Teacher breaks law by posting students' good test scores

A Minnesota teacher thought posting the top students' names and test scores was a good move, but a parent complained that showing her son's results was a violation of state law protecting student data. She was right. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Comments

[LimeGreenLizard]

Oops!

[RevJSH]

"Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo." -H.G. Wells

[joel]

I am a parent of two school age children.

I am glad the school did not over-react (all they did was tell the teaher to stop)

I am glad the teacher did not get into any trouble.

Another example of a c u next tuesday idiot parent acting self righteuous.

[joel]

should say teacher

[sometimesilie]

c
u
next
tuesday?

=)

[johnjohn]

It was this sort of parent that convinced me to give up teaching their precious little angels.

[Phranqlin]

The law says that teachers can't post student test scores or share student work without written permission. So get permission next time!

[anita]

I don't know anymore, but having your kids posted because they excelled does not seem like it should be aganist the law. I was always happy when I went to my kids school and saw their papers posted because they had done well

[Mr. Potato Head]

You can't call out the good ones. You can't call out the bad ones.

It's no wonder some teachers become apathetic about their students.

It's the only way to follow all the rules.

[Kee]

The funny thing about this is that out on the playground, the kids are comparing grades anyway, especially since they can't play dangerous games like tag!

[buddy]

logically, if you only post the good scores then you are outting all the kids that didnt get a good score.

that been said, i think the law is stupid. you should have to be accountable for yourself and how you do on tests.

[RockyMtnMac]

Our teachers always put the good grades up on the wall, and put the bad kids up on their toes at the chalkboard.
We had "old-school" teachers, and they didn't take crap from anybody. I would LOVE to see today's precious snowflakes (or parents of snowflakes) go a couple rounds..

[joel]

Protecting the underachiever has become the new American motto. In youth sports we can't congratulate winners in fear of hurting the feeling of the losers and we give the team that lost every game of the season the same trophy that we give the league champions and now we can't congratulate academic achievers for fear of hurting the feelings of the less academically gifted.

Being socially blind or practicing social transparency is the right thing to do if you know nothing about a person, but to then have to be socially transparent after the facts are before you is why we are, again, becoming a pu$$y society.

The Japanese, Chinese, and most of Europe and Asia leave their poor performers in the dust, and that is why America is getting killed when it comes to global production, of all kinds.

[jj2]

It's hilarious if they think the kids can remain anonymous. I teach high school kids in a college class and they're asking each other their grades even as I'm passing the papers out. I've tried saying "Hey, don't talk about your grades, don't compare grades," they don't care what I say. It's all about the peer pressure, whether the teachers condone it, promote it or ignore it.

[Get Real]

This privicy thing need to be thrown out the window. All grades need to be published in the newspaper.

This way the taxpayers can see the results of their tax money at work, and it will motivate kids to not be on the bottom of the list.

It will also show how well the teachers are doing. If everyone gets an A, the teacher is a push over. If the average grade is a C, this means the teacher has it about right.

[Soo]

Practically my entire public school career (and a large number of college classes) were conducted in such a manner that the teachers returned graded papers one of two ways, either alphabetically or by grade.

My kids, on the other hand, have been coddled nearly their whole lives with the self-esteem and you're-so-special crap. I've got a boatload of trophies from everything from "participating" to actually doing something worth noting, like coming in 2nd in your age group in a bowling league.

Exactly how will all those "participation" trophies and certificates help them succeed? Or thinking everything they do is great, even if it's a bad score on a graded paper, help them build ambition and drive?

[Sheila]

Soo, it won't. It makes them pout and whine when they don't receive everything "free" in life. "Its r rite!"

[sometimesilie]

Soo, I used to hate those 'participation' trophies. I wasn't a hyper competitive kid by any stretch but 8 year old me always thought they were a crock. Thanks for showing up!

[chris (no longer n cali)]

lol @ SIL

[Melissa]

I have to chime in... the parent may have overreacted about the grades being publicly posted, but they were well within their rights to complain. There's this little thing called FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) that prohibits disclosure of that kind of information without written consent from either A) the student, if of legal age or B) the parent/legal guardian of the student. All educators should know that... in fact, anyone who works with students in any capacity should be up on FERPA guidelines.

[Melissa]

I should add, that it's very much akin to privacy laws under HIPAA.

[ReginaFilangee]

The public school system has gone insane. There should be nothing illegal about public praise of the best students. The law was poorly written, as its intent was to simply prevent embarrassment of the worst students.

It was always a source of pride for any student to have his/her name published in the newspaper under the A/B Honor Roll section every 6 weeks, and was an incentive to those who didn't make it to do better next time. Nothing wrong with that.

Showing the top, say, 10% of students doesn't do anything but narrow everyone else down to the "bottom" 90%, buddy.....hardly "outting" anyone for doing poorly.

That said, jj2, there IS a fundamental difference between posting students' grades without permission and the students sharing them among themselves voluntarily. Comparison with others in the same class always gave us all a good sense of how we were doing.

[Soo]

forgive the threadjack, but I just wanted to say that those 'hollywood muscle' ads to the right make me feel as nauseated as those fat chick bikini birthday cards.

[anita]

When I was in school years and years and years ago I had a teacher who posted all the test papers on the wall. You did not want your tests to be posted when you did bad, but when you did well you felt proud of doing well. It encouraged us to try harder and for me I went from a 82 to a 100 and he graded tough. He taught in such a way that made you want to learn more.

[stooey]

But what is up with the parent who complained?
Really?
"i been tellin lil jonnie he too dum fer skool an yew dun showed him differnt. I aint' never gonna git thet moonshin dlivered now. dang"

[Razz]

Some of the good kids are embarrassed by their good grades. I've got two boys who would rather be left alone than be used as an example, good or bad.

[Navy Chief]

LOL @ stooey!

[Rofo]

I just don't want my ex to find out what grade, what school and what area my kid lives in. Teachers posting grades on unsecured websites ... not cool for me. Nothing to do with outting the dumb kids, as I encourage that to the point my kid got a trip to the principals office for asking the teacher why she was in a class with dumb kids ... but privacy, even a little bit of it, is a good thing.

You wouldn't believe the fight the teacher gave me when I wouldn't sign the photo release form for the kid .... telling me it was required for school. When the school has a restraining order on file for my ex, the dumb ass teacher should have been a little more understanding.

Oh and the general contempt I have for the public education system, doesn't help my attitude, but I'm willing to admit that.

[Handy Dandy]

I assume that everybody who thinks we should post students' names and grades will have no problem with having their names and salaries and work histories posted publicly.

[Handy Dandy]

"The law was poorly written, as its intent was to simply prevent embarrassment of the worst students."

Are you sure about that? My hunch is that it was written to protect student privacy.

The strongest impact on students is not what is written in the newspapers (they're not aware that newspapers exist), it's their peers. Students hear their own grades called out in the classroom, among their peers. (Or they did when I was in school.) That is what counts.

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