Security and privacy
Written for the person who has to sign off on it.
Learn what the K12 Professional Development Tracker contains, who can access it, and how your information is protected. If you have a question that is not addressed below, send it to us and we will provide a clear, written response.
No student-level data Bound to a district and a role Administrative actions logged
The short version
Three questions, answered before you read any further.
Explore how the K12 Professional Development Tracker manages staff learning records, controls access by district and role, and protects sensitive information through encryption, multi-factor authentication, audit logging, and secure private links.
Whose data is in here?
Staff professional learning records, and basic demographics. K12 Professional Development Tracker is not a student information system and holds no student-level data at all, which takes an entire category of district review off the table.
Who can see it?
Every account is bound to a district and a role, with building and committee scope on top. Administrative actions are written to an audit log.
How is it protected?
Encrypted connections throughout, and multi-factor authentication at sign-in that a district can require or an individual can switch on. Uploaded certificates and transcripts are served through short-lived private links rather than public URLs.
What data is held
Staff professional learning records. Not students.
K12 Professional Development Tracker exists to hold what a district's staff have done to earn, keep and grow their credentials. It is not a student information system and it holds no student-level data at all.
That is worth stating first, because it removes an entire category of district review before it starts. There is no student roster in here to protect, because there is no student roster in here.
What is in the system
Staff records, and the documents behind them
- Professional development requests and the decisions made on them
- Growth Plans (IPDPs) and the goals on them
- License and permit records for staff
- Your own course catalog, its sections and who attended them
- The verification documents staff upload, such as certificates and transcripts
- The staff accounts that sign in, and the scope each one carries
Who can see it
District first, then role, then the scope on top.
Every account is bound to a district and a role, with building and committee scope layered on top of that role. A principal sees a building. A committee member sees the committee's work. A teacher sees their own record.
Administrative actions are written to an audit log, so a change to somebody else's record is not an anonymous event.
How access is decided
Four things, in this order
- Every account is bound to a district
- A role decides what that account is allowed to do
- Building and committee scope narrows it further
- Administrative actions are written to an audit log
How it is protected
Encrypted connections, sign-in you can harden, private document links.
Connections are encrypted. Multi-factor authentication at sign-in is available and is switched on either by the district for its staff or by an individual user for their own account, so a district that wants a second factor everywhere can require it.
Uploaded documents are served through short-lived private links rather than public URLs. The address of a teacher's certificate is not something that can be copied out of the application and stay open indefinitely.
What is in place
Three things, stated plainly
- Connections are encrypted
- Multi-factor authentication at sign-in, enabled by the district or by the individual user
- Uploaded documents served through short-lived private links, not public URLs
Hosting and backup
Where it is hosted, and the backup position.
The K12 Professional Development Tracker is hosted in secure data centers and supported by a global content delivery network (CDN), an integrated firewall, and advanced security alerts. Nightly backups provide an additional layer of protection and help ensure your data remains available and recoverable.
Leaving
What happens to your data if you leave.
If your district chooses to leave the K12 Professional Development Tracker, we will work with your team to support a clear and orderly transition. Before you sign, we will provide the current data export, retention, and deletion procedures in writing so you know exactly what to expect.
The paperwork
The three documents that govern all of this.
Everything above is a plain-language summary. Where this page and one of these documents differ, the document is the one that counts.
Privacy policy
What we hold, how it is handled, and how to reach us about it. Read it in full before you decide anything on the strength of this page.
Terms of service
The agreement between your district and Patacca Services LLC for use of the application.
Service level agreement
What we commit to on availability and support, in the document where a commitment can actually be held to.
Need something a form cannot carry? Call 1.844.587.4440, Monday to Friday, 8am–4pm EST, or write through the contact form. A person answers.
Try it with your own staff list for thirty days.
Nothing to install, no credit card, and a person on the phone if you would rather be walked through it.