Student Data and Privacy

School districts throughout the State of Illinois contract with different educational technology vendors for beneficial K-12 purposes such as providing personalized learning, innovative educational technologies, and increasing efficiency in school operations.

Under Illinois’ Student Online Personal Protection Act, or SOPPA (105 ILCS 85/), educational technology vendors and other entities that operate Internet websites, online services, online applications, or mobile applications that are designed, marketed, and primarily used for K-12 school purposes are referred to in SOPPA as operators. SOPPA is intended to ensure that student data collected by operators is protected, and it requires those vendors, as well as school districts and the Illinois State Board of Education, to take a number of actions to protect online student data.

Depending upon the particular educational technology being used, our District may need to collect different types of student data, which is then shared with educational technology vendors through their online sites, services, and/or applications. Under SOPPA, educational technology vendors are prohibited from selling or renting a student’s information or from engaging in targeted advertising using a student’s information. Such vendors may only disclose student data for K-12 school purposes and other limited purposes permitted under the law.

A published list of agreements and data elements for approved resources are available for review at the T.F. District 215 Data Privacy website.

District 215 Staff may request access to new curricular resources by submitting a request through the T.F. District 215 Staff Curricular Software Request form.

Parents/Guardians are entitled to: (1) inspect and review his/her child’s covered information; (2) request electronic or paper copies of his/her child’s covered information and (3) request corrections to his/her child’s inaccurate covered information under SOPPA.  Submit any such requests in writing to dataprivacy@tfd215.org.