The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a professional association for K-12 ed-tech leaders, created its first privacy framework for schools in 2016. Districts have been able to document their work in following the framework, and their progress toward earning the CoSN Trusted Learning Environment (TLE) Seal — but fewer than 30 school districts have received that credential.
That’s because the framework is rigorous and meeting its standards across all five core practice areas can take as long as two years, according to CoSN TLE Project Director Linnette Attai.
“It’s extremely time-consuming, and the one thing that technology leaders don’t have is time,” she said.
To make the process more approachable, CoSN launched a program this year for districts to earn a TLE Mini Seal if they meet the association’s standards in any one of five practice areas that deal with student data: leadership, business, data security, professional development and classroom. This, Attai said, lets technology leaders tackle one practice area at a time, receive faster feedback, and go into the next Mini Seal application with more knowledge and confidence.
Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS), the largest school district in Georgia, last week became the first to receive the full TLE Seal by earning all five Mini Seals over time, according to a CoSN news release. Being able to focus on each Mini Seal separately made the process much more manageable, according to Dr. Debbie Durrence, executive director of the GCPS Department of Data Governance.
“The challenge of the full program was that if there was one area that wasn’t quite as mature as the others, there was concern that perhaps you wouldn’t be successful in the full application,” Durrence said. “The Mini Seals opened up the opportunity to explore those areas where you’re most mature and most comfortable first, and while you have to work through all five, you can learn from each process along the way.”
In addition to the Mini Seal program, the option to earn the full TLE Seal still exists. In fact, Ector County Independent School District became the ninth Texas school system to earn the complete credential last week, CoSN announced.
To continue building momentum toward rigorous student data privacy protection — and support for schools as they address this critical issue — Attai said CoSN will launch two new initiatives related to the TLE Seal this fall.
The first is a self-directed online course that districts will be able to use as a detailed resource as they work through any one of the five core areas of the CoSN privacy framework. The second is a state subscription program in which CoSN will help school districts statewide improve student data privacy protection as they work to earn the TLE Seal.
“We’re really trying to provide that guidance and that support at scale and in a way that’s accessible to all districts,” Attai said.
The cost to apply for a full TLE Seal ranges from $100 to $400, depending on the size of the school district and its CoSN membership status. The cost to apply for a TLE Mini Seal is $50.
In return, districts receive feedback on their application, including resources for improvement and a report that shows their scores in comparison to the aggregated scores of existing TLE Seal recipients, Attai said.
Seal recipients must get recertified every two years at a cost of $50. The process requires districts to provide documentation and support for any practices that have changed or improved.
