Who Owns Students’ Online Learning Data and Why It Matters

As a principal or assistant principal, you’re increasingly relying on online learning tools to support instruction and intervention. But an important, and often overlooked, question is: Who actually owns the student data generated by these platforms? The answer can have significant implications for privacy, control, and educational decision-making.

In many cases, online learning companies create Terms of Service that give them ownership or extensive rights over the data students produce while using their platforms. Why would they do this?

• To develop or improve their products: Companies often use aggregate user data to train algorithms, personalize content, or create new features.

• To monetize insights: Some vendors may analyze user behavior to market new products or services, either to schools or, in some cases, to third parties.

• To limit legal risk: By asserting ownership, companies can control how data is accessed and used, reducing their exposure to lawsuits.

Unless your school or district has a specific agreement in place, you might be surprised at how much control the vendor retains.

🔍 How to Know If Your School or District Owns the Data

Here are a few steps you can take:

• Review your contract or Terms of Service: Look for clear language about data ownership, student records, or intellectual property rights.

• Ask direct questions: When adopting a platform, ask vendors explicitly: “Who owns the student data?” and “Can the district retrieve all data if we end the contract?”

• Check for compliance with laws: In the U.S., tools should comply with laws like FERPA, COPPA, and state-specific student data privacy laws, but compliance doesn’t automatically mean the school owns the data. Ownership and privacy are related but distinct issues.

Some districts negotiate Data Privacy Agreements (DPAs) that ensure the district owns the data and retains control over its use.

⚠️ Challenges When Schools Don’t Own the Data

If your school or district doesn’t own the data, several risks emerge:

• Limited access: If you stop using the program, you might lose the student learning history unless there’s a clear retrieval plan.

• Privacy concerns: Companies could use or share sensitive information in ways you didn’t intend or approve.

• Reduced flexibility: Without ownership, it’s harder to analyze the data across programs, customize reports, or integrate data into broader district systems.

Ultimately, lack of data ownership can limit your ability to make fully informed instructional and operational decisions. This is why schoolops.ai does not keep or own your data - and we can still show impact. 

🛠️ What You Can Do About It

Here’s how you can protect your school’s interests:

• Negotiate ownership up front: When adopting a new tool, include a clause that clearly states the district owns all student-generated data.

• Ensure portability: Require that data can be easily exported in a usable format (like CSV) if you end your relationship with the vendor.

• Use standard agreements: Many states and educational consortia have model contracts you can use that favor school control of data.

• Train your team: Make sure anyone involved in purchasing edtech tools (e.g., assistant principals, tech coordinators) knows to check for data ownership clauses before signing off.

📑 A Quick Example

Your school adopts a new reading intervention platform. Students use it daily, and it collects detailed data on their fluency, comprehension, and growth over time. After two years, you realize the program isn’t meeting your needs and decide to switch to a different product.

However, when you request a full export of the student data to inform placement decisions for the next year, the company refuses. Under their Terms of Service, they consider the student performance data their intellectual property, not yours.

Result: You lose two years of valuable progress monitoring data, forcing administrators and teachers to rely on incomplete information to make critical decisions for students.

Preventive step: If, at the start, the district had secured a Data Privacy Agreement guaranteeing data ownership and portability, this situation could have been avoided.

In today’s digital education landscape, student data is a precious asset, and protecting ownership is vital for maintaining your school’s ability to serve students effectively.

As a principal or assistant principal, staying vigilant and proactive about data agreements ensures your school remains in control of the information you need to drive learning forward.