FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT (FERPA)
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) also requires that schools give parents and students the opportunity to access information in their education records. Students and parents are allowed to review and potentially amend incorrect information within their education record. Procedures should be put in place to simplify this process.
A school may not generally disclose personally identifiable information from an eligible student’s education records to a third party without written consent. There are a number of exceptions to this rule, which are laid out in the Department of Education’s FERPA Exceptions — Summary CHART.
| FERPA Directory Information |
|---|
| Student’s Name |
| Address |
| Telephone listing |
| Email Address |
| Photograph |
| Date & Place of Birth |
| Major/Field of Study |
| Dates of Attendance |
| Grade Level |
| Participation in officially recognized activities & sports |
| Weight & Height of Athletes |
| Degrees, Honors, & Awards Received |
| Most recent educational institution attended |
| Student ID, User ID, or other unique identifier (that cannot be used to access education records withought a pin or password) |
- FERPA gives parents and students the right to opt out of having their “directory information” shared.
- FERPA allows schools to share student information among designated “school officials” with “legitimate educational interests.” Schools must define these terms, and inform parents who they consider a “school official” and what is deemed a “legitimate educational interest.” This process allows schools to partner with outside persons or entities to provide educational tools and services.
Aside from the two most common FERPA exceptions listed above, there are a number of other circumstances when prior consent is not required to disclose information about a student. The following are categories of people/organizations that may not need express student consent to gain access to certain information about students.
| Individual/Entity seeking information | Type of information available without consent… | ||
| Parents | Of Dependent Post-Secondary Students | Generally – any student information | |
| Of Non-Dependent Post-Secondary Students | (1) Information in connection with the student’s health or safety | ||
| (2) Information related to the student’s violation of the law or the academic institution’s policy governing use or possession of alcohol or controlled substances | |||
| Schools | In which the student intends to enroll | ||
| Financial Aid Offices | Facts relevant to determining a students eligibility, amount, or conditions surrounding receiving financial aid | ||
| Authorized Representative of Federal, State, and local Governments and Educational Authorities | Auditing, evaluating, or enforcing education programs | ||
| Organizations | Data used to conduct studies, predictive tests, administering student aid program, or improving instruction | ||
| Judicial or law enforcement authority | In compliance with an order or subpoena | ||
| Victims | Results of a disciplinary hearing of a crime of violence | ||
| Third Parties | Final results of a disciplinary hearing concerning a student who is an alleged perpetrator of a crime of violence and who was found to have committed a violation of the institution’s rules or policies | ||
| Community Notification Program | Information concerning a student required to register as a sex offender in the State | ||
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) guides the protection of data, when companies collect “personally identifiable information” directly from students under the age of 13. The FTC updated its COPPA guidance in April 2014 to clarify that “the school’s ability to consent on behalf of the parent is limited to the educational context – where an operator collects personal information from students for the use and benefit of the school, and for no other commercial purpose…. because the scope of the school’s authority to act on behalf of the parent is limited to the school context.” School consent cannot substitute a parent’s approval “in connection with online behavioral advertising, or building user profiles for commercial purposes not related to the provision of the online service.”
PROTECTION OF PUPIL RIGHTS AMENDMENT (PPRA)
| PPRA Sensitive Information |
|---|
| Political Affiliations |
| Address |
| Mental & Psychoogical Problems |
| Email Address |
| Sex behavior & Attitudes |
| Date & Place of Birth |
| Illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating & demeaning behavior |
| Critical Appraisals of other individuals |
| Legally recognized privileged or analogous relationships |
| Participation in officially recognized activities & sports |
| Income |
