Privacy Policy

At Unified Track, ensuring student equity, privacy, and access to good quality education is our top priority and is foundational to everything we do.

Unified Track connects students, teachers, administrators, and parents, with the shared goal of improving student outcomes.

Even so, many parents and other stakeholders may not be aware of our role in their child’s education and how K-12 schools and districts depend on education technology vendors, like Unified Track, to act responsibly as data processors of student education records.

At Unified Track, our main goal is partnering with schools and districts to help ensure educators, administrators, and students are supported no matter where, or how, teaching and learning takes place. This includes providing the tools educators need to better support their needs and improve operations all with real-time access to the meaningful data needed to better understand and proactively support students.

Unified Track’s Commitment to Student Data Privacy
The protection of student education records is an obligation Unified Track assumes very seriously.

Unified Track’s mission is to power the education ecosystem with cloud-based software that helps educators and students realize their full potential, in their way. We license our products and platforms to help process data on behalf of educational institutions. Unified Track customers own their student and school data. We do not sell student or school data; we do not collect, maintain, use, or share student personal information beyond what is authorized by the district, parent, or student.

Local schools, districts, or state departments of education obtain voluntary consent from parents of children, and control and manage the data they collect. A vendor, like Unified Track, contracts directly with the school district to provide tools and a cloud-based platform where the data may be stored securely and processed at the direction of the school for valid and consented to educational purposes.

Unified Track also strictly and proactively follows legal, regulatory, and voluntary requirements for protecting student privacy including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), state regulations, and the Student Privacy Pledge.

Security’s Role in Data Privacy
The digital transformation of education has been accelerated by the pandemic and educators are looking to technology to support the needs of students and teachers. This transformation naturally leads to valid questions about the strength of an education technology business’ information security protocols. In addition to our commitment to ensuring data privacy, Unified Track has independently verified its security management system to the third-party audited, internationally recognized standards for security management systems, achieving the ISO:27001 certification and SOC2 – the gold standard data security certification for business service providers. As cyberattacks focused on schools and districts continue to persist, knowing a vendor’s dedication to security controls necessary for maintaining these certifications, along with data security training and protocols in place at the schools, should give one piece of mind.

On the privacy side, common concerns relate to fear that student education records may be used for non-educational purposes. That’s why it’s important to know what data processing vendors are doing with student education records. Reading a vendor’s privacy statement can answer your questions. At Unified Track, we do not provide student data to any third party, unless instructed to do so by the district. Because not all vendors act the same, it is important to know some of the basics as it comes to the legal landscape for data privacy laws impacting student education records.

An Everchanging Landscape: FERPA, GDPR and the Growth of State Privacy Laws
In addition to understanding an organization’s independent privacy statement, it’s also helpful to understand the various state and federal guidelines and regulations that they follow. Unified Track strictly adheres to all privacy laws that have been put into place over the last few decades in the U.S. and the EU, including: GDPR, FERPA, COPPA and SOPPA.

Many may have heard of the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679) (GDPR). GDPR is an EU data protection and privacy law based in part on the expression of data privacy as a human right in Article 8(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. This is important as it explains the EU’s fundamental view of the personal right for an individual to be able to control the data about themselves.

This is not the paradigm we have in the United States where privacy is not even mentioned in our United States Constitution. Privacy grew out of the idea of a “right to be left alone” (See The Right to Privacy, 4 Harvard L.R. 198 (1890)). Nevertheless, there are multiple agencies and regulators who now play a significant role in regulating how federally-funded and private organizations behave when it comes to personal information. As it comes to student data, there are typically two key federal laws people point to:

The Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
FERPA, signed into law on August 21, 1974, by President Gerald Ford, came into being out of a distrust of government and an outcry for increased transparency. The law limits access to student education records.

COPPA, was signed into law in 1998 by President Bill Clinton in response to the growth of online activities in the 1990s. The law applies to the online collection of personal information by persons or entities under U.S. jurisdiction “targeted at children under 13 years of age.”

It is important to note that many U.S. states have or are considering their own data privacy laws. The laws enacted in Colorado, California, and Virginia do not focus on student data. As an example, one exception is Illinois’ Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA), the student data privacy law that regulates students’ covered information by schools, the Illinois State Board of Education, and education technology vendors. Another example is the California law Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA). Which, unlike FERPA imposes liability to operators of websites targeted at K-12 for certain prohibited actions.

Taken together, these existing laws, and the ones likely to come, all seek to ensure parental consent is obtained, and the records are protected from unintended uses.

Guidance for Concerned and Caring Parents
The information and laws pertaining to student data privacy can be overwhelming. Parents can ask questions of their districts and take the time to read applicable privacy statements. Parents can also find out whether any education technology vendors used by their child’s school or district are signatories of the latest Student Privacy Pledge – an initiative led by The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) to safeguard student privacy regarding the collection, maintenance, and use of student personal information.

As an education technology vendor committed to ensuring data privacy and security, we welcome you posing these questions to the districts. It is important they be prepared to address any parent questions. Fortunately, we’ve seen our school and district customers become more aware and diligent about privacy.

We also communicate daily with our customers to ensure they have the information they need to answer any questions. Our transparent privacy policy can be found at https://unifiedtrack.com/privacy.

Looking forward, we remain focused on addressing the most critical issues facing K-12 education today and are committed to fulfilling our data security and privacy obligations to our customers, students, and their families. Together, we can continue providing schools and districts with the tools they need to ensure we can help improve outcomes for educators and students.

UnifiedTrack.com Privacy Policy

This privacy policy has been compiled to better serve those who are concerned with how their ‘Personally Identifiable Information’ (PII) is being used online. PII, as described in US privacy law and information security, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context. Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website.

What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our blog, website, or app?

When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, mailing address, phone number, or other details to help you with your experience.

When do we collect information?

We collect information from you when you register on our site, subscribe to a newsletter, fill out a form, or enter information on our site.

How do we use your information?

We may use the information we collect from you when you register, make a purchase, sign up for our newsletter, respond to a survey or marketing communication, surf the website, or use certain other site features in the following ways:

To administer a contest, promotion, survey, or other site feature.
To send periodic emails regarding your order or other products and services.
To follow up with you after correspondence (live chat, email, or phone inquiries).

How do we protect your information?

We do not use vulnerability scanning and/or scanning to PCI standards.

We only provide articles and information. We never ask for credit card numbers.

We use regular Malware Scanning.

Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.

We implement a variety of security measures when a user enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information.

All transactions are processed through a gateway provider and are not stored or processed on our servers.

Do we use ‘cookies’?

We do not use cookies for tracking purposes.

You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. Since each browser is a little different, look at your browser’s Help Menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.

If you turn cookies off, some features that make your site experience more efficient may not function properly.

Third-party disclosure

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your Personally Identifiable Information unless we provide users with advance notice. This does not include website hosting partners and other parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or serving our users, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release information when it’s appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others’ rights, property, or safety.

However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

Third-party links

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third-party products or services on our website. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We, therefore, have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.

Google

Google’s advertising requirements can be summed up by Google’s Advertising Principles. They are put in place to provide a positive experience for users. https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/1316548?hl=en

We use Google AdSense Advertising on our website.

Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our site. Google’s use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to our users based on previous visits to our site and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt-out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google Ad and Content Network privacy policy.

We have implemented the following:

Demographics and Interests Reporting

We, along with third-party vendors such as Google, use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to compile data regarding user interactions with ad impressions and other ad service functions as they relate to our website.

Opting out

Users can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page. Alternatively, you can opt-out by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative Opt-Out page or by using the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser add-on.

California Online Privacy Protection Act

CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law’s reach stretches well beyond California to require any person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting Personally Identifiable Information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals or companies with whom it is being shared.

See more at:http://consumercal.org/california-online-privacy-protection-act-caloppa/#sthash.0FdRbT51.dpuf

According to CalOPPA, we agree to the following:

Users can visit our site anonymously.
Once this privacy policy is created, we will add a link to it on our home page or at a minimum, on the first significant page after entering our website.
Our Privacy Policy link includes the word ‘Privacy’ and can easily be found on the page specified above.
You will be notified of any Privacy Policy changes on our Privacy Policy Page.
You can change your personal information by emailing us.

How does our site handle Do Not Track signals?

We honor Do Not Track signals and do not track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.

Does our site allow third-party behavioral tracking?

It’s also important to note that we do not allow third-party behavioral tracking.

COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act)

When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under the age of 13 years old, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, United States’ consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children’s privacy and safety online.

We do not specifically market to children under the age of 13 years old.

Fair Information Practices

The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information.

In order to be in line with Fair Information Practices, we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur:

We will notify you via email within 7 business days.

We also agree to the Individual Redress Principle which requires that individuals have the right to legally pursue enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or government agencies to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.

CAN-SPAM Act

The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.

We collect your email address in order to:

Send information, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions.
Process orders and to send information and updates pertaining to orders.
Market to our mailing list or continue to send emails to our clients after the original transaction has occurred.

To be in accordance with CANSPAM, we agree to the following:

Not use false or misleading subjects or email addresses.
Identify the message as an advertisement in some reasonable way.
Include the physical address of our business or site headquarters.
Monitor third-party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used.
Honor opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly.
Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email.

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can email us here:

Follow the instructions at the bottom of each email and we will promptly remove you from ALL correspondence.

Contacting Us

If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy, you may contact us using the information below.

UnifiedTrack.com
Unified Track
121 E. Jackson Avenue
Knoxville, TN 37915
Email: info@unifiedtrack.com

Last Edited on 01/05/2025