Common Core's Data Mining Trojan Horse

Although high information Americans are becoming aware of the federal takeover of education through Common Core Standards, there seems to be little recognition yet that Common Core gives schools and third parties unprecedented access to students’ personal information. The federal government is acquiring a massive amount of data that can be sold to the highest bidders. This is an invasion of student and family privacy and a violation of our 4th Amendment rights.

While many Americans are focused on NSA and other such “phony scandals,” the Washington education police are swarming around in schools gathering intimate data on children and families.

The education technology buzzards are circling overhead and, having smelled the strong scent of money, are

salivating at the thought of making billions from this new goldmine. Reuters reported that in 2012 technology startups for the K-12 market attracted more than $425 million in venture capital. Rupert Murdoch, owner of Amplify Education, one of the country’s largest education technology companies, estimates that K-12 education is a $500 billion sector in the U.S. alone.

Although the federal government was prohibited legally from gathering student specific data for a national database, the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — “Stimulus Bill” — provided a loophole. Money from the ARRA was given to each of the states to develop longitudinal data systems to catalog data generated by Common Core aligned tests.

The deal was sweetened and guaranteed state compliance when the Obama administration used data system development as the key criterion for awarding additional K-12 funds through the “Race to the Top” program.