1. Scope and our role
This policy applies to ACD Math websites, applications, diagnostic assessments, lessons, practice, Math Lab activities, reporting tools, and related support services. Depending on how an account is created, ACD Math may process information for a family directly or on behalf of a school, district, teacher, or learning center.
When an educational institution controls a student account, requests about that student's records may need to be directed to the institution first.
2. Information we collect
- Account and contact details, roles, organization, and sign-in security data.
- Student profile, grade, enrollment, guardian, teacher, and class relationships.
- Question responses, attempts, assessment sessions, mastery evidence, progress, recommendations, and learning history.
- Lesson, Math Lab, bookmark, accessibility, accommodation, and product-interaction data when those features are used or authorized.
- Device, browser, diagnostic log, security event, and service-performance information.
- Support messages, demo requests, preferences, and other information submitted to us.
We ask institutions and families to provide only information needed for an educational or operational purpose.
3. How we use information
We use information to:
- create accounts, verify access, and deliver requested services;
- present and evaluate learning activities and preserve exact assessment versions;
- generate progress, diagnostic, recommendation, and teacher or guardian views;
- provide accessibility and authorized accommodation support;
- protect accounts, investigate misuse, maintain reliability, and provide support;
- meet contractual and legal obligations and improve the service using appropriately controlled data.
4. Children's information and COPPA
ACD Math is built for children, so the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a starting point rather than an afterthought. A child reaches the platform one of two ways, and each has its own basis: a parent or guardian creates the account in a family household, or a school, district, or learning center does so for its own educational use. Under COPPA a school may give that direction in place of each parent, and only for its own educational purposes. We do not sell children's personal information, and we do not use it for behavioral advertising by us or anyone else.
The commitments below are properties of how the platform is built, not only statements of intent:
- A school's instruction is recorded before any pupil account can be created automatically. Creating pupil accounts through a school's single sign-on is switched off until an administrator records the basis for it, who at the school instructed it, and when. The platform refuses to save that setting without all three, and refuses to act on it if they are missing.
- A pupil account is only created for somebody the school's own roster already lists. Holding an address in a school's email domain is not enough on its own: contractors, applicants, and former pupils hold one too.
- We keep the minimum a pupil account needs. An account created this way holds a generated username, the school, the year group, and the school's own identifier for that pupil. Not the pupil's name, not their email address, not a photograph, and no password — they sign in through their school.
- A pupil's username is never built from their name.Usernames are generated by the platform (for example, blue-cat-42), and there is no way for a school to supply one instead. A school may still record a pupil's name on their profile where it needs to; that name is the school's record and is shown only to the people entitled to see it.
- Addresses used once to identify a pupil are not kept.Where a school's roster or sign-in supplies an email address so we can match a pupil to their account, we store a one-way hash of it rather than the address itself. It is enough to recognize the same pupil again and cannot be used to contact a child.
Family accounts remain subject to the guardian controls and consent flows the platform provides. Schools and other institutions are responsible for the notices they must give families about the services they choose.
5. School records and FERPA
When a school, district, or learning center creates or authorizes a student's account, ACD Math holds that student's information on the institution's behalf and under its direction. In the terms the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) uses, we act as a school official with a legitimate educational interest: we use the information to provide the service the institution asked for, we act on the institution's instructions, and we do not disclose education records to anybody else except as this policy and our agreement with the institution allow.
- The institution controls the records. Requests to see, correct, or delete a student's information should go to the school first, and we act on the school's instruction. A school can withdraw a student's access itself; for a copy of a student's records, or for their removal, the school can ask us and we will carry it out.
- Who can see a student is a matter of their role and their relationship. A teacher reaches the children in their own classes; a school administrator reaches their school; a guardian reaches their own children. When a child moves out of a class, the teachers of that class lose their access to them at the same moment, and the record that the child was in that class earlier is kept because it is part of their history.
- An import never invents a student. When a district sends us a roster, we match people to accounts that already exist and create classes and enrollments; we report anybody we could not match rather than creating a second record for them.
- Administrative changes are recorded with who made them and why. Changes to an institution's configuration — including anything that affects whose accounts can be created — are written to an audit trail with the person and their stated reason.
If a school directs us to disclose a student's records, or asks us to stop processing them, we follow that instruction. We do not use education records to build advertising profiles, and we do not sell them.
6. AI-assisted features
Where enabled, AI-assisted tutoring or recommendation features receive only the context needed for the requested educational task. Their use may depend on tenant configuration and agreements with service providers. AI output can be incomplete or inaccurate and should not be the sole basis for placement, grading, discipline, or another high-impact educational decision.
7. When information is shared
We may share information:
- with authorized guardians, educators, and organization administrators according to their role;
- with contracted infrastructure, security, communications, analytics, and learning-service providers that support the platform;
- when required by law or necessary to protect users, the service, or legal rights;
- as part of a business transaction, subject to appropriate safeguards and applicable law.
We do not sell personal or student information.
8. Retention, deletion, and security
We retain information for the period needed to deliver the service, satisfy institutional instructions and contracts, maintain required educational or audit records, resolve disputes, and meet legal duties. Information is deleted or de-identified when it is no longer required, subject to backups and lawful retention obligations.
We use administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards intended to protect information. No system can guarantee absolute security, so suspected account or data incidents should be reported promptly.
9. Access, correction, and choices
Depending on location and account type, a user may be able to request access, correction, deletion, restriction, or a copy of personal information. For institution-managed student accounts, contact the school or organization first. We may verify identity and authority before completing a request.
10. Changes and contact
We may update this policy as the platform and applicable requirements change. We will post the revised effective date and provide additional notice when required. Questions or privacy requests can be sent to hello@acdmath.com.