Who We Are

Mission
The mission of the Connecticut Alliance for Privacy in Education (CAPE) is to protect the children, students, families, and educators of Connecticut by addressing the risks associated with the collection of student data and other educational records.  CAPE will lead a coalition of parents, advocate organizations, educators, and other stakeholders to heighten the awareness of student data privacy, provide policy guidelines for those who interact with educational records, and enact state legislation ensuring greater transparency and security of student information.   

Rationale                                  
The issue of student data transparency and security is of national concern that touches every citizen of our state. Connecticut is among a minority of states that have yet to enact legislation pertaining to the protection and use of student data, leaving our children and families inadequately protected.

There is great potential for the appropriate use of student data to bring positive outcomes for our children and students.  However, the use of student data also brings with it immense responsibility and great risk to the safety and civil liberties of children and families. Policymakers, educators, parents, and communities must ensure that all individuals and entities who have access to student data take steps to protect children.  Together we must ensure that appropriate protections, safeguards, rules, and regulations are established to guarantee data security and privacy for students and their families.

Therefore, the Connecticut Alliance for Privacy in Education (CAPE) is leading a coalition of organizations that have come together to protect student privacy.  CAPE will work tirelessly to ensure that all individuals and entities who have access to student data establish appropriate contractual and technical protections, and provide transparency by informing students’ families to whom, and for what purpose, their children’s information is being disclosed. 

CAPE serves as the umbrella for this much needed conversation, which will provide greater insight into the issues surrounding student data privacy and how we together can act to provide a much more transparent and secure digital environment for the children, families, and citizens of Connecticut.

Objectives
To enact a Student Data Transparency and Security Law in the State of Connecticut for all students from preschool to grad school. To provide information to parents, educators, and community leaders regarding strategies and practices that can protect student privacy and educational records.

Goals

  • Raise awareness regarding student data and the potential risks the misuse or negligence of data protections pose to safety and civil liberties of our states children, students’ families, and educators.
  • Build awareness among stakeholders regarding student data collection, protection, storage, transmission, access, use, and destruction.
  • Provide greater notice and transparency to parents and students regarding what data is collected on them and their children and the purpose for which it is collected.
  • Enact legislation that ensures consistent policies are followed among those who collect and use student data and its various components, and that addresses critical data security concerns including:
    1. Notice
    2. Transparency
    3. Consent
    4. Access and use
    5. Technical and Contractual Security provisions
    6. Surveillance, search and seizure
    7. Breach, misuse, and unauthorized access
    8. FERPA
    9. Third party vendors and their subcontractors
    10. State agency data systems
    11. Enforcement and oversight
  • Establish a Students Digital Bill of Rights that puts students and parents back in control of their data and provides them with due process.
To our advantage much of this work has been accomplished in other states, allowing us to learn from their achievements and to improve upon their shortcomings. We look forward to engaging in this complex and necessary conversation with the many organizations and individuals who serve the children and students of our state as we come together to inform, to protect and to advocate for a student data transparency and security law in Connecticut.