Back-to-school privacy tips for parents

For many parents, back-to-school season is a good time to pause and consider online safety.

Kids and teens are spending more time online than ever before, generating vast amounts of data.

In many places, even the youngest students are growing their digital footprints during school hours. Classroom management apps are widely used to track academic performance, some learning apps track engagement, and some school-issued devices may have default settings that allow third parties to mine student data.

Once all that information is collected, it’s not always clear who has access to it, and what happens to it when the school year ends.

All of this adds up to big privacy concerns. Kids’ data is highly valuable to marketing firms because it can be used to create consumer profiles and highly targeted ads. It’s also attractive to identity thieves, as the crimes go undetected for years.

If you’re a parent, scan our privacy checklist to make sure your child is as protected as possible, both in school and at home.

Communicate your privacy preferences to the school 

Most school districts offer privacy choices at the beginning of the year.

Parents should know that under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), public schools can disclose “directory” information — which can include name, address, date of birth, attendance, and honors or awards — to third parties without parental consent.

Lawmakers at the state and federal levels are working to address parents’ concerns, but in the meantime, you have the right to opt out by telling your school not to disclose directory information about your child. If you don’t receive a release form about a school directory at the beginning of the year, call your school administrator to ask about removing your child from the list.

In addition, before signing off on social media consent forms and photo releases, consider the privacy implications.

Ask for a list of apps your child will use at school 

Teachers have long used educational apps and websites to support the learning process. Many schools are increasing the use of digital teaching tools and introducing educational technology to younger audiences.

Under the Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA), apps and websites must gain parental consent before collecting information from kids younger than 13. But schools can grant COPPA consent on behalf of parents if a tool is used solely for educational purposes.

If you’d like to stay informed about the programs your child is interacting with at school, ask the teacher for a list of the apps and websites that will be used in the classroom. Then scan the privacy policies of each app to understand your available privacy choices. Some learning apps track engagement and performance, but they shouldn’t share information with third parties, such as advertisers.

If you’re concerned about the type of information that’s being collected by an app, talk with your school administrator about how the software was vetted, and ask if there’s a way to opt out of data sharing for your child.

Review the privacy settings on school-issued devices

These days, even some kindergarteners get school-issued tablets or laptops. If your child has received a device from school, take a look to see if you can configure any privacy settings, such as turning off location tracking and disabling browser tracking.

It’s also good practice to regularly clear the cookies and cache. While cookies may be becoming less relevant, they can still be used to enable tracking, which erodes privacy.

If your kids’ school device has a camera, consider putting a piece of masking tape over the lens when it's not in use. Many privacy experts recommend taking this step to add an extra layer of security.

Talk to your kids about online privacy

It’s never too soon to start teaching kids about online privacy. The sooner your child learns the basics, the sooner she can start advocating for herself and making smart choices online.

Spend time talking as a family about the foundations of internet safety. Kids should understand from an early age that it’s not a good idea to talk to strangers online, and that social media posts can be shared beyond their pre-approved list of online “friends”.

Help older kids and teens turn on two-factor authentication for important accounts and consider setting up a password manager.

Another good practice: Teach kids to use separate email accounts for school and personal use. That way, their private messages won’t be accessible by school administrators.

Ask questions about your child’s data

It’s perfectly reasonable to ask your school about how student data is collected and stored. Here are some questions you may want to consider asking school leadership:  

• Who has access to student data?  

• How is it stored, and for how long?  

• Is it encrypted?  

• What are the privacy choices available for my child? 

When personal data is collected and stored, there’s always a risk it could be exposed in a data breach or hack. If you’re an Allstate Identity Protection member and you have one of our family plans, you can add your child to your account in our online portal.

Once you’ve created your child’s profile, you can enable additional protections, such as social media monitoring and dark web monitoring. From there, we’ll alert you if we see signs of data exposure, fraud, or reputational damage.

Plus, if your plan includes our family digital safety features, consider enabling them. We provide a suite of tools designed to help you manage and protect your children’s online lives, including parental monitoring, web filtering, and more.

If identity theft does occur, our restoration specialists will work to ensure there’s no lasting damage to your child’s credit or identity.

There’s a lot that’s difficult about raising kids in the digital age. But with our service, you can rest easy knowing your child’s identity is in good hands.