The start of school this year brought on a multitude of challenges, but the topic most argued over for the past few months has been the banning of Quizlet. Quizlet, founded in 2005, is an educational website that provides studying and learning resources to students all across the country. These include flashcards, memorization games, practice tests, and more. Quizlet has roughly 60 million active users and from the discontent I’ve heard at CRLS, there are a significant number of students who are a part of that community. It should come as no surprise that students were deeply affected by the banning of the website.
Alongside my peers, I immediately placed the blame onto the district. It seemed obvious to blame the group of people with the power to make these major decisions. It just seemed like they had banned an incredibly useful website without actually understanding its usefulness.
However, as explained to me by Paige Graves, an Instructional Technology Specialist, and Kevin Keegan, the Technical Services Director for CPSD, it’s Quizlet themselves who are to blame. For the past few years, CPSD has sent Quizlet contracts—each containing a non-negotiable clause that would ensure that if a data leak occurred of a student’s information, Quizlet would be held accountable for the breach of protection. This clause is included in all of CPSD’s contracts with websites, and it is the reason why their system for the safety of student information is the most secure in the country and is used in many other districts—even outside of Massachusetts.
Unfortunately, after having been given time to sign, Quizlet refused. This forced the school board to ban the website for violating students’ rights to protected information. This refusal restricts Quizlet from hundreds of students who use and depend on their website, and who were previously protected by contracts. It would have been in Quizlet’s best interest to sign the contract, as they are losing students who won’t transfer to personal accounts. Regrettably, there is nothing the school can do anymore.
Nonetheless, there is still a major problem with how the school handled this situation. No information was provided to teachers, students, and families. The way in which I learned of the ban was by going to a former teacher who connected me with Ms. Graves. Students found out when they tried to access the website, only to be met by a blue screen that read the website is on the “CPS Block List.” Students’ frustration from lost work they stored on the site led me to write this article. They would have been able to retrieve their work on Quizlet and transfer it to a personal account if only they had been notified.
So, while the blame does not rest on the school for banning Quizlet, the undeniable truth is that the lack of communication and immediate notice failed to protect students and their hard work.
This article also appears in our December 2023 print edition.
