School systems can now apply for a Trusted Learning Environment Seal, intended to demonstrate that they are taking appropriate steps to protect the privacy and security of sensitive student information.
The seal will be issued by the Consortium for School Networking, a group for school technology leaders. Also supporting the initiative are AASA, the School Superintendents Association; the Association of School Business Officials International; and ACSD.
Numerous statements of principle, guidance documents, industry pledges, and toolkits related to the hot-button issue of student-data privacy have been released in recent years. But the new seal is different, CoSN leaders say, because it is meant both as a comprehensive guide for what school systems should be doing, and as a framework for how they can move beyond compliance with state and federal laws and begin implementing a set of “aspirational” practices.
