National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy

THE ASVAB CAMPAIGN

USME Although the National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy is a new organization, many of our members across the country have been working to educate and convince school officials since 2005.

In that year activists began applying pressure on school officials in more than two dozen states urging them to select Option 8 for students taking the ASVAB, thereby prohibiting the automatic release of test data to military recruiting services. The issue steadily gained traction and found a place on the agenda of civil rights and peace and justice organizations.

In the next few years loosely coordinated campaigns helped to launch successful programs that resulted in several of the nation's largest school districts, including those in Montgomery County, Maryland, New York City, San Diego, and Los Angeles to select Option 8 for all students taking the ASVAB. The L.A. Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild wrote a compelling legal brief that identified ASVAB testing in the schools as a civil rights issue. Campaign successes through 2008 attracted national media attention, particularly a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer that published a database acquired from the DoD through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on ASVAB testing in 12,000 high schools.

Individuals affiliated with ASVAB campaigns in Hawaii, Maryland, and California set their sights on statewide initiatives to mandate the universal selection of Option 8. Hawaii's Department of Education implemented the nation's first statewide policy. Next, the California legislature passed an Option 8 measure in 2008, but it was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 2010, a campaign directed by the Maryland Coalition to Protect Student Privacy resulted in Maryland becoming the first state to enact a law that prohibits the automatic release of student information to military recruiters gathered as a result of the administration of the ASVAB.

Ch 105 Education 7-111(C) The NAACP, MD-PTA, ACLU-MD, Progressive Maryland, Peace Action and several privacy groups lobbied for the passage of the bill. The law requires that each public school that administers the ASVAB shall choose “Option 8” as the reporting option for military recruiter contact to prohibit the general release of any student information to military recruiters. Stories in several national media outlets, including USA Today and NPR Radio brought additional national attention.

This campaign is not an anti-military operation. We acknowledge federal laws that guarantee military recruiters' access to public high school children. We call for the universal selection of ASVAB Option 8 for all students who participate in the high school ASVAB testing program. This may be achieved by administrative policy changes at the school, school district, or state level, or through the passage of laws similar to the one passed in Maryland. Although Maryland's law sets the gold standard, the focus of this campaign is to educate the educators.

The ASVAB Campaign has several components:

FOIA's — Colleagues affiliated with the coalition in Oregon have received a series of responses to FOIA requests pertaining to ASVAB testing over the last few years: http://www.lprww.info This data is crucial in allowing us to track our progress. When presented with the data, school officials often have different numbers for mandatory testing, students tested, and their release options.

The fact that this campaign has clearly measurable outcomes is a dream come true for political scientists like us, hungry for empirical results. As a result of our annual FOIA requests, we've received three separate years of data, covering the 2006-2007, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010 school years. Our request to the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command for the 2010-2011 data is pending. The data allows us to track several categories of information nationally and in every state and territory. We can plot the number of schools and students taking the test and the numbers of schools and students where mandatory testing occurs. Most importantly, we can monitor the selection of ASVAB Option 8, especially in relation to the overall numbers tested.

Press Outreach — FOIA results provide grist for the press release mill. Much of this story still has not been told. Regular press releases from the state campaigns are being sent to local educational reporters within each state. Influential blogs are also monitored and inaccuracies corrected. We are concentrating on mandatory testing in our press outreach. This particular issue has received scant attention overall and no mention in the mainstream media. More than a thousand schools require students to take the ASVAB without protecting their privacy. We will continue to nurture our contacts with educational reporters working for the nation's major dailies and we'll develop a greater presence on influential blogs in relevant educational and legislative circles.

Mandatory Testing — Hundreds of schools require testing in states across the country and these are not identified as being mandatory in the official ASVAB data. For instance, the information released by the DoD for the ’09-’10 school year shows there is no mandatory testing in Ohio, OH-10, however, it is possible, using a simple Google search tool, in this case -- ("k12.oh.us" asvab "all juniors") to uncover hundreds of schools that require students to take the ASVAB and are not reported by the Pentagon. CachedYou +1'd this publicly. UndoCachedYou +1'd this publicly. UThe evidence must be collected and disseminated to activists, policy makers, and local and national media outlets.

Exploiting the Clash Between State & Federal Laws — Aside from managing to evade the constraints of FERPA and ESEA, the military may also be violating many state laws on student privacy when it administers the ASVAB in public high schools. Students taking the ASVAB are required to furnish their social security numbers for the tests to be processed, even though many state laws specifically forbid such information being released without parental consent. In addition, the ASVAB Answer Sheet requires under-aged students to sign a Privacy Statement, a practice that may also be prohibited by many state laws.

Outreach to Educational Professionals — Opening up a dialogue with local and state educational professionals is crucial. Typically, school administrators fail to select Option 8 because they don't realize the option exists. Thus, the thrust of this campaign is to inform educational policy makers. The following stakeholders must be approached in each state: State Superintendents of School, State Directors of Guidance Programs, Members of State Boards of Education, State representatives to the National Association of State Boards of Education, State representatives to the National School Boards Association, Local Superintendents of Schools, State Representatives to the American Association of School Administrators, State representative s to the National Education Association, State representatives to the American Federation of Teachers, and State Officers of the National PTA.

Catholic Schools— The ASVAB is administered to 10,000 students in 200 Catholic high schools across the country, numbers roughly approximating the average state. 20.4% of the students in Catholic schools taking the ASVAB had Option 8 selected for them. There are at least 17 Catholic high schools that require students to take the ASVAB. A campaign enlisting the help of several Catholic groups is picking up momentum and contact has recently been made with several Bishops.

Documenting Abuses — The campaign will continue to collect and catalog press reports of abuses and will endeavor to gather the names of students and parents who feel they've been victimized by the ASVAB program and are willing to go on record. These accounts provide a human face to the campaign and are indispensible in dealing with the press. Please get in touch with us regarding these abuses. info@studentprivacy.org

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		THE ASVAB CAMPAIGN Although the National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy is a new organization, many of our members across the country have been working to educate and convince school officials since 2005. In that year activists began applying pressure on school officials in more than two dozen states urging them to select Option 8 for students taking the ASVAB, thereby prohibiting the automatic release of test data to military recruiting services. The issue steadily gained traction and found a place on the agenda of civil rights and peace and justice organizations. In the next few years loosely coordinated campaigns helped to launch successful programs that resulted in several of the nation's largest school districts, including those in Montgomery County, Maryland, New York City, San Diego, and Los Angeles to select Option 8 for all students taking the ASVAB. The L.A. Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild wrote a compelling legal brief that identified ASVAB testing in the schools as a civil rights issue. Campaign successes through 2008 attracted national media attention, particularly a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer that published a database acquired from the DoD through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on ASVAB testing in 12,000 high schools. Individuals affiliated with ASVAB campaigns in Hawaii, Maryland, and California set their sights on statewide initiatives to mandate the universal selection of Option 8. Hawaii's Department of Education implemented the nation's first statewide policy. Next, the California legislature passed an Option 8 measure in 2008, but it was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2010, a campaign directed by the Maryland Coalition to Protect Student Privacy resulted in Maryland becoming the first state to enact a law that prohibits the automatic release of student information to military recruiters gathered as a result of the administration of the ASVAB. Ch 105 Education 7-111(C) The NAACP, MD-PTA, ACLU-MD, Progressive Maryland, Peace Action and several privacy groups lobbied for the passage of the bill. The law requires that each public school that administers the ASVAB shall choose “Option 8” as the reporting option for military recruiter contact to prohibit the general release of any student information to military recruiters. Stories in several national media outlets, including USA Today and NPR Radio brought additional national attention. This campaign is not an anti-military operation. We acknowledge federal laws that guarantee military recruiters' access to public high school children. We call for the universal selection of ASVAB Option 8 for all students who participate in the high school ASVAB testing program. This may be achieved by administrative policy changes at the school, school district, or state level, or through the passage of laws similar to the one passed in Maryland. Although Maryland's law sets the gold standard, the focus of this campaign is to educate the educators. The ASVAB Campaign has several components: FOIA's — Colleagues affiliated with the coalition in Oregon have received a series of responses to FOIA requests pertaining to ASVAB testing over the last few years: http://www.lprww.info This data is crucial in allowing us to track our progress. When presented with the data, school officials often have different numbers for mandatory testing, students tested, and their release options. The fact that this campaign has clearly measurable outcomes is a dream come true for political scientists like us, hungry for empirical results. As a result of our annual FOIA requests, we've received three separate years of data, covering the 2006-2007, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010 school years. Our request to the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command for the 2010-2011 data is pending. The data allows us to track several categories of information nationally and in every state and territory. We can plot the number of schools and students taking the test and the numbers of schools and students where mandatory testing occurs. Most importantly, we can monitor the selection of ASVAB Option 8, especially in relation to the overall numbers tested. Press Outreach — FOIA results provide grist for the press release mill. Much of this story still has not been told. Regular press releases from the state campaigns are being sent to local educational reporters within each state. Influential blogs are also monitored and inaccuracies corrected. We are concentrating on mandatory testing in our press outreach. This particular issue has received scant attention overall and no mention in the mainstream media. More than a thousand schools require students to take the ASVAB without protecting their privacy. We will continue to nurture our contacts with educational reporters working for the nation's major dailies and we'll develop a greater presence on influential blogs in relevant educational and legislative circles. Mandatory Testing — Hundreds of schools require testing in states across the country and these are not identified as being mandatory in the official ASVAB data. For instance, the information released by the DoD for the ’09-’10 school year shows there is no mandatory testing in Ohio, OH-10, however, it is possible, using a simple Google search tool, in this case -- ("k12.oh.us" asvab "all juniors") to uncover hundreds of schools that require students to take the ASVAB and are not reported by the Pentagon. CachedYou +1'd this publicly. UndoCachedYou +1'd this publicly. UThe evidence must be collected and disseminated to activists, policy makers, and local and national media outlets. Exploiting the Clash Between State & Federal Laws — Aside from managing to evade the constraints of FERPA and ESEA, the military may also be violating many state laws on student privacy when it administers the ASVAB in public high schools. Students taking the ASVAB are required to furnish their social security numbers for the tests to be processed, even though many state laws specifically forbid such information being released without parental consent. In addition, the ASVAB Answer Sheet requires under-aged students to sign a Privacy Statement, a practice that may also be prohibited by many state laws. Outreach to Educational Professionals — Opening up a dialogue with local and state educational professionals is crucial. Typically, school administrators fail to select Option 8 because they don't realize the option exists. Thus, the thrust of this campaign is to inform educational policy makers. The following stakeholders must be approached in each state: State Superintendents of School, State Directors of Guidance Programs, Members of State Boards of Education, State representatives to the National Association of State Boards of Education, State representatives to the National School Boards Association, Local Superintendents of Schools, State Representatives to the American Association of School Administrators, State representative s to the National Education Association, State representatives to the American Federation of Teachers, and State Officers of the National PTA. Catholic Schools— The ASVAB is administered to 10,000 students in 200 Catholic high schools across the country, numbers roughly approximating the average state. 20.4% of the students in Catholic schools taking the ASVAB had Option 8 selected for them. There are at least 17 Catholic high schools that require students to take the ASVAB. A campaign enlisting the help of several Catholic groups is picking up momentum and contact has recently been made with several Bishops. Documenting Abuses — The campaign will continue to collect and catalog press reports of abuses and will endeavor to gather the names of students and parents who feel they've been victimized by the ASVAB program and are willing to go on record. These accounts provide a human face to the campaign and are indispensible in dealing with the press. Please get in touch with us regarding these abuses. info@studentprivacy.org Home