The Parent Coalition for Student Privacy (PCSP) is an activist project which campaigns against the practice of public school systems and state education departments selling or otherwise disclosing the personal information of students to corporations and other outside organizations.
Founded in 2014, the PCSP also advocates for more restrained collection of student information and more stringent measures to protect this information from getting into the hands of malicious actors. In addition, the coalition has criticized the prospects of introducing artificial intelligence and other technologies which it perceives to be disruptive into schools.
The coalition is an initiative of Class Size Matters, an activist group based in New York City that pushes for increasing the number of teachers in public schools. The PCSP also sometimes refers to itself as Parents4Privacy. 1 2
Background
Parent Coalition for Student Privacy cites the introduction of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) in 1974, as well as subsequent regulatory changes which the coalition argues have weakened the act, as one of the motivations for the student privacy movement. The PCSP claims that lack of regulation, including perceived rollbacks of existing legislation, has enabled tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft to benefit from student information collection, offering software to schools at low or even no cost in exchange for rights to student data. 3
The coalition identifies billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his former wife Melinda Gates as serious offenders due to their efforts to introduce the allegedly invasive data collection software InBloom, a project of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, into schools. According to the PCSP, the software would have cleared the way for selling student data on a massive scale without consent from parents. While the PCSP credits public backlash for successfully stopping the implementation of InBloom, the coalition claims that student privacy laws remain a “confusing patchwork” with “loopholes and gaps.” 4
Parent Organization
Class Size Matters is an activist group which argues for a lower teacher-to-student ratio in public schools and pushes for increased taxpayer funding of government education, which it claims will help address the issue of overly large class sizes. The organization opposes funding alternatives to standard public schools such as charter schools and has called for greater restrictions on existing charter schools. 5
Initiatives
Parent Coalition for Student Privacy provides teachers, administrators, parents, and students with “toolkits” for protecting their data from unwanted disclosure to third parties. 6 Rachael Stickland, the co-founder and co-chair of the PCSP, has testified to the House of Representatives in favor of stronger data privacy regulations. 7
In February 2018, the PCSP issued a statement criticizing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for backing the Summit charter school program. The PCSP compared Zuckerberg’s advocacy for Summit with his fellow Silicon Valley billionaire Bill Gates’ previous campaign to have his own preferred education software InBloom implemented in schools nationwide. 8
In January 2019, the PCSP published its first “State Student Privacy Report Card” in collaboration with the Network for Public Education, an activist group which pushes for the introduction of left-wing politics into public education and—like the PSCP’s parent organization—opposes charter schools. The report awarded a B or B- rating only to Illinois, New Hampshire, and Virginia, with more than half of all 50 states receiving ratings in the D or F range. The coalition identified state policies such as laws on data use transparency and requirements to request consent to disclose data as positive factors, while docking states’ ratings for lacking such regulations. 9 10
In July 2020, the PCSP and its parent organization signed a letter to the governor of New York which called for the state to end remote instruction imposed on public schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter also condemned officials who were allegedly considering a permanent shift from in-class learning. 11 The opposition of the PCSP to remote instruction put it on the other side of the issue from the Network for Public Education (NPE), the organization with which it had collaborated on its 2019 State Student Privacy Report Card. The NPE has dismissed critics of school shutdowns as “merchants of deception” and promoters of “white backlash politics and resentment.” 12 13
Leadership
Rachael Stickland and Leonie Haimson are the co-founders of the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy. As co-chair of the coalition, Stickland has testified to Congress in favor of more stringent student data privacy laws. Since then, Illinois education activist Cassie Creswell has succeeded Stickland and now co-chairs the PCSP together with Haimson. 14 15 Haimson is also the founder and executive director of the coalition’s parent organization Class Size Matters. In 2007, she received an award from the Democratic Party-aligned United Federation of Teachers labor union. 16
Funding
Donations to the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy are directed to the coalition’s parent organization, the New York City-based education activist group Class Size Matters. 17 In 2020, Class Size Matters received a total of $67,898 in revenue and held a total of $102,839 in assets. 18
References
- “About Us.” Parent Coalition for Student Privacy. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://studentprivacymatters.org/about-us/
- Parents4Privacy. Twitter. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://twitter.com/Parents4Privacy
- Rachael Stickland, Leonie Haimson. “The State Privacy Report Card.” January 1, 2019. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://studentprivacymatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The-2019-State-Student-Privacy-Report-Card.pdf
- Rachael Stickland, Leonie Haimson. “The State Privacy Report Card.” January 1, 2019. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://studentprivacymatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The-2019-State-Student-Privacy-Report-Card.pdf
- Class Size Matters. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://classsizematters.org/
- [1]“About Us.” Parent Coalition for Student Privacy. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://studentprivacymatters.org/about-us/
- “Testimony of Rachael Stickland, Co-Founder, Co-Chair Parent Coalition for Student Privacy.” House Committee on Education and the Workforce. March 22, 2016. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/testimony_stickland.pdf
- [1]“Zuckerberg And The Parent Pushback VS Summit Schools; InBloom Reprised?” Parent Coalition for Student Privacy. February 2, 2018. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://studentprivacymatters.org/zuckerberg-and-the-parent-pushback-vs-summit-schools-inbloom-reprised/
- Rachael Stickland, Leonie Haimson. “The State Privacy Report Card.” January 1, 2019. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://studentprivacymatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The-2019-State-Student-Privacy-Report-Card.pdf
- Class Size Matters. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://classsizematters.org/
- Ed Ra. “Our kids belong in the classroom this fall.” The Island 360. July 6, 2020. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://theisland360.com/opinions-100/from-the-desk-of-ed-ra-our-kids-belong-in-the-classroom-this-fall/
- Rachael Stickland, Leonie Haimson. “The State Privacy Report Card.” January 1, 2019. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://studentprivacymatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The-2019-State-Student-Privacy-Report-Card.pdf
- Maurice T. Cunningham. “Merchants of Deception: Parent Props and Their Funders.” February 1, 2023. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://networkforpubliceducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Merchants-of-Deception.pdf
- [1]“About Us.” Parent Coalition for Student Privacy. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://studentprivacymatters.org/about-us/
- “Testimony of Rachael Stickland, Co-Founder, Co-Chair Parent Coalition for Student Privacy.” House Committee on Education and the Workforce. March 22, 2016. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/testimony_stickland.pdf
- “About Us.” Class Size Matters. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://classsizematters.org/about-us/
- [1]“About Us.” Parent Coalition for Student Privacy. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://studentprivacymatters.org/about-us/
- [1]“Class Size Matters.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/202169746