Privacy Policy

Last updated: March 2024

We're thrilled that you've chosen to use LitLab.ai!

LitLab.ai, a business alias of Koalluh, is the leading provider of reading software that aims to make reading more engaging, more personalized, and more “just right” for kids, regardless of their background or their current reading proficiency.

We deeply respect the privacy of all of our users. We know that as parents and educators, you care deeply about your and your students' privacy, too. Hence, we crafted this LitLab.ai Privacy Policy (our “Privacy Policy”) to describe our commitment to privacy protection

Our platform is built for teachers, students, parents, schools, school districts, school administrators, and other K-12 educational institutions — these individuals and entities make up our primary users. In order to browse, utilize, or gain access LitLab, each user, either independently or on behalf of a student who is under eighteen (18) years old (“user,” “user's,” “you” or “your”) must agree to this Privacy Policy, which explains how we collect, use, safeguard, and share certain information about our users. This Privacy Policy is a crucial part of our Terms and Conditions (our “Terms”), and applies to every user's access to and use of our platform (“Platform”), websites, apps, social media pages, and all of our products, services, and channels (collectively, the “Services”).

To be qualified to use our Platform, you must create an account and thereby consent to us during the account creation process that you are authorized to allow LitLab to access, collect, transmit, modify, disclose, display and store your data. This authorization is a consistent commitment you make to LitLab as a part of using our Platform.

Our Commitment to Privacy

This Privacy Policy delineates how we gather, employ, and crucially, safeguard personal information gathered through the Services, with special focus on the information related to students (“Student Data”). Our cornerstone principle is the preservation of students' privacy. Accordingly, we are dedicated to the following tenets regarding Student Data protection:

• • Student Data is exclusively used for purposes sanctioned by the student's school, parent, or legal guardian.
• • We have established a Privacy Policy and a Platform that meet or surpass our obligations under COPPA, FERPA, and relevant state laws governing student privacy.
• • We do not display third-party advertisements to students utilizing the Platform.
• • We strictly prohibit the use or disclosure of Student Data for targeted promotions or marketing and we do not create profiles of students for purposes of targeting advertising.
• • We honor schools' and parents' rights to maintain direct control over Student Data.
• • We implement industry-standard security measures and encryption technologies to safeguard Student Data.
• • We are committed to sharing our data practices in a transparent and understandable manner.
• • We are committed to not retaining Student Data longer than necessary to provide the Platform to students.
• • We are committed to notifying our users and customers of material changes to this Privacy Policy. If we make a material change, we will provide notice by email, if you have provided an email address to us.

Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may amend this Privacy Policy based on changes to our Services and to remain compliant with best practices and regulations. The “Last Updated” section at the top of this page shows when this Privacy Policy was last modified. Your continued use of the Platform following these modifications signifies your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

If we make a material change, we will provide notice by email, if you have provided an email address to us.

How We Collect Information

We collect information regarding students and educators in various ways as follows:

• • When an educator creates an account, LitLab collects details such as name, email address, password, occupation, country, and school address.
• • Educators can roster a classroom with student names or initials and invite students to join a classroom or a session on the Platform. Students submit their interests in order to generate stories and other content. Teachers can determine whether stories created by students are visible between students.
• • The majority of information is collected during sign-up. Some information is collected automatically via third-party verification authentication services (for example, Google OAuth and Clever), from which LitLab receives personal details with your consent.
• • LitLab also passively collects information about how our Platform is used to provide teachers with relevant student progress and usage data, and to improve the Platform. This information includes access times, duration, content viewed, and user activities.
• • We also collect device-related information such as device and browser type, operating system, IP address, referral URL, and a unique identifier.
• • Our website, which is directed to educators, uses cookies, pixel tags, device or other identifiers, and local storage to provide a seamless and safe experience.
• • LitLab does not collect sensitive details from students, such as biometric data, free or reduced lunch eligibility, health, or financial data.

How we Restrict Information Collection

We value our users' privacy, and have therefore imposed the following restrictions and procedures to limit the data we collect:

• • Teachers can roster with alternate profile names, including student initials or IDs, that conceal student identity within LitLab.
• • Educators have the right to access, correct, download, or delete any of their personal information collected by LitLab. Parents and educators can exercise these rights on behalf of their students. To exercise these rights, contact LitLab support directly.
• • We do not retain student data beyond the time required to support the school's educational purpose, unless approved by the school, educator, parent, or legal guardian.
• • Teachers, administrators, parents, and legal guardians may submit requests for data deletion. LitLab will erase or anonymize student data within the period required under applicable law.

How We Use Gathered Information

We exclusively use Student Data and other information to offer our services and to maintain, enhance, and develop the Platform. Specifically, the collected information may be used as follows:

• • To enable educators to evaluate students' work, observe students' performance and progress, design lessons, and further aid in their students' education.
• • To allow parents and guardians to review their children's work and monitor their children's performance and progress.
• • To provide feedback and assistance to students related to their educational progress.
• • To permit students to access information shared with them by their educators.
• • To let students monitor their own progress.
• • To enable students to build book collections.
• • To provide students the opportunity to maintain a portfolio of their work.
• • To personalize learning experiences for students, including generating tailored learning suggestions and proposing other assignments, educational content, or activites.
• • To customize user experiences, comprehending how our Platform is accessed and used, and its performance, so we can enhance its design and functionality.
• • To perform analysis on aggregated and anonymized data that doesn't identify any individual user.
• • To supply educators with various types of reports, like reports detailing the performance and progress of a specific classroom or student.
• • To collect feedback on the Platform and how we can improve it.
• • To diagnose issues, troubleshoot problems, and provide maintenance and support.
• • We use educator, parent, or legal guardian information to communicate with those individuals, including sending them marketing communications consistent with their selections and preferences. We do not send marketing communications to students.

Information Disclosure

LitLab shares information with vetted third-party service providers that provide services for or on behalf of LitLab. Such services could include website hosting and customer support services.

LitLab does not share, sell, or rent Student Data or provide it to third parties for targeted advertising, marketing, or any commercial purposes.

The only scenario in which LitLab would sell data is in a corporate event, such as a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, or other asset sale. In such situations, we will notify users and make reasonable efforts to ensure the successor entity upholds the privacy commitments laid out in this Privacy Policy.

Data Protection

Securing your data and information is critical to us, and safeguarding Student Data is our highest priority. Thus, in our efforts to keep user information secure, we implement the following measures:

• • We use industry-standard organizational, physical, technical, and administrative strategies aimed at maintaining the integrity and security of any personal information collected.
• • We use top-tier, industry-leading Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology to protect user data.
• • Access to personal information is strictly limited to LitLab employees and contractors who need it to carry out their work responsibilities. Employees or contractors face disciplinary action, including termination or cancelling of their contracts with possible legal action, if they fail to uphold LitLab's privacy and confidentiality standards.

Data Breach

LitLab has designed its security program following the NIST Cybersecurity Framework v1.1. Although we make concerted good faith efforts to maintain the security of personal information, and we work hard to ensure the integrity and security of our systems, no practices are completely foolproof. Outages, attacks, human error, system failure, unauthorized use, or other factors may compromise the security of user information at any time.

• • Investigation of breach: Upon detecting a breach, we conduct a thorough investigation to determine the compromised information, the breach method, and the affected parties. This investigation also involves external experts when necessary.
• • Containment and mitigation: Simultaneously with the investigation, we implement immediate containment measures to limit data loss and patch any security vulnerabilities.
• • Notifying affected parties: If we learn of a security breach, we will attempt to notify the affected parties electronically (subject to any applicable laws and school reporting requirements) so that you can take appropriate protective step. For example, we may send email to the email address provided to us. If a user's school has a direct relationship with LitLab (such as in a paid contract or a school-wide trial), any school administrators who are points of contact for LitLab will be notified as well.

Data Retention

We do not retain personal information beyond the necessary time period to support our legitimate business needs as specified in this Privacy Policy, unless we have permission of the teacher, administrator, parent or legal guardian of the student. Teachers and administrators may contact us at ops@litlab.ai to request the deletion of Student Data.

We commit to delete or de-identify Student Data within sixty (60) days of receiving a deletion request. If we do not receive a deletion request, LitLab may delete or de-identify personal information following a period of inactivity in accordance with our standard data retention schedule.

Please note: We may not always be able to instantly or entirely delete all data in every case, such as information kept in technical support records, customer service records, backups, and other similar business records, or as required to be retained by law. We will not be obliged to delete any information which has been de-identified or disassociated with personal identifiers such that the remaining information cannot reasonably be used to identify a particular individual.

Third Parties

Our Platform links to Google and Clever for authentication services, and we may use integrations with Schoology, Canvas, Seesaw, and other LMS and learning management providers. Educators will be given the option to allow LitLab to share information with these learning management providers where applicable.

Third parties are responsible for their own privacy policies which users are encouraged to review thoroughly. LitLab is not responsible for the privacy, information, or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any site or service to which the Platform links. The inclusion of a link on the Platform does not imply our endorsement of the linked site or service.

Our Compliance with Applicable Laws

When a user uses the Platform for an educational purpose, LitLab receives personal information provided by the school, educator, student, student's parent, or legal guardian. LitLab does not own or control this personal information, which belongs to each user as appropriate.

This Privacy Policy and the Platform have been developed thoughtfully to protect personal information in accordance with applicable federal and state privacy laws. Below are several key examples of these laws and, how our Privacy Policy and Platform adhere to them:

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”).Student Data collected by LitLab includes personally identifiable information found in educational records that are subject to the federal law known as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA. LitLab collects and process Student Data as a “School Official” as the term is defined by FERPA and its implementing regulations. We commit to working with schools to ensure mutual compliance with FERPA regulations.

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).When a school uses the Platform for educational purposes, we depend on the school to provide consent for LitLab to collect personal information from students that are under the age of thirteen (13) for educational purposes only, as limited by COPPA. Upon written request, we provide schools the opportunity to review and delete any personal information collected about their students. If you are a parent or legal guardian and you have questions about your child's use of the Platform, please share your questions with your child's school, or, you may reach out to us with the contact information provided below.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) (California residents only). When LitLab provides the Platform to schools as a “School Official” as that term is defined in the California Consumer Privacy Act (or the “CCPA”), we only gather, retain, utilize, and disclose Student Data for the purpose of providing the Platform, and for no other commercial purpose. If you have further questions or if would like to exercise your rights as a California resident, please contact your school or us by using the contact information below.

Consent to Receive Communications

By signing up for the Platform, you agree to receive communications from us, including email, and/or push notifications. We are not responsible for your receipt of, or failure to receive any messages, or for messages sent erroneously or with incorrect information. We are not responsible for your or someone else's action or failure to take action due to the receipt of any messages. If you make changes to your contact information, you are responsible for updating your Account Settings. You can also opt-out of notifications in your Account Settings.

You can also opt-out of marketing communications from us at any time. If you opt-out of marketing communications, you may still receive communications that are necessary for the Platform or otherwise exempt from anti-spam laws. By opting out of communications from Litlab, you acknowledge that this may impact your use of the Platform.

Contact

For questions or concerns related to privacy, we can be contacted by email at ops@litlab.ai, or by mail at: