Your Child's Personal Information Is Secure on CreativeCurriculum.net

As early childhood educators and advocates, Teaching Strategies makes child privacy the highest priority. CreativeCurriculum.net is designed to protect the identity of children and their families with standard industry encryption and relies on user names and passwords, just like the banking and other financial organizations with which you do business over the Internet every day. The system is even more secure because it does not require addresses or phone numbers for parents or children. The only identifying information collected is the child's name and birth date. Your child's program may further increase security by entering only the first name and last initial or first initial and last name.  Samples of your child's work, photographs, and video and audio clips may also be collected and stored.

The small amount of personal information on the site is never used by Teaching Strategies, and will never be shared with anyone. The data on CreativeCurriculum.net is only used to create individual assessment records, activity recommendations, progress and planning forms, and records about group progress.

The following information has been excerpted and rewritten for parents from the Privacy Policy that is linked on every page of our site. Of course, if you ever have concerns or questions, you can contact us at your convenience at 800-289-9126.

From Parents: When you receive an invitation to use CreativeCurriculum.net from the school or program your child attends, you will need to register by entering your full name and e-mail address.  You select a user name and password that allows you to use the system and access your child's information.

When you return to the site and log in using your username and password, you only see information about your child and have access to the other features of the site. Your username and password are ONLY associated with your child's data and other features associated with his or her class. No other parent will be able to see information about your child.

About Children: Teachers and administrators use CreativeCurriculum.net to create "portfolios" for individual children. The portfolios include progress information about the children, the children's names or other similar designations (such as initials), birth date, and gender.

CreativeCurriculum.net is designed to help teachers and parents to follow children's progress.

Evidence of your child's progress is stored in your child's portfolio. The portfolio may include notes about your child's activities, journal entries, photographs, scanned images of your child's work, audio recordings, video clips, and notes to and from parents, guardians, and teachers. These records help teachers make evidence-based decisions about your child's progress on The Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum for Ages 3 - 5, our assessment tool, and the core of CreativeCurriculum.net.

Teachers and administrators also enter demographic information about your child and the class, including: the child's primary language and ethnicity, whether the child has an Individual Education Program, the program, if any, in which the child participates (e.g. Head Start, Pre-K, Title I, etc.), or other funding sources for the child, as well as the child's age group and class.

Electronic Tracking Information About Users of the System: Our system automatically tracks and collects certain anonymous information from all visitors to the Site, including (i) the pages you view on the Web site, (ii) the Web sites you visit immediately before and immediately after visiting the Site, (iii) your IP address and (iv) the operating system, browser, software, and internet service provider you use. This information does not identify you personally. The system also uses the standard "cookie" feature of major browsers. A cookie is a small file placed on your computer's hard drive that allows us to learn about your visit to our Site. Cookies help us learn which areas of our Site are useful and which areas need improvement. We do not use cookies to collect any information that identifies you personally.

Portfolio Data: The school or program will use data to set up and maintain your child's portfolio and to grant other administrators and teachers the right to access, update, view, and/or modify the portfolios. The program staff uses the system to prepare student assessments, identify and recommend appropriate activities, and customize plans for your child. 

Demographic data is used to aggregate group outcome progress reports for administrators and licensing agencies. Teaching Strategies, the provider of CreativeCurriculum.net may, from time to time, aggregate all of the portfolio data on the system to generate reports and conduct research.  However, all identifying information about individual children, users, and programs will be removed, Teaching Strategies may publish the results of these aggregated reports. In no event will any such results identify you, your child, or your child's program.

Through CreativeCurriculum.net, you will be able to review your child's progress information online and in print. Your username and password will be linked only to your child's information, and no other parent or site user will have access to this information, except authorized teachers and administrators.

Electronic Tracking Information: Teaching Strategies uses the anonymous information collected to administer our Site, improve the services, determine how the Site is being used, identify popular areas of the Site, and analyze trends and usage patterns. Teaching Strategies may use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server. This anonymous information cannot be used to identify you or a child.

We will not disclose any information to third parties except as described above and in the following limited circumstances:

• We will disclose the data we collect if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that disclosure is necessary (a) to obey the law or comply with legal process served on us or our affiliates; (b) to protect and defend our rights or property or the rights or property of other users of our website; or (c) to act in an emergency to protect the personal safety of users of our website or the public.
  
• If we sell our company or its assets, we may transfer the data we collect to the purchaser so that the purchaser can continue to provide services to you. The purchaser will be bound by this Privacy Policy.

We use security measures standard in the industry, similar to those used in highly secure sites (like your bank) including Secure Sockets Language encryption and firewalls, to prevent unauthorized access, safeguard confidentiality, and ensure the correct use of information about children.