Up until he had this one teacher, he was a good student. For 10 years in the public school system, he and been in the top 5% of his class.
Then, he was put in a tenth grade government with a Tea Party ideologue as the teacher. Being a good student, he challenged her assertions: that climate change was liberal propaganda; that SNAP was a communist program, that Medicare and Medicaid needed to be eliminated, that the markets were the sole determination of character, that we needed to get rid of every environmental law, that blacks were born dumb and no schooling would rectify that, that Mexicans needed to be gassed in concentration camps because it was too expensive to ship them back…
This was the first year of inBloom and every teacher was asked to fill out data on each of their students. There were 400 data fields that needed to be filled out, including grades, attendance records, academic subjects, course levels, disabilities. Administrators can also upload certain details that students or parents may be comfortable sharing with teachers, but not with unknown technology vendors. InBloom’s data elements, for instance, include family relationships (“foster parent” or “father’s significant other” or “mother’s fourth husband”) and reasons for enrollment changes (“withdrawn due to illness” or “leaving school as a victim of a serious violent incident”)
One privacy lawyer, said she was particularly troubled by the disciplinary details that could be uploaded to inBloom because its system included subjective designations like “perpetrator,” “victim” and “principal watch list.”
And that is what happened to our former good student. He is now in prison.
Did you know that solely because of Common Core, that parents no longer control their child’s data if it was gathered electronically? As in the case of this student, they don’t even know what is stored under his name in Amazon’s cloud, and from there, it can spread now far as the eye can see… Future colleges! Future employers! Future Advertisers! Remember all those privacy forms you have to sign? They are only valid for information on paper. When it comes to electronics, they simply “Do Not Apply!”
In Delaware, thank Dave Sokola.
kavips 
19 comments
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October 14, 2013 at 8:19 am
anonymous
Delaware did not opt in to the new Common Core data mining system. You can call the DOE and ask them yourself, the current system will still be in place for Delaware students.
October 14, 2013 at 9:18 am
kavips
Then please help explain this….
http://checkbook.delaware.gov/
Click on Vendor/Payee
Type in Wireless Generation
For 2013/2014….
35 payments $3,935,052.00
October 14, 2013 at 9:33 am
anonymous
Wireless Generation is doing the digital curriculum for Delaware, not the data mining. The data mining will be exactly as it was under RTTT. Call the DOE, pick up the phone and call them. Ask them about the data mining.
October 14, 2013 at 9:41 am
anonymous
Look at FY2009. Delaware sent 28 check to Wireless Generation, Inc, dating back to the summer of 2008. How was Delaware paying for Common Core data mining before Common Core existed? Before Markell was Governor and before he got together with other states to develop CC? Riddle me that, Batman.
October 14, 2013 at 10:15 am
anonymous
Let me be clear here – I’m not a cheerleader for Common Core, I also have reservations, but when it comes to information on the program I go directly to the DOE and ask. They do answer.
Tea Party organizations like Freedomworks and Tea Party types like that dimwit who got 21% against Bryan Townsend are out there spreading false information about Common Core. Its part of their political agenda and has absolutely nothing to do with giving people an accurate accounting of what Common Core is or what it does. They really do not have the best interest of our children at heart, its all about their political agenda.
You have a platform that can be used to spread good, accurate information or you can use it to spread Tea Party propaganda. The first choice is by far the better choice.
I suggest you step back, find out what is and what is not true, and go from there. The best place to start is with the DOE.
October 14, 2013 at 3:12 pm
kavips
Forgive me for being skeptical.. But this week there is a forum in Dover in regards to the mining of Delaware’s students. So far, all I’ve seen is your admonition that mining will not be done. Against that there is a lot of contrary evidence.
Do you have sources? Other than the DOE which has not been the most trustworthy of entities lately? And while I’m at it, thank you for providing some insight. Links would help.
Here is the info….
The Delaware Education Reform Coalition has an upcoming public event they are holding next week.
They are holding their second public event, this one is focused on the data mining component of Common Core. They have renowned education “whistleblower” Beverly Eakman speaking on the topic of data mining.
Title: Department of Education’s End Game: They’re Not Your Children Anymore
Location: Elks Lodge (200 Saulsbury Rd., Dover, DE)
Time: Tuesday, October 15, 2013 from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Register for the event at: delawareedreform.eventbrite.com/
if what you said was true, I find it hard to believe this would be going forward…
October 14, 2013 at 3:24 pm
kavips
The more I look at this, the more unreasonable it sounds that Delaware does not mine information out of its students.
It is one of the principle requirements to get Federal Money. Delaware agreed to it, and got the money.
So how is it not being done? Are we taking the Federal money for it, and simply not following the Federal directive? If so, then why did we steal back money originally going to Christina District, because they also wisely refused to follow the unreasonable Federal guidelines?
The more one looks, the more it seems very hard to believe the DOE does nothing with all the information it as previously garnered….
October 14, 2013 at 6:31 pm
Joanne Christian
Thank you kavips for highlighting this. I plan to be there only because w/ the recent shift in FERPA to allow 3rd party access to student information–why wouldn’t the State want to “be in on it”!!! They don’t call it data mining for nothing. A GOLD MINE!!! Let’s see— insurance companies couldn’t redline by zip codes, but only after they already did. All of us w/ our “once confidential” social security numbers, now have to give it out like Kleenex–only to create a big WHOOPS–bad idea w/ major financial/identity theft.
Sure, the State will dismiss the fears w/ the brushover over “only interested parties to education, will be permitted……..” Oh please, here comes the marketeering from NIKE to DisneyWorld. All because by demographic/interest/scale/results “my child” would benefit………………
Not my first rodeo. Common Core may be here, and all other testing–but the RESULTS BELONG TO MY CHILD AND ME!!!!!!
From the sublime to the ridiculous. My elementary school kid’s scores everybody thinks it’s their business–under my roof, on my taxes. Yet, the blasted tribe I have at college, and am paying big bucks–I’m not ALLOWED BY LAW to hear a peep, or sneak a peek–because they aren’t minors. Go data mine that and let me know how they’re doing. 🙂 Better yet–how the college is doing!!
This educational digital thumbprint is going too far, and datamining can unfairly create your child’s educational DNA. So much for being a “late bloomer” heh?!
October 14, 2013 at 11:44 pm
anon
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/29/us-usa-education-database-idUSBRE94S0YU20130529
Looks like anonymous is right, Delaware isn’t data mining through inBloom.
October 14, 2013 at 11:49 pm
kavips
Thank you for finding that…. That is finally good to know.
October 15, 2013 at 5:29 am
anon
The Delaware Education Reform Coalition is comprised of Tea Party members like Evan Queitsch and the Caesar Rodney Institute. I’ve been following the information they put out about Common Core and it’s not accurate, and they’ve been told numerous times it’s not accurate.
These are just political wannabes trying to score points by scaring people. It’s the oldest trick in the book. Don’t fall for it.
October 15, 2013 at 9:45 am
kavips
True. That is who they are, but unlike other members of society, may I mention those associated with the RODEL organization, they do care about children.
They are carrying a very important fight forward: that education needs to be parent controlled… Society may invest and expand the opportunities, such as with choice, but parents need to be the ones to decide… not a lobbyist group for the governors. not a lobbyist group for the head of education in each state, not the lobbyists for private for-profit educational organizations.
Although those two you mentioned have been proven wrong on other things, on this one I would have to say, they picked the right cause.
October 15, 2013 at 9:47 am
Joanne Christian
Not a done deal, my dear. Remember we weren’t doing TFA either, because Delaware wasn’t considered high needs enough. Ask Red Clay how that worked out w/ a stroke of a pen. And the Reuters article only list Georgia as “officially” requesting removal.
We have a chance to be pre-emptive here in a stand. If somebody wants to make it partisan while all the kids information is compromised and shared–it’s just another sad day in our state and where education is going.
October 15, 2013 at 10:11 am
kavips
True. that. The whole Common Core and RTTT are soooo tainted politically. The are simple means designed to achieve an end, none of which has the child’s welfare at its heart.
October 15, 2013 at 10:35 am
Joanne Christian
I was at a Common Core event the group did–and CHALLENGED them publicly w/ a CRI speaker they brought in. I was livid the match that was lit unjustifiably–and later showed them WHY info. was skewed on some test data. They have maturely taken heed, and know this is an entangled process. All the more reason they want to remain non-partisan. Although, and rightly so, they have misgivings about Common Core–they are VERY JUSTIFIED in illuminating data mining. Learning from the past–they are bringing in the highly reputable, acknowledged expert, publisher etc. Beverly Eakman to lay out the case. Now that’s not teabagging or whatever political posturing anon would like to make this. I am going to be there, and I can spot an agenda w/ education or healthcare 6 miles out from a parking lot—because they are the 2 issues I won’t tolerate any politics to usurp credibility. Data mining is here. It’s just being aware Delaware/feds are grooming us for the eventuality, whether a checkbook, soundbyte, or pinky promise says they are not. Get real. Get in FRONT of it this time!!!
October 15, 2013 at 12:28 pm
anonymous
Just so you know, I rechecked the information about Delaware opting out with two sources today, the DOE and a local school board president. My information about Delaware opting out still stands as fact, Delaware will continue the data mining program it already has in place.
Ask CRI, Ms. Eakman and the tea party if they ever bothered to check beyond InBloom’s initial press release, which was overly optimistic.
October 15, 2013 at 12:53 pm
anonymous
If you follow the link you have in your story, it references a New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/business/deciding-who-sees-students-data.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
“Jefferson County is not the only place where parents have challenged the adoption of inBloom. Parents in Louisiana raised a ruckus after discovering that their children’s Social Security numbers had been uploaded to inBloom. In April, Louisiana officials said they would remove all student data from the database. Of the nine states that originally signed up this year to participate, just three — Colorado, New York and Illinois — are actively pursuing the service. ”
Even that article, which is the basis of the link in your story, tells you that Delaware isn’t opting in to the inBloom data mining system. That NYT article is from 11 days ago, so it’s up to date.
So the question is what will Ms. Eakman say during her presentation about inBloom and data mining in Delaware? If she is an expert as she’s being touted, then she will clearly tell the audience that Delaware has opted out of the inBloom data mining. My guess is that she will proceed with the scary narrative that Delaware is exploiting our children by allowing their information to be mined by inBloom.
October 15, 2013 at 1:56 pm
Joanne Christian
Well anonymous, as a former school board president I could have told you the very same thing….for this year. Yes, the information they are telling you is for THIS cycle of RTTT funding and commitment is absolutely true. That was the 4 year plan–remember that?–data coaches, etc? Going forward–past 2014 a whole new change up is on the horizon. So yes, they told you the truth for now. The rest of the story is still a year to 18 mos. away. So why bother telling you yet? And since I probably know most of the school board presidents in this state, I would be hard-pressed to believe it’s one who is very active beyond their monthly meeting, and any depth of knowledge w/ RTTT and Delaware’s role. I’ve seen the level of head nodding they have done to get us to THIS predicament, because of their lack of fact-finding and real participation. So again, why the unheralded relaxing of FERPA to 3rd party interests IF there isn’t some benefit somewhere? It was working just fine. You at least need to be OPEN to the POTENTIAL and CAPABILITIES. Instead, of being cold-cocked w/ this one, like a few other policies and how they went down for the education policies in this state.
July 6, 2014 at 5:41 pm
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