WASHINGTON, D.C.–Reps. George Miller (D-CA), Dave Loebsack (D-IA), and Bobby Scott (D-VA), senior members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, released the following statements today upon the House's passage of a bill to improve and reauthorize the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act.

"The Child Care and Development Block Grant is an indispensable resource for millions of children and families nationwide," said Rep. Miller, senior Democrat on the committee. "CCDBG enables parents to send their kids to safe, high quality and affordable child care so that they can work or attend a training program and provide for their families. Meanwhile, the program helps to place children in the sorts of environments they need for healthy growth and development. The bipartisan, bicameral agreement passed today by the House improves child care access, makes critical new investments, and helps to ensure children are safe and are receiving quality care. These updates to CCDBG are vital for our children, our families, and our nation's future."

"I am pleased the House acted swiftly to pass the reauthorization of the Child Care Development Block Grant. This bipartisan effort shows that when Congress comes together with a spirit of compromise and a common goal that we are able to actually get things done and accomplish what the American people sent us here to do," said Rep. Loebsack, ranking member on the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education. "This revamp of the CCDBG will bring important safety and quality improvements to child care delivery in our country and support working families as they strive to enter the middle class."

"Quality child care offers children vital early learning experiences that will set them on a path toward success in school, in the workforce and in the rest of their lives," said Rep. Scott, a senior committee Democrat. "This long overdue update of the Child Care and Development Block Grant program will significantly improve services, quality and access for our nation's children."

The legislation includes commonsense reforms to:

·         Promote high-quality child care by increasing state-level investments in activities to improve the quality of care, enhancing states' ability to train providers and develop safer and more effective child care services.

·         Strengthen health and safety requirements in child care programs and providers.

·         Improve access to child care by expanding eligibility for participating families and helping families connect with quality programs that meet their needs.

The full text of the bill is available here.

"As a former educator, I have seen the benefits that internships can provide by giving students a firsthand look into the government process," said Loebsack. "I encourage all hardworking, motivated students and recent graduates to apply."

Interns will have the opportunity to learn about the legislative process and the federal government by working closely with the legislative, communications and constituent services staff members. Interested candidates should email their cover letter, resume, a short writing sample and a letter of recommendation to LoebsackInternship@mail.house.gov.

Washington, D.C. - Congressmen Dave Loebsack (D-IA-02) and Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA-08) Thursday commended the House Ethics Committee for reinstating the disclosure requirements for privately funded travel for Members of Congress. Loebsack and Fitzpatrick had authored a resolution that would have forced the Ethics Committee to take this step had it not overturned the changes.

"I commend the Ethics Committee for coming to their senses and reinstated the disclosure requirement for privately funded travel. These moves only deepen the mistrust the American people have in Congress. It is important for the American people to have greater access to information about who is paying for these trips and I plan to continue to monitor any future rule changes," said Congressman Loebsack.

"I applaud the Ethics Committee for their swift decision to overturn the changes to the travel disclosure requirements for members of Congress. In these times of heightened partisanship, it is important to recognize that Representatives from both sides of the aisle joined to express their wishes to be held to a higher standard," said Congressman Fitzpatrick.

Good morning, Chairman Rokita, Chairman Meehan, and Ranking Member Clarke. I'd like to thank you for holding today's hearing and thank our witnesses for being here.

More than ever before, technology plays an essential role in educating our children. Technology-based educational tools and platforms offer important new capabilities for students and teachers at both the K-12 and university levels.

The increasing number of educational iPad and iPhone apps, online study tools, and engagement programs illustrate the growing abundance of tech resources that are being used to meet students' individual learning needs.

These educational tools generate tremendous amounts of data that are instrumental in improving a student's learning experience. Data allows teachers to quickly identify and address gaps in student understanding before they fall behind.  And by making data available to parents, they can track their child's progress and participate more fully in their education.

Beyond addressing the needs of individual students, data aids schools in their institutional and administrative functions. School and district leaders rely on data to drive improvement and decision-making around curriculum, technology infrastructure, and staffing.

The availability of new types of data also improves researchers' ability to learn about learning. Data from a student's experience in technology-based learning platforms can be precisely tracked, opening the door to more accurately understanding how students move through a curriculum, and at greater scale, than traditional education research is able to achieve.

As data systems become more integrated into the learning and teaching process, we are seeing the impact that they can have on students, teachers, administrators, and policymakers. These systems enable teachers, schools, and districts to make more informed decisions to enhance student learning.

Meanwhile, a growing number of online educational services have the ability to enhance learning within the classroom and extend it beyond the school day. Edmodo, which is used by more than 20 million teachers and students worldwide, allows teachers to set up virtual classrooms and then post homework assignments and other content to extend lessons. Khan Academy has more than 5,000 instructional videos and assessments, which allow students of all ages to learn at their own pace in subject areas ranging from pre-algebra to differential equations, from art history to computer science.

With this explosion in online resources, there is a large amount of new data being generated by children using these services, which raises valid privacy concerns.

The privacy of student education records is protected under FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. When those student education records are hosted or analyzed by private companies that are helping districts build data systems to drive improvement, those same FERPA protections still apply.

However, when students use online services like Khan Academy?in school or at home?or when teachers use grade and behavior tracking software on their iPads, all of that data are not necessarily covered by FERPA. In those direct interactions between students and software companies, data are being collected to build user profiles, individualize the learning experience, and track progress, but in the cases where FERPA does not apply, it is not always clear what protections exist to guarantee the privacy of those data and ensure companies are not using them to target advertisements at children.

This committee will hear important testimony today about the value that these tailored technological resources provide to students themselves and the importance of ensuring access to data for teachers and researchers seeking to improve education. We'll also hear about the need for consistent privacy policies and current efforts to guarantee the security and privacy of student data.

As we examine the privacy concerns prompted by the rapidly growing education technology sector and the information it collects, it's clear that we must strive to find a balance between privacy and innovation. We must ensure that companies involved in collecting and analyzing student data are not exploiting students' private information for marketing purposes or financial gain.

Data are an invaluable tool. Data empowers teachers, guides individualized learning, and informs policy. As we consider where improvements are needed in privacy regulations, we must be sure that we do not compromise the value of student data.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses.

Thank you very much.

Committee on Education and the Workforce Democrats