Schoolnet Privacy Policy

Applicability
Purpose
Collection and Use of Personal Information
Protection of Personal Information
Information Sharing and Disclosure
Information Access and Correction
Non-Personally Identified Information
Web Analytics
Cookies
Changes to the Privacy Policy
Contact Information

1. Applicability

This Privacy Policy explains the way NCS Pearson, Inc. (“Pearson” or “we”) as a data processor to certain education agencies, institutions, or organizations (“Education Agencies”) collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from each user (“User” or “you”) for use in the Schoolnet application (“Site”). This Privacy Policy applies to the Site and any personally identifiable information collected by Pearson through this Site.

This Privacy Policy applies only to this Site. Other websites, including other Pearson websites linked through or to this Site, may have their own privacy policies and practices. Your use of any other website is subject to the privacy policy of that website.

2. Purpose

The purpose of this Site is to provide an assessment authoring and delivery platform for use by educators and students, and to serve as a student information and performance data repository for use by appropriately permissioned educators, students and parents (the “Services”).

3. Collection and Use of Personal Information

Pearson collects and uses personal data through this Site in accordance with, and for the purpose of fulfilling, its assessment program contract for the Services with the education agency for which such personal data is collected.

Access to the Site is restricted by password to users authorized by the education agency sponsoring such assessment program. The Site’s managing education agency is responsible for authorizing Educator access to this Site, or providing Pearson with such authorized user information.

Education Agencies that authorize parent and student access to this site will provide parents and/or students with applicable account log-in information through the student's school or school district. Pearson will not directly provide parents or students with specific user identification or password information.

What Personal Information is Collected?

For Education Agency and School District Personnel (“Educators”): To create an assessment program record for a student and register students for an assessment in that assessment program, the following information may be collected from Educators through this Site, as specified by the education agency sponsoring the assessment program: student's name, birth date, gender, district unique identifier, student's first language, ethnicity, grade level, participation in an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Other demographic information may also be collected if so dictated by the Education Agency, including student address, guardian name(s) and phone home numbers. This information is available for view-only use by authenticated and appropriately permissioned Site users for the purpose of providing home contact details to the students’ educators. If Pearson receives inquiries or emails about or through this Site from Educators, Pearson may keep a record of the email, correspondence and comments, including the individual's name, school district or organization name and email address to reply to the communication, perform Site support and issue resolution and maintain business records concerning this Site.

Parents and Students: Pearson does not seek to collect personal information from parents or students through this website. Parents and students must obtain their account-specific log-in data from their school or school district. Students, including students under the age of 13, are specifically requested to not provide any personal information through this website. Parents and students should direct all inquiries related to this Site to their school or school district.

4. Protection of Personal Information

Subject to other provisions of this Privacy Policy and contractual obligations, Pearson will take commercially reasonable steps to maintain the confidentiality of all personal information and student records collected and managed through this Site. For example, this Site currently uses industry-standard SSL-encryption to protect user account and password information and uses a secure connection to Pearson servers, which are protected by firewalls to prevent unauthorized break-ins. The administrative system and authentication mechanisms are protected through the use of SSL encryption of data transmitted via HTTP. As other security methodologies become commercially available, Pearson may change its current security systems processes or substitute these systems with other security systems or processes.

5. Information Sharing and Disclosure

Pearson will use the data provided by Educators through this Site to fulfill orders for assessments, create reports and records concerning students, and perform other contractual obligations for the education agency sponsoring the assessment program.

Except as specifically stated in this Privacy Policy, it is our policy not to share or disclose personal information collected through this Site with third parties other than affiliates of Pearson and other companies and organizations who perform work for us under contract or sell products or services that complement our products and services and who are committed to protect the privacy of personal information in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy. We may disclose a User’s personal information: (a) in response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law; (b) to protect the security of the User and other persons, our systems and the data we hold, consistent with applicable law; (c) in connection with a sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of our company or its assets; or (d) to address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities; or (e) in order to enforce the site’s Terms of Use or any contract between us and such User.

Non-personally identifiable aggregated information collected through this website may be used for quality assurance and for research and development and may be disclosed to third parties in non-personally identifiable form upon receipt of written approval from the education agency.

6. Information Access and Correction

Only an authorized Educator may view student records on this Site, review available assessment reports and otherwise access data for that student. An Educator should contact the Site’s education agency representatives if the Educator believes there may be an issue with a student record should an assessment report or encounters any issues in accessing or correcting information through this Site.

Where student or parent access is provided, the access is limited to the student's specific assessment results. Parents and students do not have authorization to alter the information found in the student record on the Site. Parents or students should contact their school or school district if they believe there may be an issue with a student record or account. Pearson is not authorized to update records at the request of parents or students.

7. Non-Personally Identified Information

We may collect non-personally identifiable information about Users whenever they interact with this Site. Such non-personally identifiable information may include the browser name, the type of computer and technical information about the Users’ means of connection to our Site, such as the operating system, internet service provider and IP address (a number automatically assigned to the User’s computer by their internet service provider). This information is generally collected for system administration purposes, to monitor activity levels and for security purposes. Pearson does not link IP addresses to personal information, except that we reserve the right to link IP addresses and other non-personally identifiable information to protect the integrity of this Site, to monitor compliance with our Terms of Use and for security purposes.

8. Web Analytics

We use third party web analytical services, which may include Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics, to collect anonymous visitor information, including IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies and collect IP addresses to gather web trend information. We use this web trend information for system administration and marketing purposes and to identify problems and improve service. For further information about Google Analytics, and for links to Google’s Privacy Policy and an opt-out tool for Google Analytics, go to https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. For further information about Adobe Analytics, for links to Adobe Analytics’ Privacy Policy and an opt-out tool for Adobe Analytics, go to http://www.adobe.com/privacy/analytics.html.

9. Cookies and Do-Not-Track Signals

The use of cookies is a common practice for websites. Cookies are small text files that a website transfers to a computer’s browser. Cookies will provide the website with non-personally identifiable information, but does identify your computer, browser, and internet specifications. This Site uses temporary cookies to personalize content and cache user preferences during their Site session. The cookies are automatically removed when the browser session is closed. Users may choose to set their web browser to refuse cookies or to alert them when cookies are being sent, but this may result in some part of this Site not functioning properly. This site does not respond to web browser “do not track” signals or comparable signals or mechanisms.

10. Changes to the Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be revised from time to time through an updated posting. Revisions are effective upon posting and continued use of this Site following posting will indicate the User’s acceptance of such changes.

11. Contact Information

If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at schoolnet@pearson.com. If you want us to respond to your comment or question, please provide your contact information in your message.