TeachComplete was built by a teacher, and it carries a teacher's first instinct: protect the students. Student safety isn't a compliance checkbox here — it's the core value everything else is built on top of. This page shows you exactly how, in plain English first and legal language after.
We will never sell data. Not student data, not teacher data, not "anonymized insights," not to advertisers, not to data brokers. Never.
We will never advertise. No ads in the product, no marketing built on classroom data, no profiling a child to sell them anything — ever.
We will never let student work train third-party AI models. TeachComplete's AI runs on Google's paid Gemini API (and, where configured, Anthropic's commercial Claude API). Per both providers' published paid-tier terms, inputs sent through those APIs are not used to train their models. We hold every provider we use to that standard, in writing.
The day any of that changes is the day this product shouldn't exist.
This is what we hold ourselves to when we design any feature that touches a student. Each one is a rule the code follows, not a slogan.
The whole system works with pseudonyms, initials, or school-issued IDs, and we actively encourage teachers to use them. The AI cares about the learning, not the label. The safest data is the data that was never collected.
Every answer, sketch, and score exists for one purpose: helping their teacher teach them better. Full stop.
No advertising cookies, no marketing pixels, no behavioral targeting, no data brokers. The only "profile" that exists is the learning picture a teacher sees.
There's no AI in the student file builders — students write their own docs, slides, and sheets. Practice questions come from the teacher's own materials, not from a chatbot. AI works for the teacher; it doesn't do the student's thinking.
A student's diary entries stay private unless the student chooses to share them. Anonymous class Q&A is anonymous even to the teacher — the routing lives on the server where no one in the classroom can read it.
If something worrying shows up in student work, it's routed to counselors — trained people who know the child — never auto-punished or auto-flagged into a machine verdict.
Verified deletion requests are actioned within 30 days, and backups containing the deleted data roll off within 90. Exports are available in a portable format. No hoops.
Every design tradeoff between a smoother feature and a safer student ends the same way. This is the tie-breaker rule for everything we build.
Anyone can write a nice privacy page. These are actual mechanisms in TeachComplete's codebase — the rules the software itself enforces, whether or not anyone is watching.
Every piece of data starts locked. Access has to be explicitly granted by a rule; nothing is readable "by default." Sensitive routing tables are readable by no client at all.
Every record is keyed to a verified user identity, and every single API request re-checks who's asking before returning anything. One teacher can never see another teacher's classroom.
The table that maps an anonymous question back to a student is unreadable by any client — including the teacher's. Only the server can route the reply. A shy question stays shy.
A student's direct messages with their counselor can only be read by the actual participants in that conversation. No one else — not even by accident.
During a live quiz game, submitted answers are readable only by the teacher hosting. Players can't peek at each other's answers to copy them mid-game.
Live collaborative drawing boards are marked as shared by the server itself — the software refuses to let group work be submitted as one student's individual answer.
When a student shares a note with a classmate, the lookup returns only what's needed to pick the right person — never email addresses or account details.
Student accounts that try to reach AI search or AI in the backpack builders get a hard server-side refusal — a 403, every time. It's not a hidden button; it's a locked door.
Invitations, admin role changes, account deletions, and other high-privilege actions are written to an audit log that admins can't edit. Actions leave a trail.
Every page ships with a content security policy, and violations are reported and stored so we can spot and shut down injection attempts and keep tightening the rules.
We attack our own product and ship the fixes. The most recent internal audit, July 2026, produced 30 hardening fixes — all deployed the same day they were found.
Teacher accounts hold the classroom's data, so teacher accounts get extra locks: MFA is available on teacher sign-in, on top of managed authentication with Google sign-in support.
We don't claim third-party certifications we haven't earned. What you see above is what the code actually does — and you're welcome to ask us hard questions about any of it.
No mystery servers. Here's the exact shape of the plumbing.
All data is stored in the United States on Google Cloud Platform — Cloud Firestore for the database, Cloud Storage for files, with our application functions running in the us-central1 region.
Every connection uses TLS encryption in transit, and data is encrypted at rest using Google-managed encryption on both the database and file storage. That's Google's infrastructure doing what it does best — and we say so, rather than taking the credit.
All payments are processed by Stripe. Card numbers never touch our servers — we store only the subscription references Stripe gives us, never the card itself.
For districts that want full data ownership, TeachComplete can be deployed inside your district's own Google Cloud — your data, your keys, your control. This is an enterprise option arranged with your team when you onboard.
We won't wave certification badges at you — we'll tell you honestly how we're designed to fit the legal frameworks schools live under.
TeachComplete is designed to operate as a "school official" with legitimate educational interests under FERPA (34 CFR §99.31(a)(1)) for the student records a school's teachers enter. We act under the school's direction, use the records only to provide the service, and never redisclose them except as FERPA permits or the school directs.
We never market to or collect information directly from children. Student data enters the system only through a teacher acting in an educational capacity, under the school-consent model — with minimal collection and a pseudonyms-first design so the least possible personal information exists at all. If we ever learn we've received a child's information without proper authorization, we delete it.
For schools and districts: a Data Processing Addendum (DPA) is available on request, including state-specific addenda such as California SOPIPA and New York Education Law §2-d. Email hello@teachcomplete.com to start.
The full detail is in the formal policy below. Here's the honest one-screen version.
Privacy pages are easy to write and hard to live up to. If you're a teacher, a parent, or a district evaluating us — ask us anything about how student data is handled. Specific, technical, uncomfortable questions welcome. Bring your DPO — we like these conversations.
hello@teachcomplete.comWe respond to privacy inquiries within 30 days — usually much, much sooner.
Everything above is how we think. Below is the formal Privacy Policy that governs how TeachComplete handles your data — complete and unabridged.
Effective date: April 22, 2026 | Last updated: May 25, 2026
This Privacy Policy describes how TeachComplete ("TeachComplete," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, stores, discloses, and protects information when you use our website at teachcomplete.com and the TeachComplete web application (collectively, the "Service"). It applies to all users of the Service, including teachers, school administrators, and any student end-users whose information is entered into the Service by their teacher or school.
Privacy contact: matthew@teachcomplete.com.
TeachComplete is provided to teachers and school administrators. We do not market to, enroll, or collect information directly from students. Any Student Data in the Service is entered by a teacher or school acting in their capacity as an educator, with the authority granted to them by their school or district.
When a school or district provides TeachComplete to its teachers, TeachComplete acts as a "school official" with legitimate educational interests under FERPA (34 CFR §99.31(a)(1)) for the Student Data entered into the Service by that institution's users. We use Student Data only to provide and improve the Service as directed by the teacher or school.
4a. From teachers and school administrators (directly)
4b. Student Data (entered by teachers, not collected from students)
Teachers may enter the following Student Data into the Service. The scope depends on what the teacher chooses to record:
We actively encourage teachers to avoid entering personally identifying information. The Service is designed to function with pseudonyms, initials, or school-issued IDs in place of student legal names.
4c. Automatically collected (technical data)
We do not use third-party advertising cookies, marketing pixels, behavioral tracking, cross-site tracking, session-replay tools, or analytics designed to profile individual users.
For clarity, TeachComplete does not collect from students or teachers: precise geolocation, biometric identifiers, health or medical records, social-media contacts, advertising identifiers (MAID/IDFA), or any information beyond what a teacher voluntarily enters to run their classroom.
We use the information described above only for these purposes:
TeachComplete commits that we will never:
TeachComplete is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect Personal Information directly from children under 13. All Student Data about children under 13 is entered into the Service by a teacher or school acting in an educational capacity.
We rely on the teacher's school or district to provide the appropriate notice and, where required by COPPA or state law, obtain verifiable parental consent prior to a teacher entering Personal Information about a child under 13 into the Service. Schools acting as COPPA authorizing agents may consent on behalf of parents only for purposes limited to the educational context, consistent with FTC guidance.
If we learn that we have inadvertently received Personal Information directly from a child under 13 without the required authorization, we will promptly delete that information. Parents and guardians who believe their child's information has been submitted improperly can contact matthew@teachcomplete.com for prompt review and deletion.
FERPA. When TeachComplete receives Education Records from a school, we treat those records as a "school official" with a "legitimate educational interest" under 34 CFR §99.31(a)(1). We act under the direct control of the school with respect to the use and maintenance of those records, and we do not redisclose them except as permitted by FERPA or directed by the school.
California. For users in California, we comply with the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §22584). We do not engage in targeted advertising using Student Data, do not create profiles of students for non-educational purposes, do not sell Student Data, and do not disclose Student Data except as permitted by SOPIPA.
New York. For users in New York, we comply with New York Education Law §2-d and implementing regulations (8 NYCRR Part 121). A copy of our Parents Bill of Rights for Data Privacy and Security is available on request at matthew@teachcomplete.com.
Other states. We comply with applicable student-data-privacy laws in each state in which our users operate. Schools and districts may request a data-processing addendum tailored to their state requirements by contacting us.
We rely on a small set of established service providers to operate the Service. We share only the information necessary for each provider's function, and we require each provider to protect data at least as strictly as described in this policy. Current sub-processors:
If we add or materially change sub-processors, we will update this list. You can always request the current list at matthew@teachcomplete.com.
When a teacher uses an AI feature (lesson planning, feedback generation, differentiation, analytics), the request is sent through Anthropic's API. To protect student privacy, TeachComplete:
If you choose to use TeachComplete's optional Google Calendar or Google Drive integrations, this section explains exactly what data we receive from Google, why, and how we handle it.
12a. Scopes we request and what each is used for
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.email and userinfo.profile — basic identity (email address, name, profile picture) when you sign in with Google. Used solely to create and authenticate your TeachComplete account.https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar (requested only when you click "Connect Google Calendar") — Used to (a) read your existing calendar events so we can display them inside the TeachComplete weekly schedule, and (b) write your TeachComplete lesson and class events back to your primary Google Calendar (or a sub-calendar you select) when you enable two-way sync. We only create, read, or update events that TeachComplete itself authored; we never modify or delete events created by you or by other applications.https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file (requested only when you click an "Attach from Google Drive" button) — This is a per-file scope: TeachComplete only sees Google Drive files you explicitly select via Google's official Picker widget. We do not have, and never request, access to browse, list, or search your wider Google Drive. For each file you attach, we read its text content once at the moment you select it, store that text snapshot inside your TeachComplete account for use by the AI grader or chat assistant, and never re-access the original Drive file again.12b. What we never request
TeachComplete does not request — and our app's source code does not contain — any of the broader Google Drive scopes (drive, drive.readonly, drive.metadata, drive.metadata.readonly). We have no ability to see files you have not personally selected via the Picker. We do not request Gmail, Contacts, Photos, Tasks, Keep, or any other Google scopes.
12c. How Google user data is stored and retained
12d. Limited Use of Google user data
TeachComplete's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Specifically, with respect to data obtained from Google Calendar or Google Drive APIs, TeachComplete:
This Limited Use commitment applies to data obtained from Google API scopes in addition to (and consistent with) the broader commitments made elsewhere in this Privacy Policy.
12e. How to revoke Google access
You can revoke TeachComplete's access to Google Calendar or Google Drive at any time, from either side:
We disclose information only in these limited situations:
We never sell or rent Personal Information or Student Data.
We retain your data for as long as your account is active, or for as long as directed by the school or district responsible for the Student Data. You or your school can request deletion of all or part of your data at any time by emailing matthew@teachcomplete.com.
Timelines:
We implement administrative, physical, and technical safeguards designed to protect information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. These include:
No system is perfectly secure. While we work hard to protect data, we cannot guarantee absolute security, and you are responsible for keeping your account credentials safe.
If we become aware of a security incident that results in the unauthorized access, acquisition, or disclosure of Personal Information or Student Data, we will:
As a teacher or school user, you have the right to:
To exercise any of these rights, email matthew@teachcomplete.com. We will respond within 30 days, and will verify the requester's identity before acting on a request that involves Personal Information.
Because Student Data is entered and controlled by the teacher or school, parent and student requests are usually best directed to the school in the first instance. However, TeachComplete will honor the following regardless of source:
To make a request, parents or guardians can email matthew@teachcomplete.com. We will coordinate with the relevant school to verify identity and the educational relationship, and will respond within 30 days.
Schools and districts are responsible for ensuring that their teachers use the Service in compliance with applicable law and school policy, including obtaining any required consents. Schools may request a formal Data Processing Addendum (DPA) and, where applicable, sign state-specific addenda such as the NDPA (National Data Privacy Agreement). Contact matthew@teachcomplete.com to initiate.
The Service is operated in the United States and all data is stored in the United States. If you access the Service from outside the U.S., you understand that your information will be processed and stored in the United States, which may have data-protection laws different from your jurisdiction.
If you are a California resident, you have the right under the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the CPRA) to know what Personal Information we hold about you, to request deletion, to correct inaccurate information, to opt out of the sale or sharing of Personal Information (we do not sell or share), and to be free from retaliation for exercising these rights. Information collected in connection with K–12 education is generally subject to FERPA and SOPIPA rather than the CCPA; nonetheless, we honor these rights on request.
Our Service does not use cross-site tracking and does not change behavior based on Do Not Track browser signals because we do not engage in the cross-site tracking that DNT is designed to limit.
The Service may contain links to third-party websites or services (for example, Google sign-in or documentation). This policy does not cover the privacy practices of those third parties. We encourage you to review their privacy notices.
We may update this Privacy Policy as the Service evolves and as laws change. When we make a material change, we will update the "Effective date" and "Last updated" above and, where practical, provide notice through the Service or by email. Your continued use of the Service after an update takes effect means you accept the updated policy.
Questions about this policy, data requests, parental reviews, breach reports, or anything else?
Email: matthew@teachcomplete.com
We respond to privacy inquiries within 30 days, and usually much sooner.