By Audience: Early Childhood Educators

Schools across the nation are working hard to keep students, teachers, and staff safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many schools are wondering whether the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) allows them to disclose information about cases of COVID-19 to the community. The Student Privacy Policy Office provided answers to these questions in our March 2020 guidance. Subsequent to issuing the guidance, we have seen reports that states, cities, school districts, and schools are continuing to face questions about disclosing COVID-19 cases.

The Department is committed to protecting student privacy. To provide more timely and effective assistance to parents and students and to address a recommendation made by the Department’s Office of the Inspector General to “implement a risk-based approach to processing and resolving FERPA complaints,”  the Department is modifying its investigatory practices to more efficiently address and resolve complaints and violations under FERPA.  

The Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) at the U.S. Department of Education (Department) performed a four-year review of a nationally representative sample of the websites of 1,504 local education agencies (LEAs) to identify whether and how these websites include information about student privacy.

This document is a side-by-side comparison of the legal provisions and definitions in IDEA Part B, IDEA Part C and FERPA. It is intended to help differentiate these statutes and provide a comparisons for the shared definitions.

A flyer that indicates; "Before you share that student record, stop, think! Remember it's up to you to keep student data safe."

A flyer that indicates; "Caution when handling student information."

A flyer that indicates; "Don't Take the Bait! Be aware of phishing email scams. Don't reply to requests for $ or information."

A flyer that indicates; FERPA considerations.

A flyer that indicates; "Malware is everywhere! If you don't trust the link, don't click it!"