Groups Urge Federal Commission to Reject Student Unit Record System

The Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, American Civil Liberties Union, Network for Public Education and other groups published a letter yesterday warning against the creation of a federal database that tracks academic and employment outcomes for college and university students, also known as a student unit record system.

The idea for a federal student unit record system was first proposed by the Bush administration in 2005. It was later banned by the Higher Education Opportunity Act in 2008, preventing government agencies from collecting individual-level data.   

The letter addresses the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, which was created by President Obama earlier this year to examine “strategies to increase the availability and use of government data, in order to build evidence related to government programs and policies,” according to the letter. According to Politico, the letter responds to a recent report from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that outlines the foundation’s plans to “develop a comprehensive national data system or exchange.”

The letter is available on the Student Privacy Matters site.

About the Author

Sri Ravipati is Web producer for THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • college student using a laptop alongside an AI robot and academic icons like a graduation cap, lightbulb, and upward arrow

    Nonprofit to Pilot Agentic AI Tool for Student Success Work

    Student success nonprofit InsideTrack has joined Salesforce Accelerator – Agents for Impact, a Salesforce initiative providing technology, funding, and expertise to help nonprofits build and customize AI agents and AI-powered tools to support and scale their missions.

  • server racks, a human head with a microchip, data pipes, cloud storage, and analytical symbols

    OpenAI, Oracle Expand AI Infrastructure Partnership

    OpenAI and Oracle have announced they will develop an additional 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity, expanding their artificial intelligence infrastructure partnership as part of the Stargate Project, a joint venture among OpenAI, Oracle, and Japan's SoftBank Group that aims to deploy 10 gigawatts of computing capacity over four years.

  • geometric pattern features abstract icons of a dollar sign, graduation cap, and document

    Maricopa Community Colleges Adopts Platform to Combat Student Application Fraud

    In an effort to secure its admissions and financial processes, Maricopa Community Colleges has partnered with A.M. Simpkins and Associates (AMSA) to implement the company's S.A.F.E (Student Application Fraudulent Examination) across the district's 10 institutions.

  • human profile with a circuit-board brain next to an open book

    Georgia State U and Operation HOPE Program Fosters AI Literacy in Underserved Youth

    A pilot program co-led by Operation HOPE and Georgia State University is working to build technical, entrepreneurial, and financial-literacy skills in Atlanta-area youth to help them thrive in the AI-powered workforce.