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Privacy and Student Data

Literacy for Kids is designed to be used without collecting any information about students. This page explains what that means in practice.

The Core Principle​

No student data is needed to use this curriculum.

Every lesson can be run entirely through spoken discussion. Students do not need to:

  • Create an account
  • Log in
  • Enter their name, email address, or school
  • Submit written responses to a website
  • Have their answers stored anywhere
  • Be identified in any way

This is a deliberate design choice, not a limitation.

What "No Student Data" Means in Practice​

Reflection prompts​

Every reflection prompt, exit ticket, and check for understanding in this curriculum can be answered:

  • Out loud in a conversation
  • On paper that the student keeps or discards
  • Privately in a personal notebook the facilitator never reads
  • Not at all if the student isn't ready

Facilitators should never require students to share personal responses to earn participation or praise.

Journals and logs​

Some curricula (Decision Literacy, Emotional & Social Literacy, Health Literacy) encourage students to keep journals or logs. These are:

  • Optional
  • Personal to the student
  • Never submitted to or stored by the website
  • Never read by facilitators unless the student chooses to share

Tell students clearly: "Your journal is yours. I will not read it unless you want to share."

Scenario cards and activities​

Scenario activities use fictional characters and situations. Students are never asked to share real personal information about themselves, their families, or their experiences unless they choose to.

If a discussion question prompts students to share something personal, they can substitute a fictional example, say "someone I know," or pass.

What the Website Collects​

The Literacy for Kids sites are static HTML/CSS/JavaScript pages hosted on GitHub Pages. They collect nothing.

There are no:

  • Analytics scripts
  • Cookies (beyond what the browser sets)
  • Form submissions
  • User accounts
  • Session tracking
  • Third-party embeds that track visitors

Guidance for Facilitators​

In classrooms and programs​

If you are required to keep records of student learning, use your own notes, portfolios, or observation logs — not data submitted to or through this website.

Examples of privacy-respecting assessment approaches:

  • Observe and note verbal participation without quoting students
  • Keep your own written record of which lessons were completed
  • Ask students to self-assess in their own private journal
  • Use the exit-ticket prompts as oral conversations, not written submissions

With children who are cautious about sharing​

Some children are reluctant to share in group settings. That is fine. Scenario cards and discussion prompts can be answered with fictional examples. "What would a kid in a story do?" is just as useful as "What would you do?"

With families​

If parents or guardians ask about data practices, you can tell them:

"The curriculum website does not collect any information about students. All discussion and reflection happens out loud or on paper that students control."

For Developers and Contributors​

If you are contributing to this project, do not add:

  • Analytics (Google Analytics, Plausible, Fathom, Mixpanel, etc.)
  • Form submission to external services
  • Login or authentication
  • localStorage items that store student identity or responses
  • Cookies that persist across sessions
  • External CDN scripts that track visitors
  • Any feature that collects, stores, or transmits information about who used the curriculum

This applies to all repositories in the ecosystem. See the Security Policy for more detail.