Overview

From 2016 to 2018, IFFPS implemented a variety of tactics to advocate around student privacy. In 2016-2017, they focused on contacting policymakers, creating information toolkits and speaking at policy hearings. In 2018, they shifted tactics and wrote a SOPPA reform by collaborating with the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, and then got this bill backed by Senator Durbin. The bill passed in 2019, and the organization continues to organize around this issue, mainly attempting to spread awareness around the issue of student privacy.

2016

Over the past four years, IFFPS has been working to pass bills that further protect student information and create greater transparency for parents about how student data is used. The organization has kept student privacy at the forefront of its legislative agenda, citing how technology companies are set up to benefit greatly from the commercialization of student data and the uncertainty around the impact of sharing student data as key reasons for organizing around this issue (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2019a). One of their biggest accomplishments was writing and passing a revision of SOPPA which made it the most far-reaching law in Illinois regarding student privacy protection (The Adoption Of SOPPA May Provide A Tough Lesson For Schools That Fail To Comply, n.d.). The passing of this revision stemmed from a long effort to reform SOPPA that started in 2016, when IFFPS director Cassie Creswell testified at the federal Commission on Evidence-based Policy hearing in the Midwest. This commission was meant to increase the availability and use of government data for policymaking and Cresswell testified on behalf of IFFPS as well as five other grassroots organizations eager to amend SOPPA (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2017a). This strategy was powerful not only because Cresswell brought student privacy to the attention of policymakers, but also because she was backed by five local grassroots organizations, emphasizing the community’s desire for amendments. Along with this, IFFPS also posted information “toolkits” on their website to provide parents with the necessary information to contact their elected officials such as contact information and templates (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2016). Many of these updates incorporated parent contributions, such as a 2016 Christmas update, which provided parents with carols about education reform written by other parents. This not only gave parents practical information, but also emphasized the involvement of other parents with IFFPS, encouraging other parents to follow suit.

2017

In 2017, a revision to SOPPA was proposed that would make the bill more lenient and further cloud how student information is collected and used. In an attempt to stop this, IFFPS posted website updates that included links to witness slips that parents could fill out to oppose the revision (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2017b). Witness slips are a way for the public to state their position on a particular bill so lawmakers can view the public’s opinion (Illinois Witness Slip FAQ, 2019). IFFPS also created a mega-parent toolkit (Illinois Families for Public Schools, n.d.-b). This toolkit was about forty pages long and not only covered context on the issue and tips for how parents can protect their kids, but also provided tips on how to advocate for this issue by organizing in their schools and start petitions. This was a powerful tool as it helped mobilize parents to work on this issue within their own communities and advocate locally. Unfortunately, the law passed anyway (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2018b).

2018

In 2018, IFFPS shifted their tactics to create new policy instead of advocating against the old. They continued to ask parents to call and write their representatives, mainly through the Action Network Interface, which is a website that allows parents to quickly send letters to their representatives, but also wrote their own bill (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2018c). IFFPS worked with Rachael Stickland, who was part of the national group Parent Coalition for Student Privacy to write a revision of SOPPA that would give parents increased transparency about who has access to their student’s information (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2018b). After the bill was written, they reached out to parents through a website post to ask them to call their representatives and ask them to support the bill. IFFPS also got Senators Durbin to support the bill (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2018e). Cresswell and a group of volunteers continued to lobby for this bill throughout the year, even hosting a Springfield lobby day which was dedicated to advocating for the new student protection bill along with other causes (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2018d). Cassie Cresswell and some IFFPS parents also testified at the student-data privacy hearing in the IL HouseCybersecurity Committee (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2018f). Along with Cresswell, parents testified about their experience with security breaches and the treatment of parents who questioned the safety of their child’s information. A year later, in 2019, the bill was signed into law, making the revised SOPPA act the most far-reaching student privacy act to exist in Illinois (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2019c).

2019-2020

After the SOPPA reform passed, IFFPS continued to organize around this issue. In 2019, there was a massive security breach from Pearsons that placed the information of 80,000 students in Chicago at risk (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2019d). IFFPS supported families through this by providing information about which schools were affected and providing the contact information of attorneys working on the case against Pearsons. This revealed IFFPS commitment to families as they were quick to and aid affected families (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2019d). Along with this, IFFPS continued to post action items on their website such as asking parents to make calls to prevent the Illinois State Board of Education from signing a 22 million dollar contract with Pearsons (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2019b). They also hosted a data privacy day in which IFFPS encouraged parents to write all call their representatives to hold the College Board accountable for illegally selling student data (Illinois Families for Public Schools, 2020a)