights Watch, which found that some platforms have the potential to track children’s data in violation of state and federal laws, also spurred questions during a congressional hearing this week.
Human Rights Watch released its study Tuesday, alongside extensive reporting by media outlets that were provided advance access to the report. The media consortium, called EdTech Exposed, included reporting from the McClatchy-owned Star-Telegram and Miami Herald, as well as The Washington Post and international outlets.
The study examined scores of platforms used for remote learning around the world, including some used in Dallas-Fort Worth and across Texas. Researcher Hye Jung Han wrote in her report that her findings indicate that remote learning tools around the world are surveilling children at a “dizzying scale.”
The Star-Telegram reported that some of those surveillance tactics may be skirting the limits of state and federal law.
[ Who’s really watching? Read the full article about Texas’ remote learning platforms here ]
ST Math, a platform highlighted in the Star-Telegram and Washington Post’s reporting, has since said it will change some of its data collection practices. ST Math is used in Texas school districts and, through a state contract, provided free of charge to school districts and families. The Human Rights Watch research found the platform could be sharing data with advertising companies and monitoring users’ keystrokes while they visited the public-facing websites.
A spokesperson for ST Math had criticized the research for examining only the public-facing pages instead of the paid version of the platform used by students. The Texas Education Agency raised the same concerns.
But ST Math also provides free online math games, aimed at children as young as preschool age, that do not require a user account. It was on these pages that the Human Rights Watch researcher found ad trackers and keystroke logging.
In an email to the Washington Post, ST Math spokesperson Kelsey Skaggs said she remains “disappointed” in the research’s “misleading portrayal” of the public-facing pages versus the paid platform.
However, she added that ST Math’s parent organization, MIND Research Institute, has decided to remove a number of ad trackers and cookies from the public-facing pages. Those removals include functionalities that were sending data to Facebook, LinkedIn and Google’s advertising arm.
Also following the report, U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., raised the findings during a congressional hearing, read out an excerpt from the Washington Post article and asked U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to weigh in.
“Do you share my alarm with the reporting on this issue?” Walberg asked Cardona.
In response, Cardona referenced his time working in a Connecticut school district, and said parents should be informed about how tech companies are collecting children’s data.
“I’m a father and I absolutely agree that parents should have say and they should have whatever information is being shared, they should know about it,” Cardona said.
The Human Rights Watch report analyzed three remote learning platforms that are used in Texas schools, including two that raised concerns for tech and data privacy experts. The Star-Telegram takes you behind the computer screen with this article.
This story was originally published May 27, 2022 at 12:18 PM.
