EFFECTIVE DATE: April 23, 2009

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is committed to protecting the privacy of students, parents, and educators. This privacy policy addresses the online privacy practices of the National Gallery of Writing located at http://www.galleryofwriting.org

About NCTE
The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is devoted to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. Since 1911, NCTE has provided a forum for the profession, an array of opportunities for teachers to continue their professional growth throughout their careers, and a framework for cooperation to deal with issues that affect the teaching of English. www.ncte.org

About the National Day on Writing
Whether we call it texting, IMing, jotting a note, writing a letter, posting an email, blogging, making a video, building an electronic presentation, composing a memo, keeping a diary, or just pulling together a report, Americans are writing like never before. Recent research suggests that writing, in its many forms, has become a daily practice for millions of Americans. It may be the quintessential 21st century skill. By collecting a cross-section of everyday writing through a National Gallery of Writing, we will better understand what matters to writers today—and when writing really counts. Understanding who writes, when, how, to whom, and for what purposes will lead to production of improved resources for writers, better strategies to nurture and celebrate writers, and improved policy to support writing.

America's writing will be front and center on October 20, 2009—the National Day on Writing. On that day, writers from every walk of life will pause to share their work. Communities across the nation are planning events to celebrate local writing, and NCTE will open the virtual National Gallery of Writing for all to appreciate the rich variety of work on display (the National Gallery will remain open until June 2010). A celebratory gala will be hosted by the New Yorker magazine in Manhattan to mark the National Day on Writing and to honor winners of the Norman Mailer High School and College Writing Awards.

About the Privacy Policy
The privacy policy is divided into two sections: the first addresses information collected from users who are under 13 years of age; the second addresses information collected from all other users. This policy is applicable to the National Gallery of Writing.

I. PRIVACY NOTICE FOR CHILDREN UNDER 13
It is NCTE's policy to limit the collection of personal information from children to only that which is necessary to obtain parental consent or to participate in the National Gallery of Writing after we have obtained parental consent. Children under 13 years old are not allowed to create an account without a parent, guardian, or teacher's permission.

Parental Consent
We require a parent or guardian to consent before a child under the age of 13 can become a user of the National Gallery of Writing or to use any of the tools associated with the gallery website. In addition, during the registration process, we collect only enough personal information (i.e., parent's name and email address) necessary to obtain a parent's permission for his/her child to become an authorized user of the National Gallery of Writing.

Teachers and school administrators may provide consent on behalf of parents. Parents should consult the school's Acceptable Use Policy for more information about the school's policies and practices for protecting children on the Internet.

Complete instructions are provided on the parental consent form available below.

Parental Consent Form

To provide consent by postal mail, parents should fill out the parental consent form, sign it, and mail it to:
National Council of Teachers of English
c/o National Gallery of Writing
1111 W. Kenyon Road
Urbana, Illinois 61801
USA

If we receive consent from a parent, teacher, or school administrator, an authorized Gallery Administrator will activate the child's membership. If a parent provides email consent, NCTE will follow up with a confirmatory email to the parent.

What Information Do We Collect From Children?
For the National Gallery of Writing we may collect the following types of personally identifiable information directly from children: first name; last name; date of birth; email address; password; pen name; IP address; grade level; mailing address; and parent's name and email address. We may also passively collect any personally identifiable information that children choose to post on our online forums as well as cookies from children's computers.

Non-Personally Identifiable Information: We may collect certain non-personally identifiable information from visitors to our site, such as the date and time of their visit, the type of browser used (e.g., Netscape, Internet Explorer), the type of operating system used (e.g., Windows 2000 or Mac OS), the ISP from which the visitor receives Internet access, and aggregate information regarding what pages users of the site access or visit.

We may also collect non-personally identifiable information from registered members and match it to personally identifiable information (such as the member's name) in our database. Such combined information is kept in our internal database under the member's user name.

How Do We Use the Information We Collect From Children?
We may use the personally identifiable information that we collect from a child to determine whether he or she is eligible to use our site, to obtain consent from his or her parent, teacher or school administrator for him or her to use the service, to provide an interactive online experience, and to fulfill requests for service related to the National Gallery of Writing.

We may use non-personally identifiable information such as cookies and Web surfing habits associated with IP addresses to improve the design, content, and performance of our site. We also may use this information in the aggregate to analyze site usage and the popularity of our Web pages.

We may also collect non-personally identifiable information from registered users and match it to personally identifiable information (such as the member's name) in our database. Such combined information is kept in our internal database under the member's user name. We do not share such information with third parties, but we may use it for statistical purposes later.

Will NCTE Share My Child's Personal Information with Third Parties?
No commercial use of personal information from National Gallery of Writing (NGW) contributors will be permitted. Research teams who wish to make use of data from the Gallery will be required to submit a research protocol specifying safeguards they will institute to ensure that information about the identity of NGW contributors will not be made available to the public. A panel of experts appointed by NCTE will evaluate these proposals with a view towards preserving the privacy of contributors, limiting disclosure of their identities solely to researchers who must know it for the purposes of the proposed study. Other than this narrow exception for education research purposes, no third party disclosure will be permitted.

We may disclose personally identifiable and non-personally identifiable information in response to legal process—for example, in response to a court order or a subpoena. We also may disclose such information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of our terms of use, or as otherwise required by law. In addition, we may transfer personally identifiable information if we are acquired by or merged with another company, or as part of a bankruptcy proceeding.

Here is how the consent process works:

For the National Gallery of Writing teachers and/or school administrators will provide consent on behalf of the parents whose children attend school in those districts. Consent will be obtained from parents, who have been notified about our information collection practices, and parents will receive an email from NCTE asking for their consent. Parents will be asked to provide consent by email or postal mail. If a parent provides email consent, NCTE will follow up with a confirmatory email to the parent.

Please note that by their very nature email accounts and other interactive services allow children to disclose personally identifiable information (such as their real names, addresses, or phone numbers) about themselves or others. We strive to prevent children from disclosing personally identifiable information through the National Gallery of Writing. For example, we caution children not to disclose this information while making a contribution of a single writing piece to the National Gallery of Writing, and we endeavor to prevent this information from appearing in public areas on the site. However, these methods are not foolproof, and children may nevertheless still sometimes disclose personally identifiable information with their correspondents (e.g., in submitting their writing contribution). Parents and teachers should advise their children and students not to share any personally identifiable or contact information online, even if such personal information is provided in correspondence only between individuals.

How Can I Review, Change, or Delete the Personal Information NCTE has Collected from My Child?
You can review your child's personal information at any time. You can also have your child's personal information deleted and refuse to permit further collection of such information by us. If you wish to view, delete, or modify this information:

• For the National Gallery of Writing
  • Site users (including parents) can review, edit, or delete any personal information (such as their name, phone number, email or postal address) by logging in to the National Gallery of Writing user account page. Parents can also request that a child's account be deleted at any time by contacting NCTE.

II. INFORMATION THAT WE COLLECT FROM INDIVIDUALS 13 YEARS OLD AND OVER
Our privacy practices for data that we collect online from individuals 13 years old and over are generally similar to those for information that we collect from users under 13 years old.

We recommend that minors 13 years of age or older ask their parents for permission before sending any information about themselves over the Internet.

For the National Gallery of Writing we may collect personally identifiable and non-personally identifiable information including, but not limited to: first and last name, date of birth, pen name, email address, login name and password, home street address and/or telephone number, age range, and grade level. We may also generate a unique login ID for use on the National Gallery of Writing Website.

Non-Personally Identifiable Information: We may use non-personally identifiable information that we collect from users over 13 years old to improve the design and content of our site and to enable us to personalize your Internet experience. We also may use this information in the aggregate to analyze site usage.

We may also collect non-personally identifiable information from registered users and match it to personally identifiable information (such as the member's name) in our database. Such combined information is kept in our internal database under the member's user name. We do not share such information with third parties, but we may use it for statistical purposes.

How Do We Use Information That We Collect from Individuals Over the Age of 13?
We may use the personally identifiable information that we collect online from users over the age of 13 to obtain parental, teacher, or school administrator consent for children to use the service, to provide an interactive online experience, and to post a single writing submission. We receive permission before the writing submission is posted on the gallery website.

Will NCTE Share Teens' and Adults' Personal Information with Third Parties?
No commercial use of personal information from National Gallery of Writing (NGW) contributors will be permitted. Research teams who wish to make use of data from the Gallery will be required to submit a research protocol specifying safeguards they will institute to ensure that information about the identity of NGW contributors will not be made available to the public. A panel of experts appointed by NCTE will evaluate these proposals with a view towards preserving the privacy of contributors, limiting disclosure of their identities solely to researchers who must know it for the purposes of the proposed study. Other than this narrow exception for education research purposes, no third party disclosure will be permitted.

III. LINKS TO THIRD PARTY WEBSITES
For the benefit of our members, our site links to other sites. We are not responsible for the data collection practices on those other sites. We advise you to carefully review those sites' privacy policies before submitting personal information there.

IV. COOKIES
Cookies are small data files that a website writes to your computer hard drive for record-keeping purposes. Cookies identify you as a unique customer and store your personal preferences, as well as technical information (including click through and click stream data). Cookies can either be permanent (i.e., they remain on your computer until you delete them) or temporary (i.e., they last only until you close your browser).

We may write cookies to your computer, primarily to personalize the site and to make it easier to use during each session, for example by keeping track of your preferences, such as what language you use. We may also use cookies to record session information, record user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, alert visitors to new areas that we think might be of interest to them when they return to our site, record past activity at a site in order to provide better service when visitors return to our site, ensure that visitors are not repeatedly sent the same banner ads, or to customize site content based on visitors' browser type or other information that the visitor sends. If you choose to furnish the site with personally identifiable information, this information can be stored in or linked to other data stored in the cookies. You may adjust your browser to reject cookies from us or from any other website. If you just wish to browse our site without logging in or registering as a member, you can set your browser not to accept cookies. Please consult the "Help" section of your browser for more information. However, there are certain features on our site that can be accessed only in conjunction with cookies or similar devices and you should be aware that disabling cookies or similar devices might prevent you from accessing some of those features.

V. SECURITY PRACTICES
We strive to protect the confidentiality, security and integrity of the personal information we collect from children and adults. We have put in place physical, electronic and administrative procedures to safeguard and to help prevent unauthorized access to and maintain the security of personally identifiable information collected through this site. This information is maintained on secure servers and is accessible to authorized personnel only on a "need to know" basis.

VI. NOTICE OF CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
If we make changes to this Policy, we will post the changes here with a new effective date at the top. Please check back to this page periodically and look at the effective date at the top of this privacy policy to see if it has changed so that you can always know what information we collect, how we use it, and to whom we disclose it.

If we intend to use or disclose members' personal information in a manner materially different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify members via email. If members opt out of receiving any communications from NCTE, or have deleted/deactivated their account, then we will honor that request within a reasonable time.

VII. FOR MORE INFORMATION
Please let us know if you have any questions or comments regarding our privacy policy. You can contact us at:
National Council of Teachers of English
c/o National Gallery of Writing
1111 W. Kenyon Road
Urbana, Illinois 61801
USA
Phone: (217) 328-3870
Contact NCTE

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The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) makes available the National Gallery of Writing website and the information and services contained herein in furtherance of NCTE's nonprofit and tax-exempt purposes. While NCTE makes every effort to present accurate and reliable information on this site, NCTE does not endorse, approve, or certify such information, nor does it guarantee the accuracy, completeness, efficacy, or timeliness of such information. Use of such information is voluntary, and reliance on it should only be undertaken after an independent review by qualified experts. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service does not constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by NCTE.

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