Illinois Student Privacy Alliance (ISPA)
A Free Management Tool and Resources for Implementing SOPPA
Questions About ISPA or SOPPA?
Questions about joining ISPA and about using ISPA/SDPC tools can be directed toward Chris Wherley at cwherley@ltcillinois.org.
A Free Management Tool and Resources for Implementing SOPPA
The Illinois Student Privacy Alliance (ISPA) is a free consortium that allows school districts to access management tools and resources for data privacy agreements. All Illinois school districts are invited to join ISPA. When used in conjunction with clear policies and procedures, ISPA allows districts to comply with Illinois’ new Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA).
After applying and being approved, we recommend that you review the resources below and/or attend one of our trainings.
Getting Started with ISPA
- Getting Started with SOPPA – PDF
- Using ISPA to Comply with SOPPA (Flowchart)
- Managing Agreements with ISPA (Flowchart)
The National Data Privacy Agreement
- Review the DPA template – IL-NDPAv1.0a
- Checklist for using the IL-NDPA – Originating or Subscribing
- Sample Communications when using IL-NDPA
Videos
- Using the ISPA/SDPC Database YouTube Playlist (How-To)
- All Things SOPPA YouTube Playlist (Weekly Recordings)
- All Things SOPPA Slide Deck
- Recording SOPPA for Teachers: How To Be A Partner In Protecting Student Data
- Slide Deck SOPPA for Teachers: How To Be A Partner In Protecting Student Data
Additional Resources
Upcoming Training Opportunities
All Things SOPPA
The National Data Privacy Agreement (NDPA) was developed by the Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC), a special interest group of the non-profit Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community, in partnership with the 28 state Alliances addressing their specific state needs. After two years of extensive review and comments from schools, districts, state organizations, marketplace providers and their legal representatives, SDPC published the NDPA in September 2020.
Since then, the Learning Technology Center has encouraged districts to adopt the NDPA with the Illinois Exhibit to help streamline the educational application contracting process.
The Learning Technology Center (LTC) formed the Illinois Student Privacy Alliance (ISPA) in partnership with the Access 4 Learning Community’s Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC). SDPC is a national collaborative of schools, districts, and state agencies that are working together to address growing student data privacy concerns by developing real-world, adaptable, and implementable solutions. The goal of the ISPA is to set standards of both practice and expectations around student privacy such that all parties involved have a common understanding of expectations. The LTC’s creation of ISPA also means that all PK-12 districts in Illinois are now able to use the resources provided by the SPDC without additional cost to the district.
The free membership to ISPA includes:
- Access to tools to manage and share data privacy agreements;
- A searchable database of applications and vendors who have signed the statewide agreement with at least one school or districts;
- Ability to link or embed the list of district-approved vendors and agreements on the district website (Example); and
- Membership into the LTC’s online data privacy community where schools and districts discuss privacy issues.