On Wednesday, Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 received the Trusted Learning Environment (TLE) Mini Seal for Leadership Practice from the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). This national accolade recognizes districts that meet high standards for protecting student data privacy, focusing on five key areas: Leadership, Business, Data Security, Professional Development, and the Classroom.
District 64 is one of seven in Illinois to earn a TLE seal, and now we can work towards earning the full seal and improving privacy protections for our students.
“We are thrilled to be recognized by CoSN with this award,” said Matt Tombs, Director of Innovation and Technology. “This is a tremendous honor and a testament to our district’s commitment to student data privacy, and it shows that our ongoing efforts are making a real impact.”
The CoSN TLE Seal is the only privacy framework designed specifically for school systems. Earning the TLE Seal requires that school systems have taken measurable steps to implement, maintain and improve organization-wide student data privacy practices. All TLE Seal recipients are required to demonstrate that improvement through a reapplication process every two years.
“As today’s technological landscape grows increasingly complex, safeguarding student data privacy is more critical than ever. Park Ridge-Niles School District’s TLE Mini Seal recognition is proof of their proactive approach to protecting students and building community trust,” said Keith Krueger, CEO, CoSN.
In September 2024, Illinois joined the TLE State Partnership Program, providing all districts in the state with unlimited free TLE Seal applications and renewals, statewide benchmarking across 25 core privacy and security practices, and targeted resources to close identified gaps. Through this state initiative, District 64 joined one of two pilot cohorts focused on the leadership and business practices.
To qualify for the Mini Seal in the Leadership Practice, districts must:
- Build and maintain leadership knowledge of relevant laws, regulations, community expectations and best practices in student data privacy;
- Develop and update policies that establish requirements for compliance with all applicable federal and state regulations and school system rules;
- Set clear expectations for the protection of student data privacy and security, as well as the transparent use of data;
- Designate an executive leader responsible for the development and implementation of data privacy and security policies and practices;
- Provide transparent, up-to-date and accessible communications to the community about student data practices; and
- Allocate adequate resources to support data privacy and security needs.
CoSN recently released a case study, “Improving Data Privacy in Illinois With CoSN’s TLE State Partnership Program,” showcasing how Illinois school districts — including Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 — are using the TLE framework to accelerate progress in student data privacy and security across the state.