Signal Beyond Compliance: A Proposed Framework for Ethical Governance of Student Data in Learning Analytics

Summary

Sahana Varadaraju and Bharathwaj Vijayakumar published a paper on arXiv (cs.CY) on August 4, 2026, addressing the growth of learning analytics (LA) in higher education, which has expanded institutional capacity to monitor engagement, predict academic difficulty, and target support using student data. The authors argue that governance of this data has often remained compliance-first, centered on meeting baseline legal requirements such as FERPA and GDPR, and that while legal compliance is necessary, it does not by itself resolve questions of fairness, student agency, accountability, or educational purpose. They propose the LEAGUE framework, a six-pillar model for ethical governance of student data: Lawfulness, Equity, Agency, Governance, Utility, and Ethics by Design, developed through a conceptual synthesis of scholarship in learning analytics, educational data mining, data ethics, educational policy, value-sensitive design, and capability-oriented approaches to educational justice. The paper demonstrates the framework's practical value through an illustrative early-alert case study showing how institutions can review learning analytics practices more transparently and in a more educationally meaningful way.