Privacy Policy
One of the major problems in the world of assessment is the lack of transparency. What do testing companies do with the information they gather about test takers? How do they use those data to supposedly “personalize” someone’s lessons or sell those data to universities for marketing purposes?
At Real & Open d/b/a Tiro (we’ll call ourselves “we,” “our,” or “us” from now on), what you create is yours, plain and simple. Our goal is privacy by design, meaning if we don’t need certain info, then we don’t collect it. Understanding how well an assessment describes what a person knows or can do requires purposeful data collection. Below is our Privacy Policy, where we’ll tell you:
- what data we collect,
- how we keep your data private and safe,
- when we automatically delete data,
- how you can delete your data, and
- other legally (and morally) important disclosures.
Table of Contents
Your Personal Info
Generally speaking, there are four types of information that Real & Open deals with:
- Personal Info – names, e-mail addresses, school names, class names, and the other info that is used to describe an individual who uses our services.
- Assessments created by teachers – the questions, pictures, prompts, and other intellectual property created by teachers, educators, and other test writers.
- Responses from students – the answers, responses, and performances created by students and other people who respond to assessments.
- Analysis data calculated by Real & Open – difficulty scores, Chronbach’s alpha, Guttman scales, student groupings, and all of the other statistical analyses that we calculate based on test takers’ responses to teachers’ assessments, sometimes using the personal information to make the analysis easily understandable.
We require schools, districts, teachers, or other educators (on behalf of the parents or legal guardians of test takers under the age of 13 in the U.S., 16 in the E.U.) to provide consent for the collection of personal information of test takers under the age of 13 in the U.S. or 16 in the E.U. In order to use our services, test takers must use a web link, access code, or assessment prompt delivered by other means provided to them by the test creator or their teacher. Test writers may log into the service using credentials from certain third-party platforms, such as with a Google name and password.
We only have access to and collect information that you voluntarily give us when you use our services, through other direct contact, or when an educator has given consent on behalf of a test taker under the age of 13 in the U.S. or 16 in the E.U. Any personal information we collect is for the use and benefit of the learning process. We will never sell, rent, donate, or otherwise reveal personally identifiable information to any third party. If an educator has entered information about their test takers, that information and data associated with it may be connected to other student records in order to enrich the analytics and directly or indirectly further the test takers’ learning.
Test writers maintain ownership of their intellectual property – the questions, tests, and prompts that they create with our tools. Students and test takers maintain ownership of their intellectual property – the words, multiple choice answers, drawings, and other responses they create with our tools and their teacher’s assessments. We maintain ownership of the analysis data that we calculate based on test writers’ assessments and test takers’ responses. Test writers and test takers may give us joint or full ownership of their intellectual property. This information may be shared in ways that connect assessments, their responses, and corresponding analysis data, but without revealing any information that can be used to positively identify an individual test writer or test taker.
We have pledged not to use any data beyond what you have authorized. We won’t sell, share, or disclose your information for marketing or other commercial purposes. As our services are also used by adult test-takers, we extend this protection to them as well. We may disclose personal information when presented with a duly authorized subpoena issues by a court of law, when compelled to do so by a government agency, or in a similar situation. We may disclose personal information when we have decided it is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of Real & Open, our employees, or others; or to prevent violations of our Terms of Service or other agreements.
Unless you ask us not to, we may contact you (educators, but never students or minors) via email in the future to tell you about new products or services or changes to this policy. We will provide notification via a pop-up message when you (students or educators) log in to use our services.
Registration
In order to use this website, a test writer must first complete a registration form. During registration, a person is required to give certain information (such as name and email address). This information is used to contact you and provide a secure log-in system to protect other data. At your option, you may also provide additional demographic information. If you are a member of an organization that has a relationship with Real & Open, you may be required to provide additional information in order to fully use our services.
Cookies and Similar Technologies
Would a pernicious tracking device by any other name taste as sweet? A “cookie” is a piece of data stored on your device to help us improve your access to our site and identify repeat visitors. It serves a similar purpose as clear GIFs, “tags,” or “scripts.” While some websites use cookies to track your web habits across multiple sites to serve you better ads and make money, we do not use tracking tools for marketing purposes. For example, when we use a cookie to identify your computer, you would not have to log in each time you visit one of our sites, thereby saving you time. Cookies also help us see how people use our site, which means we can update and change the site to make the experience better for you. We do collect device-specific information, such as operating system, IP address, hardware version, device setting, and web browser. This helps us measure how our services are working to improve your experience. We may also use HTML5 local storage or e-tags.
Some internet browsers may be configured to send “Do Not Track” signals to the online services you use. Because we do not track you across other websites, provide targeted advertising, or actively assist in providing targeted advertising, we do not respond to “Do Not Track” signals.
Typically, tracking technology is deleted if you delete your Internet history, cache, and cookies. Check your browser software for instructions to do this.
We do not allow any outside organization to use cookies to collect data about you, with extremely rare exception. For example, there are some web services we pay to make our products, such as our website hosting company; these partners might use cookies to make sure their services are working properly. We have no access to or control over these cookies. However, we only use web services that have privacy policies in accordance with this privacy policy and practices consistent with our own.
Sharing
We may share aggregated demographic information with our partners and clients in a way that does not personally identify any particular individual. For example, when we conduct our B-Corporation Assessment, we have to report what percentage of our users represent different socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. When an organization uses our services, their contract may include exceptions to this rule. However, in no scenario will personally identifiable information ever be sold, shared, or given for the financial benefit of a third party or for any purpose outside of the realm of education or professional development.
Links and Third-Party Service Providers
Our site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage everyone to be aware when they leave our site to read the privacy statements of any other site that collects personally identifiable information. We also use certain third party services necessary for the successful use of our services, such as our web hosting service. Please know they have their own Privacy Policies as well. These third parties do not share your information with any other outside parties and do have privacy policies in accordance with this privacy policy and practices consistent with our own.
Your Power
Parents and guardians have the right to refuse our services at any time. You can contact us and the appropriate school administrator jointly to review any information we have pertaining to your child and to have it decoupled or deleted.
You know who doesn’t have access to your info? Marketers. Real & Open does not sell any of your provided information to any third party service for any purpose ever. We do not provide data to any party for advertising or other for-profit purposes. We do not present any advertising within our services or otherwise monetize your use of our services.
You may opt out of any future contacts from us at any time. You can do the following at any time by contacting us via our main email address: hello@tiro.org:
- see what data we have about you or your child, if any;
- change or correct any data we have about you or your child;
- decouple any personal information about you or your child from any assessment responses that you or your child have created;
- delete any data we have about you or your child; or
- express any concern you have about our use of your or your child’s data.
We retain information as long as an account remains active. Please know that we automatically delete personally identifiable data about each and every user after two years (i.e. 730 full days) of inactivity or according to the guidelines in a School Agreement. Beyond this two-year limit, we may retain anonymized data necessary to maintaining analysis data; these data cannot be used to identify any individual. We will retain and use information as necessary to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce other agreements.
