How does Classroom Hero obtain consent?

Classroom Hero follows the U.S. FTC's COPPA rules for parental consent, including the use of what is commonly referred to as "school consent" when a school or teacher elects to utilize Classroom Hero in the classroom. Classroom Hero will provide all required notices and disclosures for schools to provide to parents when utilizing school consent.

Primary Consent Method: Since Classroom Hero operates exclusively through teacher-created Student Accounts, we primarily rely on "school consent" under COPPA. This process works as follows:

Teacher Certification: Teachers certify that they are acting as agents of parents when they create Student Accounts for their classroom

Required Notices: We provide schools and teachers with all required COPPA notices and disclosures that must be shared with parents

Educational Purpose: Teachers confirm they are consenting on behalf of parents specifically for educational purposes within the classroom setting

Parental Notification: Schools are responsible for notifying parents about their child's use of Classroom Hero and the data collection involved

School Responsibilities: Under the school consent model:

Schools must provide appropriate notices to parents about Classroom Hero usage

Teachers act as agents of parents in consenting to Student Account creation

Schools are responsible for ensuring parents are informed about the educational technology being used

Any parental concerns or withdrawal requests are handled through the school

Parent Account Linking: When teachers choose to link parent accounts to student accounts, we obtain direct parental consent through the following methods:

Verifiable Parental Consent Methods:

Email Verification: For parent account linking, we use email-based verification where parents must respond to a verification email from the email address they provide

Parent Account Authentication: Parents must create their own account and verify their identity before being linked to their child's student account

School Verification: We may also verify parental consent through coordination with the child's school to confirm the parent's identity and relationship to the student

Consent Process Steps:

Teacher Invitation: Teachers can invite parents to link to their child's account

Identity Verification: Parents must verify their identity through email confirmation and/or school verification

Consent Acknowledgment: Parents must acknowledge they understand what information will be accessible and how it will be used

Account Linking: Once verified, parents can access basic information about their child's progress

When consent is provided (either through school consent or direct parental consent), parents are consenting to:

Data Collection:

Student's name as provided by the teacher

Points earned through teacher-defined classroom activities

Avatar customizations and preferences

Educational game progress (like Mysteria treasure hunting)

Quiz completion data and responses

Marketplace transaction history within the classroom economy

Data Usage:

Providing the gamification and classroom management service

Enabling student engagement with educational activities

Allowing teachers to track student progress and participation

Maintaining student accounts and progress within the teacher's classroom

Limited Data Sharing:

With essential service providers necessary to operate the platform

With the student's teacher and authorized school personnel

With linked parent accounts (basic information only)

As required by law or for platform security

Through Schools: Parents can withdraw consent by:

Contacting their child's teacher to request account deletion

Requesting through school officials that their child's participation be discontinued

Working with the school to remove their child from Classroom Hero usage

Direct Withdrawal: When direct parental consent is obtained for parent account linking:

Parents can contact us directly to withdraw consent for parent account access

Parents can request deletion of their child's account through our privacy contact

Parents can request that specific data sharing be discontinued

Although not required under COPPA, Classroom Hero may choose to obtain parental consent for students 13 and above at our discretion, particularly for:

Parent account linking features

Any enhanced data sharing beyond basic educational use

Features that extend beyond standard classroom gamification

Classroom Hero extends the U.S.-based COPPA consent protections to all jurisdictions, even where not required by local law. If we rely on other legally applicable grounds for processing children's personal information (such as legitimate interest in the European Union and the United Kingdom), we will still use the FTC COPPA consent methods described above to provide additional transparency and protection for parents.

Consent Documentation: We maintain records of:

School consent certifications from teachers

Direct parental consent verifications when obtained

Consent withdrawal requests and their implementation

Required notices provided to schools and parents

Consent Verification: We verify consent through:

Teacher certification processes for school consent

Email verification for direct parental consent

School coordination for identity verification

Documented consent acknowledgment processes

Anonymous Analytics: When we share anonymized usage data with analytics providers (PostHog, Google Analytics), this data cannot identify individual students and does not require additional parental consent beyond the initial school consent for platform usage.

Essential Service Providers: Sharing data with essential service providers (like DigitalOcean for hosting) is covered under the original consent for platform usage, as these are integral to providing the educational service.

Classroom Hero primarily obtains parental consent through "school consent" under COPPA, where teachers act as agents of parents when creating Student Accounts for educational use. We provide all required notices to schools for distribution to parents. When we offer parent account linking features, we obtain direct verifiable parental consent through email verification and school coordination. Parents can withdraw consent through their child's school or by contacting us directly. We extend COPPA consent protections globally, even where not required by local law.