A class-action lawsuit against the makers of the learning platform i-Ready alleges that the software secretly tracks student behavior and shares it with third parties. Parents and privacy advocates argue that digital classroom tools build behavioral profiles on children without explicit consent. As school districts rely more on these digital systems, this lawsuit points to growing concerns about student surveillance.
What Happened
The class-action lawsuit, filed by California mothers Nicki Petrossi and Lila Byock, accuses Curriculum Associates, the parent company of i-Ready, of violating students' privacy rights. According to The 74, the case centers on whether edtech companies must get parental consent before they collect and use student data.
The i-Ready platform provides math and reading instruction to millions of U.S. students. It allegedly tracks more than 80 types of personal and behavioral information. According to FOX 13 Tampa Bay, this data includes names, birthdates, gender, race, IP addresses, and psychological profiles. Court documents cited by Axios San Diego also show that the software records second-by-second behaviors, like how long a student pauses on a question and how they move their mouse.
The lawsuit claims this data is shared with commercial companies. A forensic analysis in the FOX 13 Tampa Bay report showed that student information went directly to Google Analytics and Google's advertising business. Curriculum Associates denies the claims, stating that the platform only collects data needed for education, complies with federal laws, and does not sell student data.
The Bigger Picture
This lawsuit comes amid growing scrutiny of edtech companies. For example, another class-action lawsuit detailed by the Lawsuits Journal accuses Southern New Hampshire University of sending student data, including GPAs and financial aid status, to Google and TikTok through tracking pixels.
Data sharing rules are tightening. According to DEV Community, updated Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rules require edtech companies to get explicit parental consent before sharing student data with third-party tracking services. Under Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) guidelines, school districts must verify that their vendors comply with privacy rules, as noted in ThirdProof's guide on vendor assessments.
Academic research shows how heavily schools rely on automated student profiles. A study in Frontiers in Computer Science describes how schools compile behavioral and academic data to predict student performance. Researchers writing in Scientific Reports warn that these predictive systems can introduce algorithmic bias, particularly against first-generation students. To prevent this, scientists recommend schools use privacy-preserving synthetic data instead of analyzing real student behavior.
We have reported on similar classroom issues. In our coverage of Google's new Classroom tools, we noted that AI personalization often balances between helpful feedback and invasive data tracking.
What This Means for Families
For parents and educators, the main concern is how student data is commercialized. When classroom apps track precise movements like mouse pauses and send them to ad networks, they build profiles that could follow students into their academic futures.
Parents are pushing back. Due to privacy concerns and high screen time, some school districts are reducing their use of software like i-Ready, according to The 74.
Some schools are exploring localized computing to protect student privacy. As we noted in our report on local AI hardware solutions, keeping data on school devices instead of sending it to the cloud limits third-party privacy risks.
What You Can Do
First, ask school administrators to provide proof of their FERPA vendor risk reviews ThirdProof to verify that apps like i-Ready have rules preventing commercial data use.
Second, ensure your school does not consent to third-party ad network tracking for your child. These practices are restricted under updated COPPA rules DEV Community.
Third, ask your local school board to audit classroom software for trackers like Google Analytics or TikTok Pixels, which can leak student profiles Lawsuits Journal.
Finally, support the use of localized processing local AI hardware and synthetic databases Scientific Reports to shield children from algorithmic profiling.