LiteracyLens is a classroom walkthrough tool for K–5 schools and districts. This Privacy Policy explains what information LiteracyLens ("LiteracyLens," "we," "us") collects, how we protect it, and — most importantly — that your school's data stays with your school. It covers the LiteracyLens mobile application on iPhone and iPad, and the sorvia.io website (together, the "Service").
The short version
- No student data, no student accounts. No teacher accounts required. The principal or literacy consultant is the user.
- Your school owns its data — including observation records. We process it only to provide the Service.
- No advertising. No behavioral tracking. No sale of school, teacher, or observation data — ever.
- We never use student data for advertising, marketing, or profiling. There are no ads in LiteracyLens.
- Student records are entered by school staff, not collected from children. We comply with FERPA as a "school official" and with COPPA.
- All data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and scoped so only your school can see it.
- Your school's administrator can export or permanently delete all data at any time.
- Information we collect
- How we use information
- FERPA: student education records
- How we handle children's privacy (COPPA)
- Student privacy commitments
- When we share information
- Data security
- Data retention and deletion
- Your rights and choices
- Offline use and device storage
- App store privacy disclosures
- Where data is stored
- Changes to this policy
- Contact us
1. Information we collect
Information you provide
| Category | Examples | Who provides it |
|---|---|---|
| Account information | Name, email address, role (administrator or observer), sign-in credentials via Google, Apple, or email | You, at sign-up |
| School information | School name, district name, school year | Your school's administrator |
| Teacher information | Teacher names and grade assignments, entered individually or imported from a roster file | School staff |
| Observation data | Walkthrough ratings against the instructional rubric, low-leverage practice flags, dates, and observer notes | School staff conducting walkthroughs |
Information collected automatically
- Device and diagnostic data: device model, operating system version, app version, crash logs, and performance data, used solely to keep the app working reliably.
- Service usage data: sign-in timestamps, used for security auditing and support.
We do not collect precise location, contacts, photos, browsing history, or advertising identifiers. The Service contains no advertising and no third-party analytics trackers that profile users.
2. How we use information
- To provide the Service: recording walkthroughs, computing alignment scores, generating heatmaps, trend charts, and gap analyses.
- To authenticate users so only authorized personnel can access the app.
- To provide customer support and respond to requests from your school.
- To send service communications your school has enabled, such as walkthrough reminders (school license feature).
- To maintain security, prevent abuse, and debug crashes.
We do not use any information — and categorically not student information — for advertising, marketing to students or families, building profiles for non-educational purposes, or training artificial-intelligence models.
3. FERPA: student education records
LiteracyLens does not collect or store student personal information. The Service stores teacher walkthrough observations, which are records about instruction, not student education records. Should a school's use ever cause education records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, to be processed (for example, a student name typed into a free-text note — which we discourage), the following commitments apply:
- Your school owns and controls its education records. LiteracyLens processes them only on the school's behalf and at its direction.
- When a school uses the Service, LiteracyLens acts as your school's data processor — handling records on your behalf, the way a staff member would. In FERPA terms, this makes us a "school official" with a legitimate educational interest under FERPA's school-official exception (34 CFR § 99.31(a)(1)).
- We use education records only for the purposes described in this policy, do not re-disclose them except as directed by the school or required by law, and remain under the school's direct control with respect to their use and maintenance.
- Parents and eligible students who wish to inspect, review, or amend education records should contact their school or district, which controls those records. We support schools in fulfilling such requests promptly.
- A signed Data Processing Agreement reflecting these commitments is available for schools and districts at sorvia.io/dpa.
4. How we handle children's privacy (COPPA)
LiteracyLens is designed for use by school administrators, instructional coaches, and educators — adults. Children do not use the app, and we do not knowingly collect information directly from children under 13.
- LiteracyLens stores no student records. Observation notes are about instruction; we instruct schools not to include student names in notes.
- To the extent the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) applies to student records processed on a school's behalf, we rely on the school's authorization and consent, consistent with FTC guidance permitting schools to consent on behalf of parents for educational services.
- We use children's information solely to provide the educational service to the school — never for commercial purposes — and the school may review or request deletion of it at any time.
If you believe information about a child has been provided to us outside this model, contact privacy@sorvia.io and we will delete it promptly.
5. Student privacy commitments
Consistent with state student-privacy laws (including California's SOPIPA and similar statutes in other states), we commit that we will never:
- Sell student personal information;
- Use or share student information for targeted advertising;
- Build a profile of a student for any non-educational purpose;
- Disclose student information except for the educational purposes described here, with school direction, or as required by law.
De-identified, aggregated data (for example, "average alignment scores improved 20% across pilot schools") may be used to improve the Service and report on its effectiveness; such data cannot reasonably be used to identify any student, teacher, or school.
6. When we share information
We do not sell or rent personal information. We share it only with:
| Recipient | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Service providers (subprocessors) | Google Firebase (Google Cloud Platform) handles sign-in and app hosting only — we don't store observation data, teacher records, or school settings there. See our subprocessor list for details. |
| Your school or district | Data belongs to the school; authorized school and district administrators can access their own school's data, including exports. |
| Legal requirements | If required by law, subpoena, or court order — and, unless legally prohibited, we will notify the affected school first. |
| Business transfer | If LiteracyLens is acquired or merged, data remains subject to this policy's commitments; schools will be notified and may delete their data before any transfer takes effect. |
7. Data security
- On-device encryption: all observation data, teacher records, and school settings are encrypted on the device using AES-256 and never leave the device.
- Authentication: sign-in via Google, Apple, or verified email through Firebase Authentication; sessions are revocable. Only authentication credentials are processed externally — no school data is involved.
- Least privilege: only the authenticated account holder can view the school's records on that device; app data is not accessible to other apps or users.
- Incident response: if a breach affecting personal information occurs, we will notify affected schools without unreasonable delay, consistent with applicable state breach-notification laws, and support their notification obligations.
8. Data retention and deletion
- All observation data, teacher records, and school settings are stored on the device. They remain on the device until the administrator deletes them or resets the app.
- Administrator-controlled deletion: any observation, teacher, or school record can be deleted at any time from within the app. Settings → Reset App Data permanently deletes all app data from the device.
- Authentication data (sign-in credentials) held by Firebase may be deleted at any time by emailing privacy@sorvia.io — fulfilled within 30 days.
9. Your rights and choices
- School staff (account holders): you may access and update your account information in the app, and may request a copy or deletion of your personal information at privacy@sorvia.io.
- Teachers: observation records about your instruction are part of your school's records; access or correction requests are handled through your school's administrator.
- Parents and eligible students: requests regarding student education records go through your school or district under FERPA, as described in Section 3.
- California residents: the CCPA/CPRA grants rights to know, delete, and correct personal information. We honor these rights for information we control; note that student education records processed for a school are governed by FERPA and the school's direction. We do not sell or "share" (for cross-context behavioral advertising) personal information, and have not in the preceding 12 months.
- We do not discriminate against anyone for exercising privacy rights.
10. Offline use and device storage
Your observations and school data live only on your iPad or iPhone — encrypted, and never uploaded to our servers. LiteracyLens works fully offline and doesn't require an internet connection. Signing out removes all locally stored school data from the device. If a device is lost, an administrator can revoke its sign-in credentials through the account provider (Apple, Google, or email), preventing further access. See The On-Device Advantage for the product story behind this architecture, and the Data Export Spec Sheet for exactly what leaves the device when you export.
11. Apple App Store privacy disclosures
Our Apple App Privacy "nutrition label" discloses the following, consistent with this policy:
| Data type | Collected? | Linked to identity | Used for tracking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact info (name, email) | Yes — account holders only | Yes | No |
| User content (observations, notes, teacher rosters) | No — stored on device only | N/A | No |
| Diagnostics (crash logs, performance) | Yes | No | No |
| Location, browsing history, contacts, photos, advertising ID | No | — | — |
LiteracyLens does not track users across apps or websites and does not request the iOS App Tracking Transparency permission because it has no tracking to disclose.
12. Where data is stored
All observation data, teacher records, and school settings are stored on your device only and never uploaded to external servers. Authentication credentials (sign-in) are processed by Google Firebase, whose servers are located in the United States. If you sign in from outside the United States, authentication information is processed in the U.S. under Firebase's terms and this policy's protections.
13. Changes to this policy
If we make material changes, we will notify school administrators by email and in-app notice at least 30 days before the changes take effect, and will not reduce protections for student information without the school's consent. The effective date at the top of this page always reflects the current version. Prior versions are available on request.
14. Contact us
Questions, requests, or concerns about privacy:
- Email: privacy@sorvia.io
- General support: info@sorvia.io · sorvia.io/support