Revision: June 15, 2014, midnight
HB 1262 – AS INTRODUCED
2014 SESSION
04/10
HOUSE BILL 1262
AN ACT relative to student assessment data privacy.
SPONSORS: Rep. Hoell, Merr 23; Rep. Cordelli, Carr 4
This bill restricts the collection, storage, and sharing of student assessment data by the United?States Department of Education and the New Hampshire department of education.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
14-2312
04/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fourteen
AN ACT relative to student assessment data privacy.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Findings and Purpose. The general court finds that:
I. Private student information, including the child's name, home address, email address, test scores, racial identity, economic and special education status, and detailed disciplinary and health records, are being stored in databases that could potentially be shared with a variety of government agencies and for-profit corporations, without obtaining parental consent and without any guarantee that the privacy of that information will be protected.
II. In 1999, RSA 193-C:10 was adopted requiring that parents have “no fewer rights accorded to them under the Family Educational and Privacy Rights Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. 1232g.”
III. In 2011, the United States Department of Education changed the FERPA regulations governing the release of student data to the private sector, without congressional authorization and in contradiction to federal statute. These new FERPA regulations:
(a) Removed limitations prohibiting educational institutions and agencies from disclosing students’ previously privacy-protected personally identifiable information without first obtaining student or parental consent; and
(b) Reinterpreted FERPA statutory terms “authorized representative,” “education program,” and “directory information” to give non-governmental actors increased access to student personal data.
IV. In January 2012, the New Hampshire department of education and the federal Office of Science and Technology Policy created the Education Data Initiative to release confidential student data to third-party vendors.
V. The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia and many other assessment companies have agreed to report fully and often to the United States Department of Education, sharing previously privacy-protected student-level data.
VI. Increased safeguards are needed to protect the privacy of student data records.
(a) Sharable private student data includes: biological and behavioral data; biometric records, such as: fingerprints, retina and iris patterns, voiceprints, DNA sequences, facial characteristics, handwriting, religious and political affiliation of the family, and medical records.
(b) New Hampshire's state longitudinal database system (SLDS) data collection of student records began on April 2, 2012.
(c) Parents must have the ability to opt-out of the SLDS which creates digital student portfolios with over 400 data points for each child.
VII. The Unites States Constitution describes the right to privacy: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
VIII. Without adequate safeguards, the department of education or school districts may violate the privacy rights of students through the administration of online assessments and surveys or by sharing and distributing student data records.
2 Statewide Educational Improvement and Assessment; Accessibility of Assessment Materials. Amend RSA?193-C:10 to read as follows:
193-C:10 Accessibility of Assessment Materials.
I. After the assessment results are released by the department, a pupil's parent or legal guardian shall have the right to inspect and review the pupil's assessment booklet, answer or response sheets, surveys, instructions or directions to the pupil, and any other supplemental materials utilized to administer the assessment. A parent or legal guardian shall direct a request for inspection or review to the pupil's school, and the school shall comply with such request within 45 days of its receipt. The commissioner shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, to implement procedures for the review and inspection of assessment materials. These rules shall provide parents and legal guardians with no fewer rights accorded to them under the Family Educational and Privacy Rights Act, 20 U.S.C. 1232g.
II. No personally identifiable data on students and/or their families’ religion, political party affiliation, psychometric data, biometric information, juvenile delinquency records, criminal records, medical, psychological or dental information, birth dates, social security numbers, employment history, income level, and/or voting history shall be collected, tracked, housed, stored, reported or shared with the federal government, nor provided to for-profit corporations.
III. Students who are 18 years of age or older and parents of students under 18 years of age shall have the right to inspect and review their student's records and block the transfer or sharing of any or all data contained in such record, including student assessment results, other than for the transfer of such student to another school outside the district.
IV. Districts may elect to grade and score any assessment or survey administered within the district, aggregate student performance data, and share only aggregated student data outside the district to protect student privacy.
V. Districts shall not release any student data where the privacy of student data cannot be guaranteed.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.