EdTech Platform Sold to Surveillance Company
By Carole Hornsby Haynes May 9, 2022 Originally published at Texas Scorecard
Rhithm is back in the news. The Texas startup has been sold to one of four technology companies being investigated by two U.S. Senators who noticed that student surveillance, emotional screenings, and intrusive surveys are fast becoming the norm for many public school classrooms.
Rhithm’s website previously described its app as a “biopsychosocial assessment." By definition, a BPS assessment is typically conducted by therapists and counselors at the beginning of therapy and assesses for biological, psychological and social factors that can be contributing to a problem or problems with a client.
The 2019 Texas legislature is rushing headlong into expanding technology in K-12, forcing children into more “personalized learning,” a euphemism for replacing teachers with digital screens. Ignoring volumes of proof that digital learning has lowered academic achievement and created mental and psychological problems, states spend $5 billion each year of taxpayers’ money on technology.
Rather than creating products that teachers need and want to use, Silicon Valley tech giants decide what they want to sell and then create a sales pitch such as “personalized learning” – code for computerized education that replaces teachers.
The TEA is pushing addictive video programs into 
The Harmful Consequences of Screen Technologies 
The U.S. Department of Education has become increasingly aggressive in demanding more personal data on students for various federal grants.
Despite the volumes of research about addictive video games, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) is implementing math video games in 
Texas Education Agency (TEA) is implementing math video games to its blended learning programs in