Parent Toolkit for Student Privacy

We understand that protecting your child’s sensitive data at school can be pretty overwhelming and it’s often difficult to know where to begin.

To get you started on the right track, we’ve created the Parent Toolkit for Student Privacy: A Practical Guide for Protecting Your Child’s Sensitive School Data from Snoops, Hackers and Marketers in collaboration with the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. We offer clear guidance on what privacy rights your child has in federal law, what to look for in school vendor’s Privacy Policies, and tips on how to advocate for your school or district to adopt best practices in ensuring your child’s sensitive data isn’t breached or abused.

Learn how to protect your child’s privacy today; download the FREE toolkit in English or Spanish.

You may also download individual sections of the toolkit below:

• Introduction: Why should parents be concerned?
• Table of Contents
• Section I: What is student data?
• Section II: Parents’ rights under federal law to protect their children’s privacy
• Section III: Tips for parents looking to protect their children’s privacy
• Section IV: Student privacy best practices for states, districts, schools, and teachers
• Section V: Talking to teachers, schools, and districts about student privacy
• Section VI: Advocating for student privacy in schools, districts, and beyond
• Section VII: Student privacy FAQs
• Appendix A: Request to inspect education records held by the school, district or state
• Appendix B: Sample letter to opt out of disclosure of directory information
• Appendix C: Sample letter to opt out of military recruitment
• Appendix D: Additional questions to ask your teacher or principal
• Appendix E: Sample petition
• Appendix F: Tips for media outreach and sample press materials
• Additional resources

The Parent Toolkit for Student Privacy was made possible by a grant from the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment. You can also check out our press release here.

Download the State Student Privacy Report Card HERE

View the interactive map and find more information about the report HERE

Educators: learn how to protect your students' privacy and your own.

Download a copy of the toolkit HERE

Parents: check out our toolkit on how to better protect your child's sensitive data, as well as tips to use in advocating for better privacy policies and practices at your children's schools.

Donate Now!

Parent Coalition for Student Privacy is a project of Class Size Matters. To make a tax-deductible donation to PCSP, please click here.
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