Our letter in response to the College Board asking for corrections

Yesterday, we sent a letter to the College Board in response to a letter they sent to us on October 18th, claiming inaccuracies in our petition urging the Attorney General to investigate the College Board's selling of student data, and in the fact sheet we posted that warned parents whose children are taking the PSAT/SAT/ACT/AP exams.

Check out the College Board's letter, as well as our response below.

Update: 11/3/19:  The College Board sent a second letter in reply to our response, insisting once again that I make changes in the parent fact sheet.  I made two minor changes as explained here: one, that the CB sells students'  information related to their "religious interests" or "religious activities" (rather than their religion per se) and that it is the ACT that has been sued for selling student special education status.  The other changes I refused to make, as the CB provided no convincing evidence to back their claims. - LH

Warning to parents whose children are taking College Board or ACT exams and do NOT want their data sold

This one-pager fact sheet and backgrounder is cross-posted on the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy website.  Feel free to post the one-pager or distribute it in your school.  Please also sign our petition to Attorney General Letitia James to investigate and halt the College Board and ACT from illegally selling student data. 

Update 11.3.19: The College Board asked me to correct specific statements in the fact sheet below; see their letter, my response, and their reply here.  I have slightly revised the fact sheet below, to make it clearer that the College Board asks students about  their "religious interests" rather than religion -- and sells the data; and that it is the ACT that has specifically been sued in court about sharing students' special needs status.  I have made no other changes as the CB did not convincingly provide evidence of their other claims.

Both ACT and College Board sell personal student data to colleges and universities, as well as to other non-profit and for-profit organizations to help them recruit students and/or market their products and services.

The College Board makes an approximate $100 million per year from its “Student Search” program, for which it charges organizations 47 cents per student name. [1] Last year, ACT was sued via a class action lawsuit, because they allegedly included student disability information in the data they sold to customers.[2]

If your child is taking a College Board exam, and you don’t want any of their personal data sold, which may include their race, ethnicity, self-reported grades, religion and/or test scores within a certain range, as well as other confidential information, urge them NOT to fill out any of the optional questions that are included online or in the Student Questionnaire given before the administration of the exam. They should also be sure not to check the box that indicates they want to participate in the College Board “Student Search” program.

If your child is taking the ACT, you and your child should also refrain from filling out any of the extraneous information asked for in the ACT Student Profile Section, unless you want that data also sold and/or used for marketing purposes.

In May 2018, the US Department of Education’s Privacy Technical Assistance Center warned schools and districts that have agreements with these companies to administer their exams during the school day that their practice of allowing these companies to gather confidential information directly from students and sell it without parental consent may be illegal under several federal laws.[3]

In addition, New York as well as Illinois and 21 other states prohibit school vendors from selling student data under any circumstances. [4] Illinois legislators have now asked the State Attorney General to investigate the College Board’s practices for that reason. [5] NY Times has reported that this data often ends up in the hands of unscrupulous for-profit companies that use the information to market dubious products and services to families; in some cases, the information may end up in the hands of data brokers. [6]

Some districts now refrain from giving these voluntary surveys to their students or tell them not to answer any of its questions, because this takes considerable time and can add stress to an already pressure-filled situation.

Districts also should be aware that these companies disclose personal data that may be illegal.

Here are some questions parents should ask their children’s school or district ahead of time:

1. Is any survey or voluntary list of questions going to be asked of their children before the administration of these exams?

2. If so, can they give you a copy of these questions? Prior parental notification of any such survey is required under the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), passed by Congress in 1978.[7]

3. If any highly sensitive questions are included, such as those involving religious preferences or affiliations, will the school notify parents of their right to opt their children out of the survey ahead of time, as is required under PPRA?

4. Does the district have a contract with the testing company that prohibits them from selling any of this personal student data, as is required by NY state law as well as student privacy laws in 21 other states?

5. If not, why not? And can they share a copy of this contract?

Sources

[1] https://collegeboardsearch.collegeboard.org/pastudentsrch/support/licensing/pricing-payment-policies

[2] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180807005834/en/Students-Disabilities-File-Class-Action-ACT-Test

[3] https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/sites/default/files/resource_document/file/TA%20College%20Admissions%20Examinations.pdf

[4] https://www.studentprivacymatters.org/state-privacy-laws-re-selling-student-data-_act-sat-exceptions/

[5] https://news.wttw.com/2019/10/10/lawmakers-urge-ag-raoul-investigate-college-board-selling-student-data

[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/29/business/for-sale-survey-data-on-millions-of-high-school-students.html

[7] https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ppra/parents.html



For more information, please email us at info@studentprivacymatters.org

Send your comments NYSED's proposed student privacy regulations today & info on College Board's collection of student data

1.      

As a result of the controversy over inBloom and related issues, the NY State legislature passed Education Law §2-d in 2014, with the goal of protecting the privacy and the security of student data that schools, districts and states as well as their contractors collect and disclose. After nearly five years, the NY State Education Department has finally issued proposed regulations to be used in enacting and enforcing this law.  The deadline for commenting on these regulations is this Sunday, March 31.

Our Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, along with NYSAPE and Class Size Matters, has sent detailed comments to NYSED on how these regulations should be improved, especially as they omit several important provisions of the law.  We have also prepared an email you can send NYSED in support of our proposed changes by clicking here .  You can of course alter this email in any way you like, or send your own comments to REGCOMMENTS@nysed.gov , but please remember the deadline is Sunday.

2.      Also, today is SAT day in NYC schools and in many other districts and states across the country.  The College Board not only asks students many personal questions in their pre-test surveys before they take the exam without making clear that answering them is voluntary, but also sells the information they collect to other organizations and companies at 45 cents per name.  An article about this practice was published in the NY Times last summer.  Meanwhile, the US Department of Education has also advised states and districts that allowing the College Board to ask certain sensitive questions of students in school without parental consent which it then shares with other organizations may be illegal, according to three federal laws: FERPA, IDEA and PPRA.

Please ask your children what questions they were asked in the pre-test surveys,  and whether they were informed that answering these questions was purely optional.  If they provided any personal information you don’t want shared or sold, you can opt out of the Student Search Service on the College Board website, and/or  demand that College Board delete the data. 

Please also let us know if you find out that certain questions were asked of your kids that you consider overly sensitive by emailing us at info@studentprivacymatters.org