Privacy and Terms

This Privacy Notice governs your access to and use of all eSpark operated and controlled websites including esparklearning.com and frontier.esparklearning.com and all other online services controlled or provided by eSpark (collectively, the “Services”).

Many of us here at eSpark are parents too

We take the security and confidentiality of your students’ personal information very seriously. We thought of the questions we would have as parents of students using eSpark and answered them below. If after reading our Privacy Notice you have questions, comments, or suggestions about your student’s personal information, please contact us.

Your Agreement With eSpark

This Privacy Notice constitutes a binding legal agreement between you, as a User who uses and interacts with the Services, and eSpark. Before accessing, using, or interacting with the Services you should carefully review the terms and conditions of this Privacy Notice, as well as our Terms and Conditions which are incorporated into your agreement with eSpark by this reference. This Privacy Notice applies only to the Services, and our collection, use, disclosure, and protection of your information. It does not apply to third party websites, applications, or services.

By using or interacting with any of our Services you signify your consent to our Privacy Notice and Terms and Conditions, and the collection, transfer, storage, disclosure, and use of your information described in this Privacy Notice. If you do not agree to the terms of our Privacy Notice and Website Usage Terms, then you may not use or interact with the Services.

Does eSpark collect personal information about my child?

eSpark is dedicated to providing educational curriculum customized for each student based upon his or her learning level and goals. Because eSpark creates a personalized curriculum, it is necessary for us to collect certain personal information about each student. We cannot fulfill our mission of creating relevant, student-centered curriculum without it.

What personal information does eSpark collect?

In order to provide personalized learning plans, we must collect some limited personal information in order to identify each student’s unique needs. We do collect students’ names and school IDs. We also collect eSpark and Frontier usernames and passwords. We also collect information about each iPad device used in the program. This includes serial number, MAC address, UDID, and other device-specific information.

At the completion of a student’s personalized quest in connection with a teacher account, he or she may complete a performance challenge in which the student creates a re-teaching video to synthesize and apply his or her new skills. These performance challenges can be enabled or disabled through the teacher dashboard at any time. Student videos that are completed will sync directly to the teacher dashboard for teachers to verify concept mastery. We believe that the student’s repeating or explaining of the lesson is an important part of the learning process and an essential assessment tool for teachers. These videos are never made public by eSpark without explicit consent. The performance challenge video is recorded on the student’s device. When the video is uploaded from the device it is permanently deleted from the student’s device. The video is uploaded to a secure service where it is only accessible to the student’s teacher or authorized school officials. Note that if a student is not using the Services in connection with a teacher account, the video functionality will be disabled so that the student cannot record videos.

We are not in the business of marketing or selling information to marketers. Therefore, we will never collect or ask for your student’s home address, telephone number, social security number, or email address. And, while we do collect the IP addresses of our iPad devices, we do not collect or track the specific geolocation of the devices.

Does eSpark collect any other student information?

We also collect and use other educational data about the students using eSpark such as their grade levels and which classes they are enrolled in. Schools, school districts, and the educational organizations with whom we partner may also share external test scores with us furnished by third party test services. In addition, as students move through eSpark, we will collect usage data such as quiz scores, mood check-ins, which apps and videos they watch, and the ratings they provide for the activities in which they participate. This information is “non-personal Information.” While this non-personal information is about your child, it cannot be used to individually identify your child. None-the-less it is treated with the highest confidentiality. All of this data we collect is used for the benefit of the students using eSpark to enhance their experience and provide a truly personalized curriculum.

Do the applications eSpark utilizes collect any personal information?

eSpark creates customized curriculum for students by providing access to a personalized set of third-party iPad applications. eSpark’s professionals scrutinize each application for compliance with our privacy standards. We will never intentionally include applications that require students to enter personally identifiable information. eSpark continually audits the applications we use to make sure they are not requesting students’ personal information.

Furthermore, we only use iPad applications which are available through Apple’s Volume Purchase Program (VPP). All applications must meet the terms and conditions set by the Apple VPP store.

The individual applications eSpark uses may be governed by their own privacy policies or information collection practices, which may be different from ours. If you have questions about which applications are on your student’s device, or about a particular application’s privacy notice, please contact us.

How does eSpark use and share the personal information it collects?

The information provided by a school district is owned by the school district or the student and not eSpark. eSpark has permission to use that information where necessary to provide its services. We will not share, sell, rent, or otherwise disclose your private personal information to third parties without your consent, except in the limited circumstances described below. Furthermore, eSpark will never use personal information it collects to send marketing messages to students. eSpark uses the personal information it collects to assess students' learning needs and provide them personalized learning curricula.

There are limited circumstances in which we may share personal information with third parties.

eSpark Compliance

How does eSpark comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)?

In compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, (a) if a student is using the Services in connection with a teacher account, we obtain the consent of authorized school officials in order for students under 13 years of age to use our services in any manner that could result in the student submitting personal information, or (b) if a student under the age of 13 is using the Services in connection with a parent account, we do not request or knowingly collect any personal information from students directly, and instead all student personal information is provided by the parent. Upon request, parents and guardians may have the opportunity to inspect and/or delete the personal information collected regarding your child.

If your student is under the age of 13 and is using the Services in connection with a parent account, please ensure that he or she does not provide us any personal information directly. If we learn we have collected personal information about a student under the age of 13, we will delete that information as quickly as practicable. Please contact us at privacy@esparklearning.com if you believe we have collected personal information regarding your student who is under the age of 13 without school consent being provided.

How does eSpark comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)?

Parents may request to review your child’s personal information. You may also request to correct, update, or delete your child’s personal information from our database. We are required by law to ensure anyone making such a request is a parent or legal guardian. You may be asked to provide some information, and it may take a few business days to process your request. To make such a request, please contact us using the information provided below.

Please note, that the eSpark program is based upon providing individualized and customized content for its students. The information that we collect is necessary for your child to participate in our program. Should you request your child’s complete personal information be deleted and revoke your consent to allow eSpark to collect information about your child, then your child will not be able to participate in the eSpark program.

Requests to delete or remove your or your child's’ information do not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information posted, and removed information may persist in backup copies indefinitely. Please note that if you choose to delete your information or opt-out of the collection and use of your information, you understand that certain features, including but not limited to access to the Services, may no longer be available to you.

How does eSpark comply with ED 2D Compliancy Laws?

eSpark abides by the ED 2D Compliancy Laws for student privacy in New York and is a vendor of BOCES.

How and where is student information secured?

The security of student information is extremely important to us. We have implemented reasonable efforts to secure and protect the privacy, accuracy, and reliability of your information and to protect it from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. We continually review our security procedures in light of the latest threats and industry advances. While we will take reasonable efforts to protect students’ information, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and any information you transfer to or from Services is provided at your own risk.. Access to information is limited to those employees who require it to perform their job functions through the use of user and password credentials. We use industry-standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology to safeguard student information.

Information collected by eSpark is hosted in and managed and controlled by us from the United States and is not intended to subject us to the laws or jurisdiction of any jurisdiction other than that of the United States. If you are a user located outside the United States, you understand and consent to having any personal information processed in the United States. United States data protection and other relevant laws may not be the same as those in your jurisdiction. This includes the use of cookies and other tracking technologies as described above.

In the event that any information under our control is compromised as a result of a breach of security or other data security incident, eSpark will take reasonable steps to investigate the situation and where necessary, notify those individuals whose information may have been compromised and take other steps in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. We are not responsible for the functionality, privacy, or security measures of any other organization.

How does eSpark register student accounts?

Student account registration: Students are not allowed to register for eSpark accounts themselves. A teacher or parent account is required to register a student account. eSpark collects the minimum amount of information to allow for a personalized educational experience and to facilitate progress monitoring for parents and teachers.

When students are signed up for eSpark through a teacher's account the teacher is asked to enter the student's username (first name and last name or last initial) and grade level. Teacher accounts are only allowed through a verified school or school district.

When students are signed up for eSpark through a parent’s account the parent is asked to enter the student's username and password name (first name and last name or last initial). If a student has an existing account through a school entity, the parent is asked to enter the student's username and password to link the student account to the parent account.

If a student does not have an existing account, parent is asked to create a new account by entering the following information:

• Parent's email address
• First name
• Last name or last initial
• Password
• Location
• Grade

eSpark automatically generates a unique username based on the student's first name, last initial, and a number.

The student's name is used to identify that student to their parent or teacher so that they are able to effectively differentiate instruction. The student's grade and location are used to place them in the most appropriate curriculum and grade level. The student's username and password are used to allow them to securely log in to eSpark's website.

As students work through their Quests, eSpark collects information on their academic progress. eSpark uses a student's academic progress to customize their educational experience, including finding an optimal path through eSpark's adaptive learning paths.

Select components of a student's academic progress are reported back to a student's parent and/or teacher, in order to allow the parent/teacher to monitor the student's progress and customize the student's educational experience.

How does eSpark use Google user data?

eSpark products integrate with Google to facilitate a more immersive educational experience using tools that students and teachers are familiar with. To that end, eSpark requests specific pieces of user data with informed permission from the user to achieve the following:

• Identify emails and basic profile information using the following Google API scopes: https://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.email and https://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.profile.
• Create a Google Drive folder for the student, and ask the student to choose in the eSpark application to create a Google Doc or Slides file stored in that folder. Students use these documents to respond to a writing prompt. For these student activities, eSpark requests https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file to facilitate creation & management of Google Drive documents and folders.
• Share student files for review by a teacher and authorized peers. eSpark relies on https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file to capture the Google Drive file as a PDF for review by their teacher and peer reviewers according to matching rules.
• List and import courses for each student and classroom using https://www.googleapis.com/auth/classroom.courses.readonly, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/classroom.rosters.readonly and https://www.googleapis.com/auth/classroom.profile.emails.
• Post announcements to Google Classroom using https://www.googleapis.com/auth/classroom.coursework.students.
• eSpark Learning Designers author lessons that include a writing prompt within a template created using a Google Drive Doc or Slides file. Designers create the documents, and then mark them as student prompt templates within eSparks application. eSpark requests https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly from eSpark Learning Designers for this functionality.

Changes to Our Privacy Notice

The Services that eSpark provides are always evolving and the form and nature of the Services may change without prior notice to you. eSpark may modify this Privacy Notice at any time. The most current version of our Privacy Notice will govern our use of your information and will be located at https://info.esparklearning.com/privacy/. Modifications to the Privacy Notice are effective upon the posting of an amended Notice to the Services. We may also notify you of changes to the Privacy Notice, particularly if we deem the changes to be material. By continuing to access or use the Services after changes become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised Privacy Notice.

If I have questions, who do I contact?

eSpark, Inc. is located in the United States of America. Questions regarding this Privacy Notice and issues related to your student’s personal information should be directed to us via any of the following methods:

This Privacy Notice was updated March 20th, 2020.