Apple Schoolwork allows teachers and students to share instructional materials, review student progress, and provide instant feedback, empowering teachers to personalize instruction. When a school enables progress reporting for Schoolwork in Apple School Manager, student progress data is shared only for activities a teacher specifically assigns, and only when students are using their Managed Apple ID on their device. Parents can view their child’s progress information by opening Schoolwork or visiting Settings on their child’s iPad. Apple Classroom enables teachers to manage student iPad devices in the classroom and helps them guide students through a lesson. Classroom manages devices only while students are physically present during class time. It doesn’t store data or allow control after the class ends.

Apple Schoolwork can be accessed through its website. The Privacy Policy and Terms of Use used for this evaluation can be found on Apple Schoolwork's website. This evaluation only considers policies that have been made publicly available prior to an individual using the application or service.

Additionally, other relevant policies used for this evaluation include:

• Welcome To Apple School Manager
• Apple in Education Data and Privacy Overview for Schools
• Privacy Overview for Parents
• Family Privacy Disclosure for Children
• About privacy and security for Apple products in education
• iCloud security overview
• Apple’s Use of Cookies
• Your California Privacy Disclosures

Safety

The terms state in order to ensure that schools providing devices to students are only enabling use for the purposes of education, Apple disabled certain features and functions of Managed Apple IDs. In addition, FaceTime and iMessage are also disabled by default, but can be enabled by an administrator. The terms also specify that resources are available to help students become good digital citizens and to guide schools and parents. Parents and their students should review their school’s technology policy regarding acceptable use, email, storing and charging devices, accessing content and apps with Apple School Manager.

Privacy

Apple's terms state they believe privacy is a fundamental human right, and build privacy and security into all their products from the ground up, including their apps and services for education. When schools set up accounts, devices, and apps for their students in Apple School Manager, the terms state they can be sure that Apple will use any data for educational purposes only. The terms specify a school can enable student progress recording with Schoolwork in Apple School Manager, so that app developers can privately and securely share student progress with teachers on activities, like reading a chapter in a book, completing a set of math equations, or taking a quiz, assigned in school managed environments. The terms state this data allows teachers as well as students to better understand learning progress on assigned activities, and enables teachers to provide extension activities or extra help based on student needs.

The terms state that Apple will never sell student information and will never share it with third parties to use for marketing, tracking, or advertising purposes. In addition, Apple's terms state they will never build profiles of students based on their online behavior, and they don’t collect, use, or disclose student information other than to provide relevant educational services. Moreover, Apple's terms state education apps, such as Classroom and Schoolwork, do not contain any ads. However, Apple's "Limit Ad Tracking" control is enabled for all Managed Apple IDs. This means that while students using Managed Apple IDs may see contextual ads while browsing Apple News or the App Store, advertising is never targeted using their information. Lastly, apps in the Kids Category of the App Store and apps that use ClassKit to report student progress in the Schoolwork app are prohibited from serving behavioral advertisements to students.

Security

Apple's terms state that security and privacy are fundamental to the design of all Apple hardware, software, and services. Apple takes an integrated approach to ensure that every aspect of the user's experience has security and privacy built in. The terms state this approach considers the privacy and security of all users, including those within an education setting such as teachers, faculty, staff, and students. Apple's terms state they have created features and services that are designed specifically for education, including Apple School Manager, Managed Apple IDs, and Shared iPad. These capabilities are built with the same integrated approach and with additional consideration for the specific security and privacy needs of students and institutions.

Additionally, the terms state iCloud is built with industry-standard security practices and employs strict policies to protect data. iCloud secures user data by encrypting it when it’s sent over the Internet, storing it in an encrypted format when kept on the server, and using secure tokens for authentication. The terms specify this means that student data is protected from unauthorized access both while it is being transmitted to devices and when it is stored in iCloud. iCloud uses a minimum of 128-bit AES encryption, and never provides encryption keys to any third parties. Lastly, Apple retains the encryption keys in our own data centers and iCloud also stores student passwords and credentials in such a way that Apple cannot read or access them.

Compliance

Apple's terms state they understand the importance of taking extra precautions to protect the privacy and safety of children using Apple products and services. Children under the age of 13 are not permitted to create their own Apple IDs, unless their parent provides verifiable consent, or their Apple ID is part of the child account creation process in Family Sharing, or they have obtained a Managed Apple ID account through their school. The terms state that in order to provide consent, a parent must review the Apple ID and Family Sharing Disclosure, Use and Disclosure of Your Child’s Information, and the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions, before they can begin the Apple ID account creation process for their child.

Additionally, the Apple School Manager Agreement lays out the terms for collection and storage of student information by Apple, including data privacy provisions specific to education customers. According to the agreement, Apple acts as a data processor with respect to the data that is created in Apple School Manager and Schoolwork. The terms specify that schools can use Apple features and services for education in compliance with their obligations under COPPA and FERPA.

Lastly, Apple's terms state it’s important to be aware that third-party apps may be collecting data about the student. It is the school or district’s responsibility to ensure compliance with all applicable laws when using Apple in Education with third-party apps. The terms recommend schools or districts should review the terms, policies, and practices of third-party apps to understand what data they may collect from students, how such data is being used, and whether parental consent is required before use.