Privacy Concerns Over Use of Student Data Lead Company to Close
A nonprofit educational-software company that manages and stores data about public-school students said Monday it was shutting down over concerns about student privacy.
InBloom Inc., which was financed with $100 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Carnegie Corp. of New York, aimed to be a portal that connected school districts and states with education companies.
The idea was to try to make it easier for districts and corporations to take advantage of the data generated by students’ activities, such as doing homework or taking tests.
But a few parents in states such as New York and Louisiana opposed the company from the start, and rallied state lawmakers to their cause.
Particularly problematic, the parents pointed out, were the types of data inBloom suggested it could collect, such as information about a student’s disabilities or violence in a student’s family.
“Hopefully, today’s announcement that inBloom is closing its doors will make government officials, corporations and foundations more aware that parental concerns cannot be ignored,” said Leonie Haimson, a former New York City public-schools parent who actively fought against InBloom.
InBloom originally said nine states would work with the database in some way, but support eroded as parents raised concerns. Earlier this year, lawmakers in New York, which had strongly supported the concept, required the state Education Department to cut ties.
InBloom, which had been based in Atlanta, hoped insights from its data would lead to more personalized—and effective—instruction. The company planned to charge districts $2 to $5 a student by 2015.
Read more… Parental Opposition Fells inBloom Education-Software Firm