Privacy Policy
About CodeHS
CodeHS, Inc. is a comprehensive online coding platform to help schools and districts teach computer science. The platform includes web-based curriculum, teacher tools and resources, and professional development.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully before accessing or using the Website. In this Policy, we refer to these products as the “Website” or the “Services”.
What is this policy all about?
This privacy policy (the “Policy”) explains what data we collect, why we collect it, and what we do with it. It applies to you if you’re a student, a teacher, or anyone else who uses our Website.
This Policy applies to information that we collect when you use our Services online. It does not apply to information we may collect offline or if you provide any information to a third party (including through any application or content that may link to or be accessible from the Website). We use the term “Personal Information” to refer to any information that would identify you as an individual (e.g. your name and/or email address).
By using the Service, you accept and agree to this Privacy Policy. Your use of the Service is also governed by the Terms of Use. You should read both of these documents together.
What information do we collect and why?
We aim to collect only the information necessary to provide you with a great learning or teaching experience. We receive and store any information you knowingly enter on the Services. We also receive and store some information automatically. The following section provides further explanation of what we collect and why.
ACCOUNT INFORMATION
The information collected when you create your account depends on how your account is created. Most users will create accounts with name and email. However, there are options for schools to create student accounts with no personal information.
TEACHER ACCOUNT CREATION
When you create a teacher account, you need to enter your name, email, and school. Teacher accounts are verified to ensure academic integrity and to prevent spam. Teachers must be over 18. Teacher accounts are verified at the discretion of the CodeHS team. https://help.codehs.com/en/articles/1725265-becoming-a-verified-teacher
TYPICAL STUDENT ACCOUNT CREATION
When you create a student account, you need to enter your name and your email address.
LIMITED PERSONAL INFORMATION ACCOUNT CREATION
https://help.codehs.com/en/articles/8597087-creating-anonymous-student-accountsFor schools or users who elect not to share personal identifiers, including through integrations such as Clever, ClassLink, or Google, CodeHS automatically generates randomized or anonymous identifiers to facilitate account creation and use of the platform without collecting or storing personally identifiable information.
In these cases, CodeHS collects and processes only the information necessary to support educational functionality and platform operations. Students can access and complete coursework without providing personal data.
CodeHS also offers anonymous account options for students. If a school does not permit any personal data to be stored on the platform, teachers can enable Anonymous Login in their classroom settings.
In all cases, CodeHS collects and processes only the minimum information necessary to support educational functionality and platform operations. Students can access and complete coursework without providing personal data, and anonymous login features are available to support school and district privacy requirements.
NAME AND EMAIL COLLECTION SUMMARY
It is entirely up to the school and district if any student name and emails are shared with CodeHS and it is not a requirement to use the system.
TECHNICAL DATA
As you use our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns. For example, we may collect: details of your visits to our Website, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data; and information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.
The information we collect automatically is statistical data and does not include Personal Information. It helps us to improve our Website and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:
- estimate our audience size and usage patterns;
- monitor site performance and uptime;
- resolving technical issue for Website users;
- store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Website for you; and
- recognize you when you return to our Website.
The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include tools such as cookies and web beacons. Cookies are small files that websites place on your computer as you browse the web. Web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) are small electronic files that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited certain pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity). You may choose to disable cookies in your browser settings. However, if you choose to do this, many of our Website’s features may not function properly.
COURSEWORK AND GRADING
If you are a student, we collect information about your projects, including the responses you provide, how many attempts you made, and the time taken. This helps us to give you a great experience with our Service, including allowing you to save your work, helping us to improve our courses, and allowing teachers to assess and monitor students’ progress.
STUDENT CODE, PROGRAMS, PROJECTS, AND UPLOADED FILES
If you are logged in to your CodeHS account, we save the code and programs you have written. We do this so that teachers and students can revisit their work at a later time, and can continue working on their programs where they left off. As a student or a teacher, you can also upload content through the Website. If a student or teacher uploads content as part of writing a program, that content will be stored on the Website.
STUDENT AND TEACHER WEBSITES
As you work on CodeHS, students and teachers have the option to create personal websites. You can upload and create content on these sites, which will then become publicly available.
MESSAGES
Students may send messages to their teacher through the Website, and a teacher may send messages to their students. In the case where an individual learner or school has specifically signed up for tutoring services, messages may be sent between students, teachers, and tutors. Only the participants in each of these conversations may see the contents of the messages.
SURVEYS AND DEMOGRAPHICS
Occasionally we will send out optional online surveys to students asking for data such as age, gender, race and academic background. This data is only ever used in the aggregate and for the purposes of improving the Website and ensuring that we are reaching a diverse and representative group of learners. Any survey information is opt-in.
DATA WE DO NOT COLLECT
We do not collect any biometric data and health data. Geolocation data is not collected.
OPT-IN TO PERSONAL INFORMATION
Users must opt in to the collection of Personal Information when they create their accounts and they affirmatively accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of the site. If they do not agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy they cannot use the site.
Who can access your information?
We do not sell or rent your Personal Information to any third party for any purpose, including advertising or marketing. We do not allow any advertising on our services.
We restrict access to your information to CodeHS employees, contractors and agents who need to know that information in order to process it for us and who are subject to strict contractual security standards and confidentiality obligations. They may be disciplined or their contract terminated if they fail to meet these obligations.
Account information, coursework and grading, as well as student programs, projects, and uploaded files can be accessed by the student who created them and his or her teacher. Messages are accessible to participants in that conversation. All users of the Website must abide by the Terms of Use, which include obligations about interacting with other users.
We may disclose information that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy policy to a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, in which Personal Information that we hold is among the assets transferred. This Privacy Policy will continue to apply to your information, and any acquirer would only be able to handle your Personal Information as per this Policy (unless you give consent to a new policy). We will provide you with prompt notice of an acquisition, by posting on our homepage, or by email to your email address that you provided to us. If you do not consent to the use of your Personal Information by such a successor company, you may request that the company delete it.
We may also disclose your Personal Information:
- to comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request;
- to ensure site security, or to enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other agreements, including for billing and collection purposes;
- if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of CodeHS, Inc., our customers, or others; and
- to a state or local educational agency, including schools and school districts, for K-12 school purposes, as permitted by state or federal law.
We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.
How do we store and delete your information?
Website users may update, correct, or remove Personal Information in their CodeHS accounts at any time via the Account Settings page.
Students and teachers may deactivate their account at any time from the Account Settings page.
A teacher or a student may request deletion of your own Personal Information by sending us an email at privacy@codehs.com. In appropriate circumstances, teachers and parents may also request deletion of a student’s Personal Information. IN SUCH CASE, WE WILL NO LONGER ALLOW THE APPLICABLE USER TO USE THE SERVICES. We will delete your or your student's information using reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to, or use of, the information in connection with its deletion. When we delete a user's Personal Information, it will be deleted from our active databases but we may retain an archived copy of such user's records as required by law or for legitimate business purposes.
We will retain Personal Information, including after the school term in which a teacher or student uses the Services, for only as long as is reasonably necessary to fulfill the purpose for which the information was collected. Generally, CodeHS will delete a user's Personal Information 4 years after the user's last login to the Services.
How do we protect and secure your information?
We have implemented reasonable measures designed to secure your information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. Any payment information is transmitted using HTTPS encryption and is processed through Stripe, a third party payment provider. CodeHS does not directly collect or store payment instruments.
The safety and security of your information also depends on you. You are responsible for choosing a strong password and keeping it confidential.
In the event that Student Data is accessed or obtained by an unauthorized individual, CodeHS shall provide notification to LEA within forty-eight (48) hours of discovering the breach. See the Incident Response Plan for more details. https://codehs.com/incidentresponseplan
Account creation is required to use the site. Managed accounts are available for schools and districts.
CodeHS maintains administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect user information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.
Encryption: All data are encrypted in transit and at rest using industry-standard encryption protocols.Access Controls: Access to user information is restricted to authorized personnel who require it to operate or improve the platform. All such personnel are bound by confidentiality and data protection obligations.
Data Storage: Information is stored in secure, access-controlled environments hosted by reputable providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS).
What data is shared?
We support third-party login from Google, Classlink and Clever, Canvas, Schoology, D2L, and others. Login options supported may depend on the customer contract.
We use usage data included in the Technical Data section for analytics.
CodeHS does not allow third parties to use student data for advertising, profiling, or marketing purposes. All data shared with service providers remain under the control of the educational institution, and CodeHS acts as a school official under FERPA for these purposes.
Categories of third-party applications that may receive limited personal or technical information include:
- Hosting and infrastructure services (e.g., AWS, to run the website)
- Customer support tools (for responding to user inquiries)
- Analytics services (to monitor site performance and reliability)
- Integration partners (such as Clever, ClassLink, or Google, when a school elects to use those integrations).
What rights do I have to the data?
Ownership and Access. Users retain ownership of the content and information they create or upload on CodeHS. Authorized users can access and review their data at any time through their account.
Modification and Deletion. Authorized users and schools can modify or delete user data within the platform. If an account is closed or terminated, CodeHS may retain limited data only as required by law, contractual obligations, or legitimate business purposes such as security, backup, and audit logs. Retained data is handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy and securely deleted once no longer needed. Data is deleted after 4 years of an account being inactive, or within 60 days if requested by an LEA.
Access Controls. Schools and teachers control which users have access to classroom data, sections, or assignments. Students do not have access to other students’ work unless a teacher explicitly enables sharing or collaboration.
Data Portability. Users may request an export of their data at any time by contacting privacy@codehs.com. CodeHS will provide a copy of the available data in a commonly used, machine-readable format within 90 days.
Data Sharing and Sale
No Sale of Personal Information
CodeHS does not sell or rent personal information to third parties. Personal information is shared only as necessary to operate, maintain, or improve the platform, provide customer support, or comply with legal obligations.
Business Transfers
If CodeHS is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, user information may be transferred to the successor entity as part of that transaction. In such cases, CodeHS will provide notice before any transfer that results in a change in the control or use of personal information. Users or schools may request deletion of their data before the transfer occurs, where legally and operationally feasible.
De-Identification and Aggregation
CodeHS may use de-identified or aggregated data to improve the platform. De-identified data cannot be used to identify an individual user and are not combined with other data sets to re-identify users.
Can I control the use of my data?
Purpose Limitation
CodeHS uses information only for the purposes for which it was collected — to provide and support the educational services offered through the platform.
Privacy Settings and Access
Users can access and update certain information within their account settings. Schools and teachers manage classroom and student data. For any additional privacy-related requests, users or schools may contact privacy@codehs.com.
Combining Data
CodeHS does not combine student personal information with data obtained from third-party sources for advertising, profiling, or marketing purposes. Any data that may be combined across systems (for example, usage and performance metrics) are used only in an aggregated or de-identified form for internal analytics and product improvement. Combined information that could identify an individual is treated as personal information under this policy.
Notice of Policy Changes
If CodeHS makes material changes to how personal information is collected, used, or shared, notice will be provided through an updated Privacy Policy and, through additional notice or consent requests before new uses take effect.
Requests and Complaints
Users and schools may contact privacy@codehs.com to request information about what personal data have been shared with third-party service providers, or to submit privacy-related complaints or questions. CodeHS investigates and responds to all valid privacy inquiries within 90 days.
Government and Legal Requests
If CodeHS receives a legal request for user information (such as a subpoena or court order), it will notify the affected school or account holder unless legally prohibited from doing so. CodeHS reviews all such requests to ensure they are valid and limited to the minimum data required by law.
Children under the age of 13
We have included some information below related to the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (“COPPA”). COPPA requires that online service providers obtain parental consent before they knowingly collect personally identifiable information online from children who are under 13. Therefore, we only collect Personal Information through the Services from a child under 13 where that student’s school, district, and/or teacher has agreed (via the terms described in the Terms of Use) to obtain parental consent for that child to use the Services and disclose Personal Information to us. A parent or guardian may sign up his or her child for the Services and provide Personal Information about that child to us. However, no child under 13 may send us any Personal Information unless he or she has signed up through his or her school, district or teacher and such school, district or teacher has obtained parental consent for that child to use the Services and disclose Personal Information to us. If you are a student under 13, please do not send any Personal Information to us if your school, district, and/or teacher has not obtained this prior consent from your parent or guardian, and please do not send any Personal Information other than what we request from you in connection with the Services. If we learn we have collected Personal Information from a student under 13 without parental consent from his or her parent or guardian or obtained by his or her school, district, and/or teacher, or if we learn a student under 13 has provided us personal information beyond what we request from him or her, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that a student under 13 may have provided us personal information in violation of this paragraph, please contact us at privacy@codehs.com.
If you are signing up for this service and creating accounts on behalf of student(s), you represent and warrant that you are either (a) a teacher or school administrator or otherwise authorized by a school or district to sign up on behalf of students or (b) the parent of such student(s). If you are a school, district, or teacher, you represent and warrant that you are solely responsible for complying with COPPA, meaning that you must obtain advance written consent from all parents or guardians whose children under 13 will be accessing the Services. When obtaining consent, you must provide parents and guardians with these Terms and our Privacy Policy. You must keep all consents on file and provide them to us if we request them. If you are a teacher, you represent and warrant that you have permission and authorization from your school and/or district to use the Services as part of your curriculum, and for purposes of COPPA compliance, you represent and warrant that you are entering into these Terms on behalf of your school and/or district.
Changes to the Privacy Policy
Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We will post any changes we make on this page with a notice on the Website’s homepage that the privacy policy has been updated. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will email you at the email address associated with your account.
Questions?
To ask questions or comment on this Privacy Policy and our privacy practices, contact us at privacy@codehs.com.
School, District, and State Privacy Agreements
CodeHS can sign specific privacy agreements for your school or district after review. You can send privacy agreements to privacy@codehs.com.
If your school or district has a signed privacy agreement on file with CodeHS that will govern.
CodeHS is a member of the Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC). Your district can sign Exhibit E to execute the agreement for your state. View more at the privacy center: https://codehs.com/privacycenter
Quick FAQ
Data Collection & Use
Do you sell student data?
No. We do not sell or rent student Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
Do you use behavioral or third-party advertising on student experiences?
No. Ads and cross-site tracking are disabled for student accounts.
Do you build profiles beyond educational purposes?
No. We limit use to providing and improving the educational service.
Can students use CodeHS without sharing personal information?
Yes. Students can create anonymous accounts using nicknames or system-generated email addresses.
Consent & Authority
Who provides consent for under-13 users?
Schools, acting as agents for parents, provide consent for school-provided accounts in accordance with COPPA.
Security
What security controls do you use?
Encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access controls, audit logging, incident response processes with district notice timelines, and SOC2 compliance.
Student/Parent & Educator Rights
How can a parent or school access, correct, or delete student data?
Email privacy@codehs.com.
Student Privacy
Data Retention
How long do you keep student records?
CodeHS retains student records only as long as necessary. Concrete durations apply by contract or law; we delete or de-identify records after account closure or the end of a contract.
District Agreements
Will you sign SDPC or state DPAs?
Yes. We execute standard student data privacy agreements upon request.
Contact & Complaints
Email privacy@codehs.com.
