Protecting students in a digital world

Teachers are tasked with protecting the social, emotional, academic, and physical well-being of students in a myriad of ways — from mandated reporting and protecting vulnerable student groups, to emergency planning and preventing/responding to violence. However, student safety extends beyond the physical classroom and into the online spaces where learning, collaboration, and communication now routinely take place.

Physical protection is usually more visible and tangible: locks on doors, visitor badges, secured filing cabinets, and clear boundaries like classroom walls or school campuses. Risks are often easier to notice in real-time and many of the risks can be controlled by the physical presence of a trusted adult, fence, or signage. Digital protection, on the other hand, is less visible and more complex. Rather than doors or locks, it relies on passwords, permissions, encryption, and settings. And access can happen from anywhere, anytime. This distinction matters because, unlike physical safety measures that are often immediately observable and consistently enforced, digital protections can be easily overlooked, inconsistently applied, or assumed to be handled elsewhere within the system.

Local Education Agencies (LEAs) must protect student data privacy when providing digital tools for student use. Laurel Nava, deputy executive director of California IT in Education (CITE), explained during a June 2025 webinar that “a single student record can sell on the dark web for more than $500” (California School News, 2025). And that data can be used to open fraudulent banking accounts, apply for financial aid, and destroy a minor’s digital identity long before that student becomes an adult and applies for FAFSA or other credit. Protecting students is no longer limited to within the physical walls of a classroom. Online learning platforms, 1:1 take-home Chromebooks, and gamified skill building platforms create more opportunities for cyberbullying, stolen identities, and exploitation of vulnerable students. To ensure the protection of student data privacy, schools must train teachers to understand their legal obligations to student data privacy, to vet digital tools for state and national legal compliance, and to teach students strong digital literacy.

Staff training that reduces risk Employee training matters. Teachers don’t usually deprioritize student data privacy because they don’t care, but because they are balancing many competing demands while the systems and tools they use often make convenience easier than compliance. Without clear, practical training, even well-intentioned staff will fill in gaps on their own, which can lead to inconsistent practice and risk. Employee acknowledgment of basic cybersecurity, personally identifiable information, and student privacy laws should be a cornerstone of annual staff training. A weak or shared password written on a sticky note and stuck to the backside of a keyboard — once associated with a student hacking the gradebook to alter grades — can now lead to a multitude of student records being compromised, identity theft, and nefarious use. Training helps turn abstract expectations into real behavior. Multi-factor authentication should also be enabled for school accounts to ensure an added layer of security. Even if a password is compromised, the added layer of identity confirmation can keep an account from being accessed and student data from being stolen. Policies and tools don’t protect anything on their own — people’s day-to-day decisions do.

Control the tool sprawl Teachers and districts can protect student data by limiting the number of applications students access. In the education world, it is easy to be hooked by a shiny new digital tool. Classroom teachers know that keeping students engaged can require a new process or platform for creativity, presentations, analytics, and lesson delivery. But fewer tools means fewer logins, fewer data agreements, and fewer places where student information lives. Finding comprehensive digital tools can allow one login to access several learning opportunities. While artificial intelligence is still an emerging digital tool with much promise that warrants careful and deliberate consideration, this new technology does allow for singular platforms to provide functionality that once required several different platforms, data agreements, logins, and data retention. Small choices like data minimization, modeling, and routines can help reduce the risk to student data. For example, if a tool doesn’t require full names, don’t use them. When teachers consistently log out of shared devices, avoid displaying sensitive information on screens, and talk openly with students about why privacy is important, they build habits that protect data over time.

Vendor vetting and agreements Until all vendors and Big Tech agencies are held accountable for inherently protecting student data, teachers and districts can exercise legal compliance with local student privacy laws by having an in-house vetting system for digital tools, or by partnering with companies like CITE, 1EdTech, or Access4Learning Community. Even without formal partnerships, both CITE and 1EdTech offer searchable directories where teachers can validate whether a vendor has signed a privacy agreement with LEAs to verify that the vendor has already agreed to legally required student data protections to address how student data is collected, used, stored, and protected. Privacy agreements must be in place between a vendor and school district so teachers can use a digital tool with greater confidence, knowing that key safeguards are in place and that these tools have been vetted against established standards. Regardless of the district process for vetting digital tools, each teacher should know that student data cannot be shared without required legal protections for students’ personal information.

Digital literacy and well-being One of the most important ways for teachers to protect students digitally is to lay a strong digital literacy and well-being foundation. This foundation means students are more likely to recognize what is safe, question how their data is being used, and make better decisions, even when a teacher isn’t guiding them. By learning habits like protecting personal information, thinking before sharing, and understanding how technology works, protection shifts from something done for students to something they actively participate in. Technology and digital tools are always changing, but students who understand privacy, balance, and responsible use are far better equipped to navigate new technologies safely on their own. Because most digital risks aren’t just technical, they come from everyday choices.

By building time for staff to understand both the expectations and the rationale behind student data privacy, and by consistently reinforcing that digital safety is as important as physical safety, leaders help establish a culture where protecting student data becomes a shared and sustainable practice.

Ultimately, protecting students in today’s classrooms requires expanding the definition of safety to fully include the digital world. Teachers, administrators, and district leaders must prioritize digital safety protections with the same urgency and consistency as on-campus physical safety requirements. By prioritizing thoughtful digital tool use, ongoing staff training, and strong digital literacy and well-being practices, schools can create environments where students are empowered to navigate an increasingly complex digital landscape, ensuring their safety both inside and beyond the traditional classroom.

References

• California School News. “CITE shares AI resources at CSBA webinar.” July 2025. https://publications.csba.org/california-school-news/july-2025/cite-shares-ai-resources-at-csba-webinar/

Erin Vallejo is the educational technology coordinator with Mt. Diablo Unified School District.