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Privacy

Privacy Policy

For the educational websites and resources provided by Dr. Ijezie-Desbois, including drijezie.com and The Scholar's Ascent.

Last Updated: July 31, 2026

1. Our Commitment to Privacy

Your privacy, and the privacy of your student, is our top priority. This website serves as an educational resource hub. We are committed to creating a safe online environment and strictly adhere to the principles of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). We do not sell, rent, or trade your information.

2. What Information We Collect (and What We Don’t)

We collect the minimum amount of information necessary to provide and improve our educational resources. Here’s a clear breakdown:

✅ Information We DO Collect:

  • Standard Website Analytics: If you accept on the cookie banner, Google Analytics 4 records aggregate visit data (which pages are popular, roughly how long visitors stay). It is not tied to a scholar’s alias or account, and it does not load at all unless you accept. See Section 4b.
  • Interactive Tool Data (Stored Locally): Some tools — including the Cursive Command Center, the Study Planner, and the Campaign Speech Toolkit — save progress directly in your web browser using localStorage. For those tools, the work stays on your device and is not sent to us.
  • Scholar Work Saved to Our Servers: Other signed-in features do save to our servers, and we want to be exact about which: Cornell and other structured notes, practice-session results, Mental Picture progress, saved game states, avatars and earned progression, and journey participation. A learner can see their own progress; Dr. Ijezie can review progress for classroom and Personal Learning accounts. Other learners cannot.
  • How Features Are Used (Not What Is In Them): So that Dr. Ijezie can tell which resources actually get used, we record that a feature was opened — for example that the graphing calculator was used, or that a course page was viewed — along with the learner's alias, learning cohort, and a timestamp. We do not record what was inside: no calculator expressions, no note text, no search terms, no assessment answers, no survey wording. The system rejects those fields outright rather than quietly discarding them. Course-page views are sampled at 25%, so those counts are a floor, not a total.
  • Surveys and Feedback Are Confidential, Not Anonymous: When a scholar answers a survey or sends feedback while signed in, the response is stored under their account and Dr. Ijezie can see who wrote it. We do not share it with other scholars, families, or anyone outside the classroom — but please do not read “confidential” as “anonymous.” They are different things and only one of them is true here.
  • Communication Information: If you or your parent/guardian contact us via email or a contact form, we will have the information you provide (such as your name and email address) in order to respond.
  • Assessment Data: The Scholar’s Ascent Assessment Center collects student responses, scores, and time-on-task data for curriculum-aligned assessments administered by the teacher. Students are identified by pseudonymized aliases (not real names) throughout the system. This data is stored securely in cloud-hosted databases and is accessible only by the teacher. See Section 6 for details.
  • Assessment Integrity Monitoring: During locked assessments, the system monitors tab switches, fullscreen exits, and copy/paste attempts to maintain academic integrity — similar to Google Forms’ locked mode. For written responses, keystroke timing and paste detection are used to identify potential academic dishonesty (e.g., copying from external sources). This data is reviewed solely by the teacher for grading decisions and is never used for behavioral profiling, disciplinary predictions, or purposes beyond academic integrity. See Section 6 for details.
  • Post-Assessment Surveys: After assessments, students may be asked about study habits, confidence levels, and areas of difficulty. This data is used by the teacher to improve instruction and is never shared with third parties.
  • Scientist’s Arcade Data: The game zone collects pseudonymized gameplay data only — player alias, learning cohort, and scores. No real student names are stored in the game database.

❌ Information We DO NOT Collect:

  • Unnecessary Personal Information: We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information beyond what is required for educational functionality (e.g., student name and class period for assessment identification).
  • Data for Commercial Purposes: Student data is never sold, shared with advertisers, or used for any commercial purpose. Period.

3. How We Use Information

Any information collected is used solely for the following purposes:

  • To Improve the Website: Analyzing anonymous usage data helps us understand which resources are most effective and how we can make the site better for everyone.
  • To Provide Functionality: Storing data locally in your browser allows tools like the Cursive Hub to remember your progress between sessions.
  • To Communicate: Responding to inquiries sent to us directly.

4. Third-Party Services & Links

This website uses trusted third-party services to function and may link to external educational sites:

  • Google Firebase (Google LLC): Hosting, sign-in, and the databases that hold assessment data, scholar work, and game scores — encrypted in transit and at rest. This is where scholar data actually lives.
  • Google Analytics 4 (Google LLC): Aggregate website traffic measurement. Loads only after a visitor accepts on the cookie banner. See Section 4b.
  • Google Gemini (Google LLC): Assists with generating and reviewing practice questions and feedback. See Section 6 for what is and is not sent to it.
  • Resend (Resend, Inc.): Delivers notification email to Dr. Ijezie only — for example that a retake was requested. These messages carry counts and links, never scholar names, answers, or written work. No scholar or family address is ever added to this service.
  • Google Calendar & Google Fonts (Google LLC): Display the class calendar and site typography.
  • External Links: We may link to other educational websites (e.g., Khan Academy, PhET, CK-12). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these external sites. We encourage you to review their policies.

4b. Cookies & Similar Technologies

This site uses three different kinds of browser storage. They are not interchangeable, so we list them separately:

  • Strictly necessary (always on): Sign-in state, your alias and learning cohort for the current session, and your cookie choice itself. The site cannot work without these and they are never used for advertising.
  • Local storage for your own work (always on): Progress in the tools named in Section 2 that save on your device. This never leaves your browser.
  • Analytics (off until you accept): Google Analytics 4 sets cookies to measure aggregate traffic — which pages are visited and roughly how long people stay. It does not load at all until you accept on the banner, and declining does not reduce any classroom feature. We do not use advertising cookies, and we do not permit advertising use of any data from this site.

You can clear cookies and local storage at any time in your browser settings; clearing them signs you out and removes locally saved tool progress. Browsers that send a “Do Not Track” signal are excluded from usage measurement automatically.

5. Data Security

We take reasonable measures to protect student data, including:

  • All communications with our website are encrypted using standard SSL/TLS technology.
  • Assessment data is stored in secured cloud databases with access restricted to the teacher.
  • Game data uses pseudonymized aliases — no real student names are stored in the game scoring system.
  • Student authentication credentials are securely hashed and never stored in plain text.
  • Students are identified by pseudonymized aliases — real names are not stored alongside academic records.

5b. Data Retention & Deletion

  • Retention Period: Student assessment data is retained for the current school year and archived at year-end. Data from prior years may be retained for academic record-keeping purposes.
  • Right to Deletion: Parents, guardians, or eligible students may request deletion of their student's data at any time. We will comply with deletion requests within 45 days, as required by Texas law (Texas Education Code Chapter 32 / SB 820).
  • How to Request Deletion: Contact Dr. Ijezie-Desbois through your official school communication channel or at the contact information in Section 7.
  • End-of-Year Clearing: Game scores, session data, and temporary progress files are cleared at the end of each school year. This is done by the teacher as part of the year-end rollover; it is not an automatic scheduled job, so if you want confirmation that a particular scholar's data has been cleared, ask and we will confirm it directly. (The previous wording said this happened "automatically," which overstated it.)
  • Usage Measurement: The individual usage records described in Section 2 are kept for about 100 days. The per-day totals built from them contain no scholar identifiers and are kept for the school year so trends can be compared across terms.

6. AI-Assisted Tools & Automated Processing

Website Development. AI-powered development tools were used to build interactive features on this website, including educational games and study modules. These tools do not have access to student data at runtime. All AI-assisted content has been reviewed by the teacher for accuracy and curriculum alignment.

Assessment Grading. Written and essay-style responses submitted through The Scholar's Ascent Assessment Center may be processed by AI technology for automated scoring assistance. When this occurs:

  • Student written answers are sent to a secure AI processing service (Google Gemini) for evaluation against a teacher-defined rubric. Only pseudonymized aliases and response text are transmitted — never real student names.
  • The AI returns a numerical score and brief feedback — no student data is retained by the AI service for model training purposes.
  • All assessment content is aligned with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards and the curriculum adopted by the educational institution.
  • All grades — multiple-choice, written, and essay — are audited frequently for accuracy by the teacher and are always under active improvement.
  • The teacher retains full authority to review and override any AI-assisted grade at any time.

No AI Profiling. AI is not used to profile, categorize, predict behavior, or make disciplinary or placement decisions about students. AI serves strictly as a grading and content assistant under teacher supervision.

Assessment Integrity Monitoring. To maintain academic integrity during assessments, the platform monitors:

  • Tab switches and fullscreen exits during locked assessments (to prevent browsing for answers)
  • Copy/paste attempts during written responses
  • Keystroke timing patterns to detect potential external-source copying

This monitoring occurs only during active, locked assessments — not during general website use. The data is used solely for the teacher to evaluate submission authenticity. Submissions flagged by integrity monitoring are reviewed by the teacher before any grading action is taken. This monitoring is not used for behavioral profiling, disciplinary predictions, or any purpose beyond academic integrity.

No Third-Party Data Sales. Student data processed by AI tools is never sold, shared with advertisers, or used for any purpose beyond educational assessment within this platform.

7. Applicable Laws & Compliance

  • FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) — We protect student educational records and provide parents the right to inspect, review, and request amendments. See our FERPA Notice.
  • COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) — We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent or valid school-consent mechanisms.
  • Texas Education Code Ch. 32 / SB 820 — We comply with Texas student data privacy requirements including data minimization, prohibition on data monetization, and 45-day deletion upon request.
  • Texas SB 222 — As an operator of a K-12 educational website, we do not sell student data, use student data for targeted advertising, or build commercial profiles on students.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how student data is handled, please contact Dr. Ijezie-Desbois through your official school communication channel.