State Chiefs to Arne Duncan: We Won’t Share Student Data

Catherine Gewertz reports:

Schools chiefs from 34 states have banded together to make a public declaration that they will not share personally identifiable student data with the federal government.

In a letter sent to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan Thursday afternoon, the state superintendents said they are trying to calm a rising tide of concern that administering student assessments through the two federally funded multistate consortia—PARCC and Smarter Balanced—puts the privacy of personally identifiable student data at risk. All of the chiefs are participating in test design through one of the consortia.