One of the issues tied to the renewal of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)--more commonly known as NCLB--is the desire to provide parents and students direct access to their educational data via a personal electronic portfolio better known as the "My Data Button." The question becomes: will this really provide a useful service, or it is simply another example of a big data dump? Is there information to be gathered, or is this an attempt to be transparent with no real positive impact for the end user? A commercial venture named the My Data Button has been given several awards and articulates how they feel the concept can be helpful. Personal.com's blog also favors the concept. Hacked Education's view is here. The Chronicle of Higher Education spoke about the pressures colleges are getting from the Deptartment of Education to open up their student data. There isn't much negative feedback about this initiative, but I am not sure how students and families will really benefit. What are your thoughts?
