Data Surveillance K-D (Kindergarten-Death)

From Save Our Schools New Jersey (my bolds):

If you are concerned about data privacy - both your own and that of your children - please read this legislation, which the full NJ Assembly is voting on Thursday.

It would create a longitudinal (Pre-K through post college employment) data tracking system on each student who enters New Jersey public schools or pre-schools, attends a NJ university or works in NJ.
The data would be identifiable to that individual and would include:

Individual level enrollment, demographic, and program participation data; performance on each State assessment and reasons why an individual did not participate in a State assessment; individual-level transcript information; information regarding an individual’s status as a graduate or a dropout of a secondary or postsecondary institution; and an individual’s quarterly earnings when the individual is no longer enrolled in an educational institution.

We have serious concerns about this legislation and believe that it needs - at the very least - to require parental consent or individual consent for those 18 or older - and to provide for an ongoing opt-out provision.

We will ask the primary sponsor if she would make those amendments and will let you know.

Please stay tuned!

Here is the full text of A2812, as approved by the Assembly Higher Education Committee on September 18, 2014.

1. The Secretary of Higher Education, the Commissioner of Education, and the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development shall jointly establish a P-20 Longitudinal Data System Working Group. The purpose of the working group shall be to develop a student-level longitudinal data system established pursuant to section 2 of this act. The working group shall determine the following matters:

1 a. the data elements to be maintained in the longitudinal data system;

1 b. the process by which entities will submit information to the data system;

1 c. the measures to be taken to ensure that all data in the longitudinal data system are secure and that individuals’ privacy is not compromised;

1 d. the development of analytic reports that will be created using information stored in the longitudinal data system; and

1 e. the feasibility of collecting postsecondary education and employment data for inclusion in the longitudinal data system of individuals who graduated from a public secondary school in the State and subsequently moved out-of-State.

2. a. No later than the beginning of the 2015-2016 academic year, the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, the Department of Education, and the Department of Labor and Workforce Development shall enter into a memorandum of understanding to develop a longitudinal data system that will connect data records for individuals enrolled in State-funded preschool programs, public elementary and secondary schools, institutions of higher education located in the State, and employed in the State. At their discretion, the data system established pursuant to this section shall be capable of the following:

(1) reducing, to the maximum extent possible, the data collection burden on school districts and institutions of higher education by using data submitted to the longitudinal data system for multiple reporting and analysis functions;

(2) providing authorized officials with access to individual-level data, summary reports, and data that may be integrated with additional data maintained outside of the longitudinal data system to inform education decision-making;

(3) enhancing existing school-to-postsecondary reporting systems to inform school district officials, policymakers, and the public about public school students’ performance in postsecondary institutions of higher education;

(4) improving student access to postsecondary educational opportunities by linking student data to college and career planning tools to facilitate the submission of transcript data and enabling the transfer of student records to officials of an institution of higher education to which a student seeks enrollment;

(5) establishing a publicly-available Internet website that provides reports of data that are not confidential; and

(6) providing research and reports on the effectiveness of specific programs and initiatives.
b. The longitudinal data system established pursuant to this section may include, but need not be limited to, the following data elements:

(1) a unique identifier, other than an individual’s social security number or derived from an individual’s social security number, that allows for the merging of an individual’s data as the individual progresses through elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and employment;
(2) individual-level enrollment, demographic, and program participation data;

(3) performance on each State assessment and reasons why an individual did not participate in a State assessment;

(4) individual-level transcript information;

(5) information regarding an individual’s status as a graduate or a dropout of a secondary or postsecondary institution; and

(6) an individual’s quarterly earnings when the individual is no longer enrolled in an educational institution.

c. The longitudinal data system shall be operational no later than the beginning of the 2016-2017 academic year.

3. Each public institution of higher education shall submit the required data elements to the longitudinal data system in a manner to be determined by the Secretary of Higher Education. The secretary shall allow an independent institution of higher education to submit data elements to the longitudinal data system, and independent institutions of higher education are encouraged to do so.

4. The working group established pursuant to section 1 of this act shall submit a report to the Governor, and to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1). The report shall contain information on the implementation and effectiveness of the longitudinal data system, and on the need for State funds to continue, expand, or modify the operations of the longitudinal data system.
5. This act shall take effect immediately.
Source: 
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2014/Bills/A3000/2812_R1.HTM