What is SOPPA?
From the Illinois Student Online Personal Protection Act:
Sec. 3. Legislative intent. Schools
today are increasingly using a wide range of beneficial online services
and other technologies to help students learn, but concerns have been
raised about whether sufficient safeguards exist to protect the privacy
and security of data about students when it is collected by educational
technology companies. This Act is intended to ensure that student data
will be protected when it is collected by educational technology
companies and that the data may be used for beneficial purposes such as
providing personalized learning and innovative educational technologies.
(Source: P.A. 100-315, eff. 8-24-17).
Recent Revisions to SOPPA go into effect on July 1, 2021.
Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA)
District 60 takes the privacy and online safety of our students very seriously. We have always taken steps to guard closely the student data collected within our networks or by the online resources we use in our schools. Effective July 1, 2021, all school districts will be required by the Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA) to provide additional guarantees that student data is protected when collected by educational technology companies and that the data is used for beneficial purposes only. The goal of SOPPA aligns with the goal of D60: increase transparency, protect student data and protect students.
The list includes the online services or applications that the District uses, the contracts signed by the District, and any data collected by those tools or by the District. The District regularly updates and verifies applications and tools.