Lawsuit challenges i-Ready's student data practices

"As a student is using i-Ready, essentially Google is sitting there right beside them, logging everything that is happening. And all of that information is going into a commercial platform that has no business being in school," Andrew Liddell, one of the attorneys bringing the lawsuit, told Axios.

• He likened it to a tech company dispatching an engineer to follow a child around school all day and recording everything they did.
• "And inspect the teacher's grade books," he said.

Zoom in: According to the lawsuit, data collected by i-Ready includes names, demographics, IP addresses and how long a student spends on each question, what they click on, whether they have erratic mouse movements, predictions for how the student will progress through the year and flags for potential learning disabilities, including dyslexia.

• "You can learn a lot about a kid as you watch them do school. You can learn what helps them stay focused, what gets them off task, what they get frustrated with, what their aptitudes are and where their deficiencies are," Liddell said. "And knowing that kind of information about children can be really dangerous."

The other side: Curriculum Associates, the company that makes i-Ready, argued in court documents that it has school districts' consent and doesn't need direct parental consent to collect data.

• "This case represents the most recent chapter in Plaintiffs' and their counsel's ideologically motivated crusade to use the courts — rather than the legislative process — to change how technology is used in schools," their motion to dismiss states. "Plaintiff's complaint is long on rhetoric about the supposed flaws of the edtech sector but short on allegations sufficient to state a claim."

The fine print: The named plaintiffs are California parents and advocates for reducing technology in the classroom.

• The lawsuit and the motion to dismiss are filed in Massachusetts, where Curriculum Associates is based.

The company declined an interview request, citing the ongoing litigation, but said in a statement to Axios that the lawsuit is "legally meritless."

• "We do not sell student data, use it for advertising, or create commercial profiles of students," Curriculum Associates CEO Kelly Sia said in the statement. "All use of student information is limited to supporting the educational services requested and authorized by schools and districts in compliance with applicable federal and state laws."

Yes, but: The lawsuit includes allegations describing forensic testing done on two students' laptops that it says shows data being collected and sent to third parties in real time.

Catch up quick: San Diego Unified, which isn't named in the lawsuit, is among hundreds of other school districts in the U.S. that use i-Ready.

• It started using i-Ready this past school year for K-8 classroom lessons and for tests that check students' progress over the year.

• The district signed a $1.1 million, 5-year contract with Curriculum Associates in 2023.
• Then last summer, the district extended its contract with i-Ready by $3 million to expand to middle and high schools.

A publicly released copy of the contract reviewed by Axios includes few mentions of what student data is collected and what Curriculum Associates can do with it.

• While it states the company won't use personal information about students for targeted advertising, the contract doesn't say whether it can share that data with third parties.
• Curriculum Associates also negotiated the right to use in perpetuity de-identified student data for research, and the contract states that data would be destroyed only after a written request from the district.
• Backups of that data are destroyed only "over time," according to the contract, without specifying when.

Upholding student privacy rights is important, district spokesperson James Canning wrote in a statement to Axios.

• All digital tools go through a review process and are supported by data-sharing agreements designed to protect student information, he said.
• "We have been assured by the vendor that they do not sell any of our student data to third parties and do not use our student data for targeted advertising or marketing," he said. "At this time, we have no reason to believe otherwise, but should that change, we will reevaluate our relationship with the vendor."

What's next: The lawsuit is making its way through federal court. Liddell said he would ask the court to expand it to all students who used i-Ready.

• If that happens, it would include many of the students in San Diego Unified.

Disclosure: Axios reporter Claire Trageser has a child who is a student in the San Diego Unified district.