How OKSTEM Foundation collects, uses, and protects your information.
Plain-language summary: We collect only what is needed to save your learning progress across devices. We never sell student data, never show ads, and never share personal information with third parties for marketing. Students under 13 should have a parent or guardian's awareness before creating an account.
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OKSTEM Foundation is a nonprofit organization incorporated in the State of Oklahoma and recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. We operate the website at okstem.org and provide free online STEM education for K–12 students across Oklahoma.
Mailing address: PO Box 179, Paden, OK 74864
Email: info@okstem.org
You can browse and read every lesson on OKSTEM without creating an account. In this case we collect no personal information from you. Your web browser may store files locally (localStorage) on your device to save temporary progress, but this data never leaves your device.
Creating an account is optional and allows your progress to be saved to our server so you can log in from any device. When you create an account we collect:
| Information | Required? | Why we collect it |
|---|---|---|
| First name and last name | Yes | To personalize your dashboard |
| Username | Yes | Unique identifier for your account — used to log in |
| 4-digit PIN (stored as a secure hash) | Yes | To authenticate you when you log in |
| Learning path and goal | Yes | To show you appropriate courses and track your progress |
| School name | No | To help us understand which schools we are serving |
| Parent or guardian email address | No | So a parent or guardian can be kept informed; required for students under 13 |
| How you heard about OKSTEM | No | To understand how we reach students |
Once you are logged in, we record your learning activity including which lessons you have visited, quiz scores, and which lessons you have completed. This data is tied to your account and used only to display your progress dashboard.
Our server logs IP addresses temporarily for security purposes, specifically to prevent automated abuse of our account creation system. These logs are not linked to student profiles and are automatically deleted after two hours.
OKSTEM Foundation complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). We are aware that many of our students are under the age of 13.
For students under 13: A parent or guardian must create the account on the child's behalf. Our signup form requires checking a box confirming that the person signing up is 13 or older, or that a parent or guardian is creating the account. By completing signup, the parent or guardian consents to the collection of the information described in this policy on behalf of their child.
Parents and guardians have the right to:
To exercise any of these rights, email us at privacy@okstem.org with the subject line "COPPA Request." We will respond within 5 business days.
We do not condition participation in our educational services on providing more personal information than is reasonably necessary.
We use the information we collect only to:
We do not use student data for advertising, behavioral profiling, or any commercial purpose.
Student account data is stored in a secured MySQL database hosted on Hostinger servers located in the United States. We use the following security measures:
No security system is perfect. In the event of a data breach that affects your information, we will notify affected users and, where required by law, the appropriate authorities.
We do not sell, rent, or trade student personal information to anyone, ever.
We share data only in these limited circumstances:
We keep student account data for as long as the account is active. If an account has had no activity for 3 years, we will delete it and all associated progress data.
You can request deletion of your account at any time — see Section 8 below.
IP addresses collected for rate limiting are automatically deleted after 2 hours.
You (or a parent/guardian if you are under 13) have the right to:
To make any of these requests, email privacy@okstem.org with the subject line "Data Request" and include your username.
Our site uses the following third-party services:
fonts.googleapis.com. When your browser loads our site it makes a request to Google's servers. See Google's Privacy Policy.We do not use advertising networks, social media tracking pixels, third-party analytics (such as Google Analytics), or any other behavioral tracking tools on student-facing pages.
If you make a donation to OKSTEM Foundation, we collect the information necessary to process your gift and provide a tax receipt (name, email, mailing address, donation amount). This information is used only for donation-related communications and financial reporting required of nonprofit organizations. It is never sold or used for any commercial purpose.
We may update this policy as our platform evolves. When we make material changes we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. If you have an account and we make a significant change to how we handle your data, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you.
For any questions, concerns, or requests related to this privacy policy: