Jules Polenetsky and Amelia Vance write:
In 2014, the Louisiana legislature passed a law to protect student privacy. It required parents to approve nearly any collection and sharing of student data. In other words, no student information — no accomplishments or addresses, no batting averages or GPAs — was to be shared without a parent’s express permission.
And the law wasn’t merely a suggestion. It had teeth. Violations — even accidental ones — by teachers or principals, carried with them the weight of fines and jail time.
But protecting student privacy wasn’t the only outcome of passing this particular law. Facing the possibility of heavy fines or ending up in prison for even a well-intentioned mistake, teachers and administrators in a number of schools told us they were so afraid that they stopped collecting or sharing data for almost any reason.
Read more on The Hill.