We all know there are thousands of online and digital resources that can help students and teachers with the learning process. Many of these tools are great additions to the classroom but some can put staff, students, and families at risk. The Jeffco Educational Technology and Information Security teams have created a process to vet software titles commonly used throughout the District.
The process has been created to accomplish the following goals:
- Increasing transparency for families and community members.
- Measuring how software protects student data and metadata.
- Encouraging conversations around data use, security, and privacy.
- Ensuring we are compliant with state legislation.
The process is also flexible giving schools choice:
- All software titles, subscriptions, and textbooks with digital content costing over $3500 per school need to be vetted.
- Schools have choice for titles costing less than $3500
- Schools can choose to play it safe and stick with the District vetted list.
- Or schools can explore new titles and review security/privacy policies on their own.
Remember it is all about transparency
As partners, we can continue to build trust with our parents by proactively communicating what technology tools are being used in your classroom and what you are doing to protect student data. Show that we are using the right tools, gathering the right data, using that data correctly, and keeping it safe!!
There are many ways in which you can communicate with parents such as: websites, Friday folders, and SchoolMessenger updates. The following information should be included to inform parents, in whatever method you choose.