2,000 Parents Petition McGraw-Hill to Stop Using Remote Proctoring Tools (Connecting the Dots: McGraw-Hill Is A School Textbook Publisher & The Soros Funded Think Tanks, All Networking)
EdSurge
Higher Education
By Jeffrey R.
Young Dec 17, 2020
Proctorio's automated proctoring software can record students during assessments and uses AI to determine suspicious behavior.
The pandemic has
led to a spike in the use of automated proctoring software, which is designed
to curb cheating on online quizzes and exams by recording students via their
webcams and flagging suspicious activity. Increasingly, students encounter
these proctoring tools in courseware required for their classes, thanks to partnerships
between textbook publishers and proctoring companies.
The practice has
stirred controversy, and this week a group of parents became the latest to push
back against remote proctoring software. More than 2,000 parents signed a
letter to one of the largest textbook publishers, McGraw-Hill, calling on it to end its partnership with
Proctorio, calling its software “invasive and racially biased.”
Leaders of the
parents’ petition say that automated proctoring tools are using textbooks as a
kind of side door into higher education without having to be reviewed by
college technology officials.
“It’s being done
in a way that’s broader and more rapid without sufficient review by these
institutions about doing it this way,” said Lia Holland, an activist for the
nonprofit digital rights group Fight for the Future, which helped organize the
letter-writing effort, in an interview with EdSurge. “These sorts of
stalkerware and spyware technology do not have a place in higher education.”
“We view this as
a human rights violation,” she added. “It violates the rights of these students
to have privacy.”
In its release,
the group cites an article
from EdSurge that notes that as the result of a partnership
announced in February between McGraw-Hill and Proctorio, some students now
encounter automated proctoring as they work through routine assessments in the
publisher’s Connect series of courseware.
Earlier this
year, Luz Elena Anaya Chong, a student at Texas State University, told the
EdSurge Podcast that the weekly quiz for her marketing class
used Proctorio to record video of her during the test and notify her professor
if she did something the system found suspicious. “It is very nerve-wracking. I
don’t want to be accused of cheating when that was not even the case,” says
Chong. “It makes me more nervous.”
The petition this
week from parents also argues that automated proctoring tools have been
reported to have more difficulty identifying students of color than white
students, leading to instances where some students had to make special
arrangements to take tests because the tools failed to work properly.
“The thing that
makes us most concerned is the huge gaps in inclusion and the major bias
against diverse students that these proctoring apps have,” said Holland. She
said McGraw-Hill has invested in diversity and inclusion efforts lately, which
made the partnership with the automated proctoring company “hypocritical and
distasteful.”
Tyler Reed, a
spokesperson for McGraw-Hill, said in a statement to EdSurge Thursday that “we
take parents’ concerns and student privacy very seriously. We’re reviewing the
letter internally.”
Officials from
Proctorio could not be reached for comment this week. Proctorio’s CEO, Mike
Olsen, told EdSurge in a
previous interview that he considers remote proctoring to be a
less invasive approach than having a human remotely proctor a test, as many
other companies do.
Earlier this
month a group of Democratic U.S. Senators sent
letters to three proctoring companies, including Proctorio, asking
questions about the technologies they use to monitor users, how they ensure
accuracy and what steps they take to protect students’ privacy.
And this month
the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a
complaint with the DC Attorney General’s office against
Proctorio and four other remote proctoring companies, alleging that the tools
violate student privacy.
Connecting
the Dots:
Lois Dickson
Fitt was a director at McGraw Hill
Financial Inc., a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a VP for
the College Board, is a
life trustee at the Urban Institute (think tank)
and Susan E. Rice’s mother.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank), the Urban Institute (think tank) and the Aspen Institute (think tank).
George Soros was
the chairman for the Foundation to Promote
Open Society.
Susan E. Rice was
a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), the White House national security adviser
for the Barack Obama administration and is Lois
Dickson Fitt’s daughter.
Frederic V. Malek is
a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think
tank) and the founder & board member for the American Action Network.
Hispanic
Leadership Network is an offshoot of the American Action Network.
Jeb Bush is an
advisory committee member for the Hispanic
Leadership Network and a supporter for the Common Core educational standards.
Student
Achievement Partners helped develop the Common Core educational standards.
David Coleman was
a co-founder for the Student Achievement
Partners and is the president of the College Board.
Lois Dickson
Fitt was a VP for the College
Board, a director at McGraw
Hill Financial Inc., a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution (think tank), is
a life trustee at the Urban Institute (think
tank) and Susan E. Rice’s mother.
Resources:
Past Research
Mom's Curriculum
'Roadmap' Helps Homeschoolers Choose Non-Common Core-Aligned Publishers (Past Research on McGraw-Hill, A School Textbook Publisher)
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER
1, 2014
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