Jonathan F. (Jon) Duncan, Wednesday, April 13, 2011 | Filed under: Technology, Education Records, Student Privacy
Late last week, the U.S. Department of Education proposed amendments to regulations implementing FERPA. The changes are designed to allow use of data gathered in statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDS). Specifically, the proposed amendments would allow authorized representatives of state governments to access the data for purposes of evaluating academic programs, while still protecting the privacy of education records. Details of the proposed language and the anticipated impacts can be found
here.
Comments on the proposal must be provided by May 23, 2011. Instructions for submitting a comment are set forth in the Federal Register at the link above.
Jonathan F. (Jon) Duncan, Wednesday, November 10, 2010 | Filed under: Technology
On November 9, the U.S. Department of Education released its National Education Technology Plan. The full title is "Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology." A copy of the Plan, together with related information, is available
here. The Plan is the result of 18 months of work by educators, government officials, members of the public and representatives from industry groups. They were charged with the task of drafting a vision for transforming the use of technology in classrooms across the country. To that end, the Plan lays out goals in the areas of learning, asessment, teaching, infrastructure and productivity. The aim is to achieve the goals by 2015. It is also important to note that the Plan, while focused on new technologies, recognizes the primary importance of good and effective teachers.