Apr 27, 2015 - (310) 402-3013. Common Sense Media Launches Major New Advocacy Effort to Build a Movement of Parents and
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 27, 2015
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Common Sense Media Launches Major New Advocacy Effort to Build a Movement of Parents and Teachers to Make Kids and Education America's Top Priority “Common Sense Kids Action” to Be a Powerful Non-Partisan Voice for America’s Kids backed by more than $20 million in initial funding San$Francisco,$CA—Common'Sense'Kids'Action'today'announced'its'launch'and'initial'funding'of' more'than'$20'million'to'support'groundbreaking'advocacy'efforts'to'make'kids'and'education' America’s'top'priority.'Common'Sense'Kids'Action'will'work'with'policymakers,'business'leaders' and'other'advocates'in'California,'Washington,'D.C.'and'across'the'nation'to'advance'legislation'and' advocacy'efforts'to'help'ensure'that'every'child'has'an'equal'opportunity'to'succeed'in'the'21st' Century.'' Common'Sense'Kids'Action'builds'upon'the'existing'work'and'platforms'of'its'parent'organization,' Common'Sense'Media,'a'leading'national'nonproKit'with'exceptional'reach'into'the'parent'and' teacher'community'and'over'a'decade'of'experience'helping'all'kids,'families'and'educators'thrive' in'a'world'of'media'and'technology.'' With'Common'Sense'Kids'Action,'Common'Sense'Media'is'greatly'expanding'its'national'and'multiL state'advocacy'efforts'to'create'an'AARPLstyle'organization'with'millions'of'advocates'across'the' country'building'a'powerful,'nonpartisan'voice'dedicated'to'making'kids'and'education'our'nation’s' top'priority.'' “We'have'a'simple'mission:'to'make'kids'and'education'the'nation’s'top'priority,”'said'James'P.' Steyer,'Founder'and'CEO'of'Common'Sense.'“To'ensure'America'remains'the'world’s'economic' leader,'we'must'invest'in'the'education,'health'and'overall'wellLbeing'kids'need'to'succeed.”''
“This'begins'with'making'sure'that'every'American'child'has'the'right'start'in'life'and'access'to' quality'early'education'opportunities,”'Steyer'said.'“It'means'we'must'wire'every'classroom'and' every'home'for'highLquality'broadband'so'that'all'teachers'and'parents'have'the'technology'tools' they'need'to'improve'learning'and'get'kids'focused'on'college'and'career.'And'it'means'ensuring'all' kids'are'held'to'high'standards'that'reKlect'the'complex'demands'of'the'world'they'are'going'to' inherit.'Common'Sense'Kids'Action'is'working'to'ensure'that'no'decision'is'made'in'this'country' without'thinking'about'children'and'their'education'Kirst.”' With'over'65'million'Common'Sense'Media'users'and'200,000'educators'using'the'Common'Sense' Education' platform,' the' introduction' of' an' expanded' grassroots' advocacy' apparatus' through' Common' Sense' Kids' Action' will' allow' onLtheLground' engagement' of' millions' of' parents' and' teachers'with'the'power'to'drive'advocacy'and'organizing'in'all'50'states'in'an'effort'to'prepare'kids' for'the'21st'Century.' Common'Sense'Kids'Action’s'expanded'advocacy'and'outreach'platform'is'backed'by'contributions' from'some'of'the'nation’s'foremost'leaders'in'education'and'children’s'wellbeing,'including:' •
Salesforce$Chairman$and$CEO$Marc$Benioff$and$his$wife$Lynne,'who'have'contributed' signiKicantly'to'early'childhood'efforts'in'California'and'around'the'nation.'
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TPG$Capital$Co@Founder$Bill$Price$and$his$wife$Eva,'who'have'contributed'to'critical'KL12' education'advocacy'efforts'in'California'and'across'the'nation.'
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Emerson$Collective,$which'works'with'a'range'of'partners'to'improve'our'nation’s'schools,' especially'for'disadvantaged'students.'
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'Advanced$Energy$Advocates$and$Philanthropists$Tom$Steyer$and$Kat$Taylor,$who'have' been'leaders'on'environmental'education,'and'advocates'for'clean'energy'job'creation'in' California'and'across'the'nation.$'
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Television$Producer$Emmy$Award$winner$Marcy$Carsey,'who'has'been'a'strong' advocate'of'public'education'in'California.'
Common' Sense' Kids' Action' will' promote' access' to' highLquality' digital' learning' experiences' with' wellLtrained' teachers;' ensure' all' kids' are' able' to' harness' the' power' of' technology,' while' also' keeping' their' personal' information' private' and' protected;' advocate' for' access' for' all' children$ to' highLquality' early' education' and' early' childhood' services;' and' Kight' to' reduce' the' highest' rate' of' childhood'poverty'in'40'years.' The'2015'rollout'will'focus'on'legislative'and'political'activities'in'California,'Washington,'D.C.'and' over' a' dozen' states' across' the' country' in' four' key' issue' areas:' early' childhood;' education' and' technology;'child'poverty'and'social'mobility,'and;'online'privacy'and'safety.'Activities'will'include:'' •
A$California$First$agenda:$With'policy'adopted'in'California'often'taken'up'federally'and' by' other' states,' the' 2015' California' agenda' will' include' the' launch' of' a' stateLbased' ConnectED' program' and' advocacy' for' legislation' including:' a' geolocation' bill' to' protect' student' privacy;' efforts' to' improve' early' childhood' services;' children’s' health' issues' (including' nutrition' and' access' to' affordable' health' care),' and' improving' California’s' curriculum' to' focus' on' career' technical' education,' workforce' development' and' teacher' training.'
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Multi@state$Advocacy$for$Kids$and$Education@$LILY:'The'policies'that'succeed'in'the' California'legislature'and'other'states'where'Common'Sense'Kids'Action'works'will'be'fastL tracked'through'other'states'through'the'creation'of'LILY$–$Let’s$Invest$Large$in$Youth,$a$ policy$franchising$apparatus'focused'on'furthering'policies'affecting'kids'and'education.' LILY'has'already'inKluenced'groundbreaking'student'privacy'legislation'in'twelve'states,'and' Common'Sense'Kids'Action'is'working'on'a'bill'in'Congress'as'well,'modeled'on'California’s' Student'Online'Personal'Information'Protection'Act'(SOPIPA)'that'Common'Sense'Media' helped'to'pass'last'year.'
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Early$Childhood$–$The$Right$Start$Commission:'The'launch'of'the'Right$Start$ Commission$to'improve'early'childhood'services'in'California'will'bring'together'leaders'in' education,'business,'and'public'policy'to'craft'a'viable'path'forward.'The'commission'will' create'an'early'childhood'blueprint'for'California'and'serve'as'a'model'framework'for'states' around'the'country.'The'full'announcement'of'the'Commission'and'its'members'will'be' made'in'May'2015.'
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Career$Technical$Education/Workforce$Development:'To'ensure'more'students' graduate'with'the'skills'they'will'need'to'succeed'in'careers'and'college,'Common'Sense' Kids'Action'will'advocate'for'an'expansion'of'career'pathway'programs'tied'to'the' workforce'development'needs'of'the'school’s'local'region.'Common'Sense'Kids'Action'will' pioneer'a'handsLon'curriculum'that’s'relevant'to'career'interests'so'that'students'become' more'engaged'and'less'likely'to'drop'out'of'school.''
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Environmental$Education:'Common'Sense'Kids'Action'believes'the'environment'should' be'a'key'element'of'a'successful'21st'Century'curriculum'–'it'is'where'the'jobs'are.'We'will' build'upon'pioneering'efforts'in'states'like'California'and'New'York'to'enhance'students’' access'to'learning'opportunities'about'science,'which'explains'humanity’s'impact'on'the' environment'and'our'ability'to'sustain'the'planet.'We'will'advocate'for'more'states'to'adopt' the'Next'Generation'Science'Standards'and'for'the'development'of'online,'bilingual' resources'that'are'focused'on'climate'change'and'environmental'justice.'
Common' Sense' Kids' Action' will' be' led' by' James' P.' Steyer,' a' nationally' renowned' expert' and' entrepreneur' on' issues' related' to' children’s' media' and' education' in' the' United' States.' He' is' Founder'and'Chief'Executive'OfKicer'of'Common'Sense'Media'and'the'CoLFounder'and'Chairman'of' Next'Generation.'He'was'founder'and'CEO'of'Children'Now'in'the'1980s'and'1990s.'And'Mr.'Steyer' is'also'a'nationally'known'author'and'awardLwinning'professor'at'Stanford'University.'' Common' Sense' Kids' Action' will' be' managed' by' a' staff' of' policy,' political' and' communications' experts'in'education'that'come'to'Common'Sense'Kids'Action'from'key'and'powerful'positions'in' state'and'national'government,'and'an'advisory'board'of'thought'leaders'from'across'the'country.' The' Common' Sense' Kids' Action' Advisory' Board' will' draw' upon' the' knowledge' and' expertise' of' political' and' communications' experts' on' both' sides' of' the' political' aisle' including' Nadine' Burke' Harris,'Mark'McKinnon,'Mike'McCurry,'Angela'Glover'Blackwell,'Steve'Schmidt,'and'Joel'Benenson.'''' For'more'information'on'Common'Sense'Kids'Action,'visit'our'website.' ###' About$Common$Sense$Kids$Action$ Common'Sense'Kids'Action'is'an'independent,'nonLpartisan'and'powerful'voice'whose'mission'is'to' make'kids'and'education'America’s'top'priority.'Common'Sense'Kids'Action'works'with'national' and'state'leaders'to'advance'policies'that'help'ensure'every'child'has'the'opportunity'to'succeed'in' the'21st'century.'Common'Sense'Kids'Action'has'committed'to'advancing'a'21st'Century'Kids'and'
Education'agenda—an'agenda'that'includes'ensuring'that'all'children'0L5'have'access'to'vital'health' and'education'resources,'advancing'21st'century'learning,'alleviating'the'damaging'effects'of' poverty,'and'protecting'children’s'online'privacy.'Learn'more'at'the'Common'Sense'Kids'Action' website.'
CONFIDENTIAL DRAFT: NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION Updated: March 17, 2015
Common Sense Kids Action Common Sense Kids Action has a simple mission: to make kids and education our nation’s top priority. Whether in school or at home, we must ensure our kids have the 21st century skills and supports they need to succeed. Common Sense Kids Action expands on the advocacy initiatives of Common Sense Media, a national nonprofit organization that is the country’s leading independent and trusted voice for improving the media landscape for kids and their families. Common Sense reaches 65 million homes, over 80,000 schools, and more than 200,000 teachers. Now, Common Sense Kids Action is hitting the ground with a three-pronged approach to make sure we finally put children and their education first. In California, in Washington, D.C., and in states across the country, we’ve already launched a well-funded and dynamic advocacy campaign in four key policy areas: making early childhood services better and more available, improving K-12 education, protecting student privacy, and reducing child poverty. We’re taking model legislation we helped to enact in California and franchising it across the country to ensure that the data students disclose while in school is not used against them by marketers. We’re using innovative and creative strategies to engage the millions of Common Sense’s users to become advocates for our kids and schools. And we’ll hold lawmakers accountable for the actions they take—or fail to take—on behalf of our kids. INTEGRATE AND IMPROVE 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION, CURRICULUM, TECHNOLOGY • In California, we’re launching a state-based ConnectED program to take advantage of federal money available through the modernized E-Rate program to connect low-income schools to the Internet and we’re pushing for more state funds to connect schools. We’re also fighting to update California’s curriculum to focus on workforce development and modernize our systems of teacher preparation and professional development. • In Washington, D.C., we’re pushing for legislation to support teachers, principals, and administrators in using technology to help increase college and career readiness, close achievement gaps, and ensure all students can take full advantage of technology. And we’re working hard to bring the Internet to low-income homes to reduce the Homework Gap. • In states across the country, we will work with policymakers to identify ConnectED opportunities to ensure they can access funding through the new E-Rate program and to ensure all classrooms are wired to be digital classrooms. GUARANTEE THE RIGHT START: PROVIDE HIGH-QUALITY EARLY CHILDHOOD FOR ALL KIDS • In California, we’re convening a high-level commission of top business and civic leaders to develop a comprehensive plan to modernize California’s early childhood education and support systems, while also supporting efforts this year to provide more access to high-quality early childhood services. • In Washington, D.C., we’re playing a major role in the InvestInUS coalition to provide expanded access to affordable and high-quality early learning opportunities, and we’re pushing Congress to pass legislation this year to expand federal support for child care and pre-school for hard working families in need. • In states across the country, we’re leveraging our network of grassroots supporters to influence policymakers and collaborating with state-based organizations to expand access to high-quality early education for children in urban, suburban and rural communities. STRENGTHEN PRIVACY FOR KIDS, TEENS, AND CONSUMERS • In California, we’re supporting new legislation to prohibit mobile applications from collecting or sharing users’ geolocation unless they provide clear notice and obtain the user’s affirmative express consent. • In Washington, D.C., we’re pushing for passage of the Student Digital Privacy and Innovation Act, mirroring as closely as possible California’s landmark Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA) legislation, and playing a leading role in a national coalition to promote enhanced privacy and consumer protections for kids. • In states across the country, we’re working hand-in-hand with policymakers to pass versions of California’s SOPIPA legislation. Our efforts will reach nine of the top ten media markets in the country and propel student privacy to a new level of national awareness. REDUCE CHILD POVERTY, INCREASE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, AND IMPROVE SOCIAL MOBILITY • In California, Washington, D.C., and across the country, we’re working to drive bold new legislative and legal strategies to raise children out of poverty and level the playing field for kids from all backgrounds. We’re fighting to promote programs that are proven to work, building coalitions for innovative new strategies, and educating policymakers about the urgent need to fight the highest rate of children’s poverty in 40 years. © 2015 Common Sense Media
CONFIDENTIAL DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT DISTRIBUTE Updated: April 10, 2015
Common Sense Kids Action California Agenda Common Sense Kids Action has a simple mission: to make kids and education our nation’s top priority. We must ensure our schools are equipped for 21st century learning and our students have the skills and supports they need to succeed. To achieve this goal, Common Sense Kids Action will pursue the following California agenda: GUARANTEE THE RIGHT START: PROVIDE HIGH-QUALITY EARLY CHILDHOOD FOR ALL OUR KIDS
• Convene top business and civic leaders to develop a comprehensive plan to modernize and improve California’s early childhood education and support systems. • Support legislation to increase access to high-quality early childhood programs. • Support initiatives to professionalize the teaching and care of young children. INTEGRATE AND IMPROVE 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION, CURRICULUM, TECHNOLOGY
• California ConnectED: Improving K-12 Education Technology
• Launch a California ConnectED program to ensure the state can take advantage of the Federal Communications Commission’s modernized E-Rate program. • Support Governor Brown’s proposed budget of $1.1 billion for state standards implementation and $100 million for needed school Internet connectivity and infrastructure. • Ensure all future school bond proposals include funding streams for modern technology in our K-12 classrooms. • Facilitate the training of students, teachers, and parents on effective and safe use of the Internet.
• Modernizing the Curriculum and Workforce Development • Foster business/industry engagement in education and workforce development programs, such as the Career Pathways Trust and other grant programs that link high schools, community colleges, and regional employers. • Advocate for efforts to expand the availability of turnkey A-G approvable curriculum sequences aligned with the new state standards in regional high-growth and emerging job sectors, including green energy jobs and the environment, with a focus on increased access for communities of color. • Create a business leader council to engage businesses with workforce development needs. • Support efforts to broaden the curriculum to restore the arts, science, and civics. • Support the implementation of the California state standards and assessments. • Reestablish California Digital Literacy/Citizenship Week into an annual event; support a badge for digital citizenship.
• Modernizing Teacher Preparation and Professional Development • Support proposals in the legislature and with the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to modernize preK-12 teacher training, professional development, and evaluation. • Build a curriculum for training teachers about technology and digital citizenship. • Create professional development and teacher certification programs in education technology (including a badge for the teaching certificate). STRENGTHEN PRIVACY FOR KIDS, TEENS, AND CONSUMERS
• Support legislation (SB 576, Leno) to prohibit mobile applications from collecting or sharing users’ geolocation unless they provide clear notice and obtain the user’s affirmative express consent. • Oppose efforts to weaken the landmark 2014 Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA). REDUCE CHILD POVERTY, INCREASE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, AND IMPROVE SOCIAL MOBILITY
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Improve student access to school breakfast programs. Ensure children have adequate vision care in their early and school years. Support efforts to improve the health and safety of children. Support initiatives to ensure California’s children have access to quality mental health services.
© 2015 Common Sense Media
CONFIDENTIAL DRAFT: NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION Updated: March 30, 2015
Common Sense Kids Action State Advocacy Program Common Sense Kids Action will aggressively target and advance state legislation throughout the country in 2015 to accomplish our mission: to make kids and education our nation’s top priority. Common Sense Kids Action builds upon the work of Common Sense Media, a national nonprofit organization reaching over 65 million homes and over 80,000 schools that is dedicated to helping kids thrive in a world of media and technology. For over 11 years, Common Sense Media has been the country’s leading independent advocate for improving the media landscape for kids and their families. Beginning in 2013, Common Sense Media led the effort to pass SOPIPA (the Student Online Personal Information Privacy Act) and Eraser Button Act in California, two industry–leading child privacy regulations. 2015 STATE ADVOCACY PROGRAM LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
• Guarantee the Right Start: Provide High-Quality Early Childhood for All Our Kids: We are working with policymakers, and like-minded organizations, to expand high-quality early education programs with the goal of making them accessible to all of our nation’s children. There is ample evidence that high-quality early learning experiences are key to every child’s long-term chances of success. Common Sense Kids Action advocates for early education as one of the best investments our nation can make in its future. • Reduce Child Poverty, Increase Economic Opportunity, and Improve Social Mobility: Common Sense Kids Action will drive bold new legislative and legal strategies to raise children out of poverty. For generations, education has been a ladder of opportunity in America, breaking down socio-economic barriers and leveling the playing field for kids from all backgrounds. Over 20% of American children currently live in poverty—the highest rate of poverty in 40 years. • ConnectED: Improving K-12 Education Technology: Common Sense Kids Action will work with policymakers to identify federal funding opportunities made available through the Federal Communications Commission’s ConnectED and E-Rate programs. We will also work to ensure all classrooms are wired to be digital classrooms and that our students will gain experience with the skills they’ll need to succeed in the 21st century. • Strengthen Privacy for Kids, Teens, and Consumers: We work with legislators nationwide in support of policies that empower parents and students to harness the power of technology while keeping personal information private and protected. To realize the potential of educational technology, we need a trusted online environment where educators can harness technology and students can learn and explore without fear that their personal information will be exploited for commercial purposes or fall into the wrong hands. 2015 STATE ADVOCACY PROGRAM TARGET STATES
Building from a network that reaches over 65 million homes, 80,000 schools, 209,000 educators, and 900,000 advocates, Common Sense Kids Action will work as a nonpartisan organization with policymakers nationwide in support of policies to provide every child with the opportunity to succeed in the 21st century. Common Sense Kids Action has assisted legislative action in California, Illinois, Oregon, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Vermont, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Washington, Iowa, and Maine in 2015. Legislation remains pending in New York and Texas. © 2015 Common Sense Media
CONFIDENTIAL DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT DISTRIBUTE Updated: April 10, 2015
Common Sense Kids Action Federal Policy Agenda Common Sense Kids Action has a simple mission: to make kids and education our nation’s top priority. We must ensure our schools are equipped for 21st century learning and our students have the skills and supports they need to succeed. To achieve this goal, Common Sense Kids Action will pursue the following federal policy agenda: GUARANTEE THE RIGHT START: ENSURE HIGH-QUALITY EARLY CHILDHOOD FOR ALL OUR KIDS
• Play a major role in the InvestinUS coalition to promote expanded access to affordable and high quality early learning opportunities for all children ages 0 to 5. Common Sense is a founding member of the coalition that includes the White House, private businesses, national organizations, and law enforcement. • Support early childhood initiatives in Congress. Common Sense has joined forces with advocates in Washington to support new policy and funding streams for pre-k in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to expand access to high quality early childhood education. • Support the Obama Administration’s FY ’16 budget request to expand access to affordable child care for low-income and middle class working families. • Support continued congressional appropriations for high quality child care and high quality pre-k services for low-income 3 and 4 year olds. INTEGRATE AND IMPROVE 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION, CURRICULUM, TECHNOLOGY
• Promote the Enhancing Education Through Technology Education Act of 2015 (EETT), introduced by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) to support teachers, principals, and district administrators in using technology to increase college and career readiness, close achievement gaps, and engage all students and help school districts build a technology infrastructure to make sure schools take full advantage of what technology has to offer. • Support the Administration’s $200 million FY ’16 budget request for EETT. STRENGTHEN PRIVACY FOR KIDS, TEENS, AND CONSUMERS
• Promote passage of student privacy legislation in Congress closely modeled on California’s landmark 2014 Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA), working with Reps. Luke Messer (R-IN) and Jared Polis (D-CO) to ensure K-12 students are not victims of inappropriate marketing and social profiling. • Support modernization of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) by working with House Education & Workforce Committee members to ensure the outdated, 40–year–old law is updated to protect families’ rights and student privacy in a world of digital records and education technology. • Promote enhanced privacy and consumer protections for kids and teens by working with the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Commerce, other policymakers, industry, and stakeholders on regulations, policies and practices regarding big data, data brokers, facial recognition, and other 21st Century privacy and protection issues. REDUCE CHILD POVERTY, INCREASE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, AND IMPROVE SOCIAL MOBILITY
• Reduce the digital divide and the homework gap through expanded broadband and WiFi to low-income homes and schools by working directly with the Federal Communications Commission and Congress to modernize the Lifeline program and to increase states’ and school’ participation in the newly expanded E-Rate program. • Support extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program to ensure coverage for more than 8 million low-income children. • Support Sen. Bob Casey’s (D-PA) legislation to expand and make fully refundable the Child Care Tax Credit. • Oppose further federal budget cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. © 2015 Common Sense Media
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We need vigilance on student online privacy By JAMES P. STEYER APRIL 15, 2015
California has led the way on safeguarding student privacy. Last year, state lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown enacted the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act, a bill strongly supported by Common Sense Media that puts standards in place for new education technology tools. The measure passed with unanimous, bipartisan support and stands as a model for other states to follow when it comes to protecting our kids’ personal information, such as Social Security numbers, health records, disciplinary information, family financial details and other sensitive data. It puts important standards in place to protect the privacy rights of students and their families. But no sooner was the ink dry on this milestone measure than the technology companies ramped up their lobbying and campaign spending and went to work trying to weaken it. The latest sneak attack comes from Assemblyman Ian Calderon, who has proposed a new bill that would gut protections for California students. Assembly Bill 817 would open the door to all manner of sharing and selling of students’ educational data, making sensitive information vulnerable to advertisers, marketers and data brokers, not to mention hackers. Related Through Calderon’s measure, tech companies are essentially seeking a license to sell students’ personal information obtained through their K-12 online services, websites and apps to market all kinds of products and services. This is what the law enacted last year was specifically designed to prohibit. It already permits K-12 online companies to market to parents so long as the marketing did not result from the use of a student’s personal information. That, apparently, is not enough for some companies, who want to be able to exploit students’ personal information without any restrictions or limitations. Polls and recent press reports demonstrate that the potential for the misuse of student data is of deep concern to parents and the general public. This is not the time for California to weaken the protections our students receive. Calderon’s measure is a reminder of the increased vigilance required to maintain our fundamental right to privacy. It’s a shame that Calderon, who has received thousands of dollars in contributions from the tech industry, is now doing their bidding instead of protecting the rights of our students and their families.
We must continue the fight against powerful interests working to create and exploit loopholes in the law that will allow them to market to our children. We strongly urge the Legislature to stop this bill in its tracks. James P. Steyer is CEO and founder of Common Sense Media, an advocacy group based in San Francisco.
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Group Presses for Safeguards on the Personal Data of Schoolchildren By NATASHA SINGER
OCTOBER 13, 2013
A leading children’s advocacy group is challenging the educational technology software industry, an estimated $8 billion market, to develop national safeguards for the personal data collected about students from kindergarten through high school. In a letter sent last week to 16 educational technology vendors — including Google Apps for Education, Samsung School, Scholastic and Pearson Schoolnet — Common Sense Media, an advocacy group in San Francisco that rates children’s videos and apps for age appropriateness, urged the industry to use student data only for educational purposes, and not for marketing products to children or their families. “We believe in the power of education technology, used wisely, to transform learning,” said James P. Steyer, the chief executive of the group. “But students should not have to surrender their privacy at the schoolhouse door.” Tim Drinan, a Google spokesman, said that advertising was turned off by default in Google Apps for Education products like document-sharing and e-mail, though the system does scan students’ e-mail in some of the ways it would if ads were turned on, to provide services like spam and virus protection. He declined to comment specifically on the group’s letter. School districts across the country are increasingly adopting digital technologies that collect details about students’ achievements, activities, absences, disabilities and learning styles in an effort to tailor instruction to the individual child. The hope is that personalized, data-driven education will ultimately improve students’ graduation rates and career prospects.
Many school districts, however, are using student assessment software and other services without placing sufficient restrictions on the use of children’s personal details by companies, experts in education privacy law say. Parents may not be aware of the security and privacy risks to their children, these experts say, because schools are not required to notify parents or obtain their consent before sharing student’s details with vendors who perform institutional functions. New research on how school districts handle the transfer of student data to companies, for instance, has found that administrators have signed contracts without clauses to protect personal details like children’s contact information, age ranges or where they wait for school buses every morning. Researchers at Fordham University School of Law in New York are reporting, for example, that certain school districts’ contracts for cafeteria service payment features on student ID cards would allow companies to collect, store, share and sell information on everything a student buys and eats at school. That could have implications for students’ families. “Companies could sell that information to advertisers or insurance companies,” said Joel R. Reidenberg, a law professor at Fordham and the lead researcher on the report, whose findings his team plans to publish next month. “Because a kid drinks a lot of soda, a family might have to pay higher insurance premiums or have trouble getting dental insurance.” Schools are sharing student data with more educational technology providers and with other companies, he said, partly to keep up with mounting student testing and reporting requirements and partly to keep down internal technology costs. That outsourcing has been made easier because of changes to federal regulation under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. That law requires schools to obtain a parent’s permission before sharing information in their children’s records. But the Education Department updated its rules in 2008, allowing schools to disclose student information to contractors and other outside parties to whom they outsource school functions — without notifying parents. Common Sense Media hopes to prompt educational technology executives and education officials to institute national standards for the sharing and use of student data. Mr. Steyer said he was particularly concerned about sensitive details like students’ health, disabilities, disciplinary records, demographics, financial status and family situations. “We are challenging the industry and educators to get this right upfront now, in contrast to consumer data where industry made all of the rules and shaped them in the best interests of the industry,” Mr. Steyer said. “We don’t think it should work that way with student data.” Some states are pursuing student data transparency and privacy legislation. This year, Oklahoma enacted a law that requires the state Board of Education to publicly post a list of the kinds of data it collects about individual students and to develop detailed student data privacy policies and security measures. The New York State Assembly recently passed a bill that prohibits schools from sharing personally
identifiable data about students without parental consent. “This protects families about certain issues that may not be appropriate for the world to know for the rest of your life,” said Assemblyman Daniel J. O’Donnell, a Democrat representing the Upper West Side of Manhattan, who sponsored the bill. But Senator Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who has been a staunch advocate of children’s privacy, said federal standards were needed to ensure that parents have access to and control over information in their children’s educational records. “It’s clear to me that parents, not schools, have the right to control their children’s information, even if it’s in the hands of private companies,” Mr. Markey said in a phone interview on Friday. “I am going to ask the Department of Education to lay out specific guidelines to protect students from having their records compromised.” ! !
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Teaching About Web Includes Troublesome Parts By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD
APRIL 8, 2010
MILPITAS, Calif. — When Kevin Jenkins wanted to teach his fourth-grade students at Spangler Elementary here how to use the Internet, he created a site where they could post photographs, drawings and surveys. And they did. But to his dismay, some of his students posted surveys like “Who’s the most popular classmate?” and “Who’s the best-liked?” Mr. Jenkins’s students “liked being able to express themselves in a place where they’re basically by themselves at a computer,” he said. “They’re not thinking that everyone’s going to see it.” The first wave of parental anxiety about the Internet focused on security and adult predators. That has given way to concerns about how their children are acting online toward friends and rivals, and what impression their online profiles might create in the minds of college admissions officers or future employers. Incidents like the recent suicide of a freshman girl at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts after she was bullied online and at school have reinforced the notion that
many children still seem unaware how the Internet can transform typical adolescent behavior — cliquish snubs, macho boasts, sexual flirtations, claims about drinking and drugs — into something not only public, but also permanent. The South Hadley case is leading some states to reexamine their laws against bullying; while more than 40 states address the issue, they tend to focus on punishment, not prevention. Mr. Jenkins this year began using lessons from Common Sense Media, which cautions students to consider their online behavior before they get into trouble. Financed largely by foundation money, Common Sense will offer a free curriculum to schools this fall that teaches students how to behave online. New York City and Omaha have decided to offer it; Denver, the District of Columbia, Florida, Los Angeles, Maine and Virginia are considering it. “You want to light a fire under someone’s fanny?” said Liz Perle, editor in chief of Common Sense Media. “Have your child post something that is close to a hate crime.” And the Internet is where children are growing up. The average young person spends seven and a half hours a day with a computer, television or smart phone, according to a January study from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Considering that the time is mostly outside of school, the results suggest that almost every extracurricular hour is devoted to online life. Common Sense’s classes, based on research by Howard Gardner, a Harvard psychology and education professor, are grouped into topics he calls “ethical fault lines”: identity (how do you present yourself online?); privacy (the world can see everything you write); ownership (plagiarism, reproducing creative work); credibility (legitimate sources of information); and community (interacting with others). Raquel Kusunoki, a sixth-grade teacher at Spangler, recently asked Mr. Jenkins, now an educational technology specialist for the school district, to teach Common Sense classes to her students. The class listened as Mr. Jenkins read a story about a girl who got annoyed when her parents quizzed her about details from her online journal. Lucas Navarrete, 13, asked, “What’s their right to read her personal stuff?” “Maybe they’re worried,” suggested Morgan Windham, a soft-spoken girl. “It’s public!” argued Aren Santos.
“O.K., O.K., if it was a personal diary and they read it, would you be happy?” Lucas asked. “They have no right, see?” Mr. Jenkins asked the class if there is a difference between a private diary on paper and a public online diary. But the class could not agree. “I would just keep it to myself and tell only people that were really, really close to me,” Cindy Nguyen said after class. “We want to have our personal, private space.” That blurred line between public and private space is what Common Sense tries to address. “That sense of invulnerability that high school students tend to have, thinking they can control everything, before the Internet there may have been some truth to that,” said Ted Brodheim, chief information officer for the New York City Department of Education. “I don’t think they fully grasp that when they make some of these decisions, it’s not something they can pull back from.” Common Sense bases all its case studies on real life, and insists on the students’ participation. “If you just stand up and deliver a lecture on intellectual property, it has no meaning for the kids,” said Constance M. Yowell, director of education for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which has provided financing. But some media experts say that in focusing on social issues, Common Sense misses some of the larger, structural problems facing children online. “We can’t make the awareness of Web issues solely person- and relationship-centered,” said Joseph Turow, a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Children should learn things like what a cookie or a Web virus is, and how corporations profit from tracking consumers online, he said. In San Francisco, the Schools of the Sacred Heart, related boys’ and girls’ schools, met with parents earlier this year to discuss their Common Sense pilot program with Sister Anne Wachter, the head of the girls’ school. “The messes they get into with friends, or jumping onto someone’s site and sending a message,” she said. “They don’t know, sometimes, how to manage the social, emotional stuff that comes up.” Crowded into a basement math classroom, the parents listened to a teacher, Bill Jennings, discuss lessons he had been trying. In front of Sister Wachter and the parents, many of whom are Catholic, he gave an example of a social-networking message the girls might see about a new student: “Amy is a slut; her mom’s a whore.” There was startled silence from the parents. “If I came up with five scenarios for Maya, they’d probably be so far from that — they’re not calling someone’s mother a whore,” said Sheila Chatterjee, a parent of a seventh
grader. “But the language of that is what they hear,” Mr. Jennings said. “It’s authentic,” Ms. Chatterjee agreed. Shirin Oshidari, who has a son in seventh grade, said this lesson seemed obvious. “To me, it’s exactly how you behave person to person,” she said. “Everything you write, the college you want to go to, they will see it. And the job you want to get, they will see it.” Jaime Dominguez, the head of the boys school, said: “The hard part is, as adults we see that connection. They don’t.” ! !
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Video game industry's public enemy No. 1 By ALEX PHAM
NOVEMBER 02, 2010
Jim Steyer, founder of Common Sense Media, lobbies zealously on behalf of a California law that bans the sale of violent games to minors. Video games are replete with gangsters, zombies and other evil characters. But for the industry that makes those games, its scariest foe is Jim Steyer. A longtime children's advocate, Steyer has taken up the flag against the game industry and lobbied zealously on behalf of a California law that bans the sale of violent games to minors. The law, which was struck down by lower federal courts as unconstitutional, is scheduled for a hearing Tuesday in the U.S. Supreme Court. For Steyer, the hearing is the culmination of a life's work tackling what he sees as a major health hazard endangering kids. His nonprofit organization, Common Sense Media, is a respected authority on the effects of media and technology on young users, with its articles, reviews and advice columns reaching millions of parents a month. Game industry executives decline to comment openly about Steyer and his group. But in a strategy memo on tackling the California law, George Rose, Activision Blizzard Inc.'s chief public policy officer and former general counsel, makes clear that Steyer and his group are in its sights. After interviewing several state attorneys general who opposed the California law banning the sale of violent games to minors, Rose wrote in the July memo that the attorneys general "received far more calls from Steyer and his associates than anyone else" and that "one of their main advices was to neutralize Common Sense Media. They see it as the main enemy." Steyer's reaction: Bring it on. "I'm glad they see us as the enemy, because we are," Steyer said, speaking in characteristic rapid-fire declarative sentences. "And we're right. Because our lens is kids. Theirs is profit maximization. Sex and violence sells. Somebody has to stand up against that. It's David against Goliath. And we will win." Although the $25-billion U.S. video game industry may fit the role of Goliath, Steyer isn't a lone David. Within minutes of meeting someone, he has a habit of carpetbombing the person with well-connected names he calls "friends of Jim."
Common Sense Media's 21-member board includes Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former President Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; Gene T. Sykes, head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s technology, media and entertainment investment banking group; former Federal Communications Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate; and John H.N. Fisher, managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. "Anybody who goes up against Jim will find that he's a formidable opponent because of the backing he has," said Wendy Lazarus, co-president of the Children's Partnership in Santa Monica, who worked with Steyer in 1988 when he founded Children Now, a child advocacy group in Oakland. Steyer's advocacy streak came from his mother, a Brooklyn, N.Y., schoolteacher who would occasionally bring him to class as her teaching assistant. "His whole focus on kids comes from his close relationship with his mother," said Mike Tollin, a Hollywood film and television producer who was Steyer's housemate at Stanford when the two were undergraduates. "She was the kind of woman who would sit you down, ask you how things were, and you felt like you needed to tell her the truth." Steyer, whose father was a corporate lawyer, took after his mother in one other respect. "My mom would find the crappiest teams and root for them," said Steyer's younger brother, Tom Steyer. "In life, Jim instinctively roots for the underdog." The underdog for Steyer has always been kids. After starting Children Now, Steyer noticed a dearth of high-quality educational TV programs for kids. So he started JP Kids in 1996, a for-profit company that produced such shows as "The Famous Jett Jackson," which aired on the Disney Channel. As research for his 2002 book, "The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media's Effect on Our Children," Steyer interviewed former President Clinton, who suggested that Steyer start an organization to help parents decode the dizzying array of media and technologies available to children. That became the seed for Common Sense Media, which Steyer founded in 2003. The San Francisco organization has two facets. The first is editorial. The group has generated more than 13,000 reviews of games, movies, TV shows, websites and books written for parents interested in their contents. It has also created hundreds of advice articles and videos for parents on topics such as online safety for children and cellphone use. The second function of Common Sense Media is advocacy. Steyer has gravitated to topics that grab attention. His book, "The Other Parent," condemns a movie and television culture that glorifies violence and turns children's entertainment into nonstop commercials. "Jim's got a great gut instinct about where the action is on issues that affect kids," said Lazarus of the Children's Partnership.!
