FERPA

FERPA stands for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (as amended by the Congress and interpreted by the courts). It is a US federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. Here are some key points about FERPA for the Knox College community:

• Purpose: To give eligible students access to their educational records, and to protect the privacy of those records. An “eligible student” is defined in FERPA as a student who has reached 18 years of age or is attending a postsecondary institution at any age. When in doubt, contact the Associate Dean of the College (Mary Crawford).
• Applicability: Applies to any public or private elementary, secondary, or post-secondary school that receives federal funding. This includes Knox College. Note that parents do not generally have a right to their children’s educational records at Knox. As such, you should not discuss your students with their parents. If a parent is insistent, refer them to the Associate Dean of the College (Mary Crawford).
• The Rights of Eligible Student:
  • Access: Our students have the right to inspect and review their education records.
  • Amendment: Eligible students can request the amendment of records they believe are inaccurate, misleading, or violate their privacy rights.
  • Consent: Schools generally need consent to disclose personally identifiable information (PII) from a student’s education records to third parties. This includes, inter alia, student ID numbers.
  • Exceptions: Of course, there are some exceptions to the consent requirement. If there were no exceptions, this would be an easy law to understand. Some exceptions include:
    • School officials with a legitimate educational interest;
    • Other schools to which a student is transferring;
    • Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
    • Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid; and
    • Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies

FERPA is important because it helps protect students’ privacy and gives them control over their educational records. It provides them agency and protection.

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The above are just the basics. There is an extensive body of case law to make things even more interesting. Some of the more interesting cases include these three:

• Gonzaga University v. Doe, 122 S.Ct. 2268 (2002). The Supreme Court held that a student could not privately enforce rights conferred under FERPA. [information at LII]
• Owasso Independent School District No. I-011 v. Falvo, 534 U.S. 426 (2002). The Supreme Court determined that grades on peer-graded papers do not qualify as education records, and thus are not protected by FERPA. [information at LII]
• Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646 (1995). The Supreme Court upheld that random, suspicionless drug testing of student athletes was constitutional. [information at LII]

These cases, as well as other case law, can be found at the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

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This raises a fundamental question for FERPA: What is an educational record?

FERPA defines this term broadly to mean records containing information directly related to a student that are maintained by an educational agency or institution (or by a party acting for the agency or institution, such as faculty). Education records may be in any form — handwritten, printed, saved on computer media, etc. (20 USC §1232g(a)(4); 34 CFR §99.3).

What does this mean? As an instance, when you write a grade on a student's paper, you are creating an educational record. Thus, the habit of leaving a graded paper (or quiz, etc.) outside your door so the student can pick it up is a violation of FERPA. Please do not do it.

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Here is a website dedicated to FERPA and its effects. Specifically, here is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.