Student data privacy and sharing policy

The short version

• Student data belongs to the school. We use it only to run RiteType for that school.
• We never sell student data, never use it for advertising, and never build profiles of students for anything other than their typing practice.
• Signed-in students, teachers and school users see no ads at all.
• We collect as little as possible: no precise location, photos, contacts, voice or biometrics.
• Schools can have their data deleted at any time. Inactive student accounts are deleted after 12 months.
• If there’s ever a breach, we tell the school within 72 hours.

Where things stand: students can use every lesson, test and game today without an account, and nothing in that mode is collected about them. Teacher accounts, class codes and picture-password student sign-in are live. Sign-in with Clever or ClassLink and school SSO are being built, and will follow this policy from the day they launch.

Who we are

The operator of this service is RiteType, Los Angeles, California. For privacy questions, data requests or agreements, email hello@ritetype.com. This policy is effective October 10, 2026 (version 1.0).

Who this covers

• School accounts: students and teachers who sign in through their school (Google, Microsoft, Clever, ClassLink) or join a class with a class code.
• Children under 13 using RiteType in or out of school.
• General visitors are covered by our privacy policy. Where the two differ for a school user, this policy wins.

What we collect, and what we don’t

Students collect nothing but a first name and their typing progress. When a student joins a class with a class code, we store:

• First name (as the teacher or student types it), linked to the teacher’s class.
• Typing progress: lessons completed, stars, words per minute, accuracy, test results and practice time.

The two-picture sign-in is stored only as a check value so the student can sign back in, and an anonymous account ID ties the progress to the class. Students never give us an email address, last name, birthday, photo or location.

Teachers give us a name and email address (or the profile Google returns at sign-in) so they can manage their classes.

We do not collect precise location, photos, video, voice recordings, contacts, biometrics, keystroke recordings outside the typing exercise, or any free-text personal writing kept on our servers. Names typed onto printable certificates stay in the browser and are never stored or sent.

Data from sign-in providers

When a school connects Google Workspace for Education, Microsoft 365 Education, Clever or ClassLink, we receive only the basic profile fields needed to sign in and to place a student in the right class: name, account ID, email if available, school, class and role. We request only basic sign-in scopes, and we use these fields only to sign users in and to set up classes. We don’t access students’ files, mail, calendars or contacts.

How we use student data

Student data is used only to provide and improve RiteType’s educational service for the school: running lessons, saving progress, and showing reports to the student and their teacher. We may use de-identified, aggregated data that can’t be linked back to a student to improve our lessons, for example to find which lesson is too hard.

We never:

• sell, rent or trade student data;
• use student data for targeted or behavioral advertising, or let anyone else do so;
• build profiles of students for any purpose other than their typing practice;
• use student data to market products to students or their families.

No ads or analytics on student pages

Student pages have no ads and no analytics. Anyone signed in to a class, students and teachers alike, sees no ads at all, and Google Analytics is never loaded for signed-in students or on kids’ pages. That includes pages reached through Clever, ClassLink, school sign-in or a class code. On public, signed-out pages, kids’ pages carry no ad units of ours, and any ad Google shows there is non-personalized and child-directed. No student data is ever shared with an advertising company.

FERPA and school-official designation

School-official designation: when a school uses RiteType, we act as a “school official” with a legitimate educational interest under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), under the school’s direct control over how education records are used and kept. The school owns and controls student records. We use them only for the service the school asked for, and we don’t re-disclose them to anyone except the subprocessors listed below. Parents and eligible students who want to review or correct records should contact their school. We will help the school respond.

COPPA and consent

For students under 13, we rely on the school to give consent on parents’ behalf, as the FTC allows. That consent covers educational use only: running RiteType for the school, never commercial uses such as advertising. We ask schools to tell parents they use RiteType, and to share this policy with them. Parents can ask to review their child’s information, have it deleted, or stop further collection. They can do this through the school or by emailing us. If a request comes to us directly, we work with the school to verify it and respond within 30 days.

California and other state laws

We follow California’s Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA, Bus. & Prof. Code 22584) and Education Code 49073.1 (AB 1584). Under them, student information stays the property and under the control of the school, and we don’t use it for targeted advertising, profiling or sale. Student information is deleted at the end of our agreement with the school, and we tell the school how parents and students can review and correct it. Where they apply, we also follow the CCPA/CPRA and other state student privacy laws, such as New York Education Law 2-d and Illinois SOPPA. We will sign the Student Data Privacy Consortium’s National Data Privacy Agreement (NDPA) or a school’s state data privacy agreement on request.

Who we share data with (subprocessors)

We share student data only with these service providers, only so they can run parts of RiteType for us, and under contracts that require them to protect it:

We’ll update this list before adding a new subprocessor that handles student data. We may also disclose data when the law requires it, for example under a valid court order, and we’ll tell the school unless the law forbids it.

Data retention and deletion

• Active school accounts: kept while the school uses RiteType.
• Inactive student accounts: deleted after 12 months without a sign-in.
• School request or end of agreement: all of that school’s student data is deleted, or returned in a standard format if the school prefers, within 30 days.
• Parent requests: a child’s data is deleted within 30 days once the request is verified with the school.
• Server logs: deleted within 90 days.
• Backups: deleted data drops out of encrypted backups within 30 days.

This is part of our written data retention policy under the amended COPPA Rule. We confirm deletions in writing when a school asks.

Security

• Encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest.
• Database row-level security, so each school, teacher and student can reach only their own records.
• Least-privilege access: only the operator can reach production data, using multi-factor authentication.
• Regular encrypted backups.
• A written information security program, reviewed at least once a year.

Breach notification

If student data is accessed without authorization, we will notify the affected school within 72 hours of confirming it. We’ll explain what happened, what data was involved and what we’re doing about it. We’ll also notify parents, students and regulators as the law and the school’s agreement require.

Rights of schools, parents and students

• Access and export: schools and teachers can view and download class progress. Families can request a copy through the school or from us.
• Correction: teachers can fix names and class details. Other corrections go through the school or to us.
• Deletion: schools can delete classes and students at any time. Parents can ask for deletion as described above.
• Response time: we respond to verified requests within 30 days, and usually much sooner.

Cookies and tracking

Signed-in school pages use only what’s needed to keep a user signed in and remember settings. That means a sign-in session token, plus progress and settings in the browser’s local storage. Signed-in students get no advertising cookies, no third-party tracking and no analytics: Google Analytics isn’t loaded for them at all, or on kids’ pages.

Changes to this policy

We’ll give schools notice by email and on this page before any material change takes effect. We won’t apply a change to student data already collected without the school’s consent.

Version history: 1.0, October 10, 2026, first published. 1.1, October 11, 2026: moved to this address; clarified that students give only a first name.

Contact and related pages

Operator: RiteType, Los Angeles, California. Email hello@ritetype.com for data requests, questions or a data privacy agreement. Related: privacy policy, terms of use, RiteType for teachers, contact.