FERPA Basics for 教师/Instructional 工作人员

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本质

  • Federal law designed to protect the privacy of education records. It also provides guidelines for appropriately using and releasing student education records.
  • It is intended that students’ rights be broadly defined and applied. 因此, consider the student to be the“owner” of his or her education record, and the institution as the “custodian” of that record.

关键术语/定义

教育记录: Include any record maintained by the institution that is related to the student (in whatever format or medium) with some narrowly defined exceptions:

  • Records in the “sole possession of the maker” (e.g.、私人咨询笔记).
  • Law enforcement records created by a law enforcement agency for that purpose.
  • Employment records (unless the employment is based on student status). The employment records of student employees (e.g., work-study, wages, graduate teaching associates) are part of their education records.
  • Medical/psychological treatment records (e.g., from a health or counseling center).
  • 校友纪录(i).e., those created after the student was enrolled).

目录信息: Those data items that are publicly releasable, so long as the student does not have a “No Release” on his or her record. Each institution establishes what it considers to be directory information. 常见的例子包括:name, 地址(本地, 主页及电邮), 电话(本地和家庭), 学术课程, 出席日期, 出生日期, most recent educational institution attended, 以及获得的学位和奖项.

  • Directory information cannot include: race, 性别, SSN, 成绩, 平均绩点, 国籍国, 或宗教.
  • Every student must be given the opportunity to have even directory information suppressed from public release. 这被称为“不释放”.” Everyone within the institution must respect a student’s No Release on his or her record.

家长: 参考FERPA, the term “parent” refers to either parent if the student is financially dependent (IRS definition).

FERPA权利何时开始?

A FERPA-related college education record begins for a student when he or she becomes 18 or enrolls in a higher education institution at any age.

学生的基本权利

  • Be notified of their FERPA rights at least annually.
  • 检查和审查他们的记录.
  • 修改错误记录.
  • Consent to disclosure (with exceptions).

检查及检讨

Students have the right to see everything in their “education record,” except:

  • 关于其他学生的信息，
  • 父母的财务记录;
  • Confidential letters of recommendation if they waived their right of access (which cannot be required).

There is no records retention policy under FERPA. It does not state what records you must make or how long you must keep them. 这些都是制度上的决定. You cannot destroy records once requested.

同意披露的权利

Start with the premise that the student has the right to control to whom his or her education record is released. Then, there are several exceptions when that permission is not required.
Historically, we had to have a signed release. Regulations now provide more flexibility for utilizing electronic signatures.

什么时候不需要事先同意?

The institution may release records without consent but is not required to do so. Some examples of the exceptions for having a release include:

  • “School officials” with a “legitimate educational interest”/“need to know;” Employees and legal agents have access to education records in order to perform their official, educationally-related职责.
  • Disclosure to organizations conducting studies to improve instruction, 或认证机构;
  • Disclosure to parents of dependent students (IRS definition); Check to see how your institution expects parents to show that dependent status;
  • To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;
  • Disclosure for a health/safety emergency;
  • 披露目录信息.

Some Specific Issues for 教师 and Instructional 工作人员

  • 发布的成绩: Since 成绩 can never be directory information, it is generally inappropriate to post 成绩 in a public setting. 然而, if the instructor posts 成绩 in such a manner that only the instructor and the individual student know the posted grade (e.g., with a personal ID; however not any portion of an SSN or institutional Student ID Number), 这是可以接受的. It is recommended that such a posted list not be in the same order as the class roster or in alphabetical order.
  • 课程网址: In this age of increasing technology, many courses are supported by class Web sites and/or discussion groups. Only directory information can be available to the general public and other class members, so it is recommended that such Web sites have a security layer such that only class members and instructors can access appropriate information.