By Audience: K-12 School Officials

The resources on this page are intended for staff and educators of public K-12 schools and school districts.  Resources found here typically address FERPA and how it applies to the various day-to-day operations of public schools at the administrative level.  Guidance is also provided for specific situations that occur only in the K-12 setting.

Guidance

Technical Brief #1: Basic Concepts and Definitions for Privacy and Confidentiality in Student Education Records

This Technical Brief discusses basic concepts and definitions that establish a common set of terms related to the protection of personally identifiable information, especially in education records in the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS). This Brief also outlines a privacy framework that is tied to Fair Information Practice Principles that have been promulgated in both the United States and international privacy work.

Letters

SPPO Findings Letters 2010 (October - November)

As part of its enforcement activities under FERPA, the Student Privacy Policy Office issues a variety of letters to include letters that explain why an investigation will not be initiated as well as that detail our findings after conducting an investigation. While we have identified those letters of more significance and posted them under “Letters of Importance,” we also want to make available the full collection of findings letters we issued in this archive. The attached archive, in ZIP file format, contains redacted letters from October and November of 2010.

Letters

SPPO Findings Letters 2010 (August 24 - September)

As part of its enforcement activities under FERPA, the Student Privacy Policy Office issues a variety of letters to include letters that explain why an investigation will not be initiated as well as that detail our findings after conducting an investigation. While we have identified those letters of more significance and posted them under “Letters of Importance,” we also want to make available the full collection of findings letters we issued in this archive. The attached archive, in ZIP file format, contains redacted letters from August 24 to September of 2010.

Letters

SPPO Findings Letters 2010 (July - August 23)

As part of its enforcement activities under FERPA, the Student Privacy Policy Office issues a variety of letters to include letters that explain why an investigation will not be initiated as well as that detail our findings after conducting an investigation. While we have identified those letters of more significance and posted them under “Letters of Importance,” we also want to make available the full collection of findings letters we issued in this archive. The attached archive, in ZIP file format, contains redacted letters from July to August 23 of 2010.

Guidance

FERPA and the Disclosure of Student Information Related to Emergencies and Disasters

The purpose of this guidance is to answer questions about the sharing of personally identifiable information from students’ education records to outside parties when responding to emergencies, including natural or man-made disasters. Understanding how, what, and when information can be shared with outside parties is an important part of emergency preparedness.

Letters

SPPO Findings Letters 2010 (March - June)

As part of its enforcement activities under FERPA, the FStudent Privacy Policy Office issues a variety of letters to include letters that explain why an investigation will not be initiated as well as that detail our findings after conducting an investigation. While we have identified those letters of more significance and posted them under “Letters of Importance,” we also want to make available the full collection of findings letters we issued in this archive. The attached archive, in ZIP file format, contains redacted letters from the 2010 calendar year.

Letters

SPPO Findings Letters 2010 (February)

As part of its enforcement activities under FERPA, the Student Privacy Policy Office issues a variety of letters to include letters that explain why an investigation will not be initiated as well as that detail our findings after conducting an investigation. While we have identified those letters of more significance and posted them under “Letters of Importance,” we also want to make available the full collection of findings letters we issued in this archive. The attached archive, in ZIP file format, contains redacted letters from February of 2010.

Letters

SPPO Findings Letters 2010 (January)

As part of its enforcement activities under FERPA, the Student Privacy Policy Office issues a variety of letters to include letters that explain why an investigation will not be initiated as well as that detail our findings after conducting an investigation. While we have identified those letters of more significance and posted them under “Letters of Importance,” we also want to make available the full collection of findings letters we issued in this archive. The attached archive, in ZIP file format, contains redacted letters from January of 2010.

Letters

SPPO Findings Letters 2009 (January -August)

As part of its enforcement activities under FERPA, the Student Privacy Policy Office issues a variety of letters to include letters that explain why an investigation will not be initiated as well as that detail our findings after conducting an investigation. While we have identified those letters of more significance and posted them under “Letters of Importance,” we also want to make available the full collection of findings letters we issued in this archive. The attached archive, in ZIP file format, contains redacted letters from January to August of 2009.

Letters

SPPO Findings Letters 2009 (September - October)

As part of its enforcement activities under FERPA, the Student Privacy Policy Office issues a variety of letters to include letters that explain why an investigation will not be initiated as well as that detail our findings after conducting an investigation. While we have identified those letters of more significance and posted them under “Letters of Importance,” we also want to make available the full collection of findings letters we issued in this archive. The attached archive, in ZIP file format, contains redacted letters from September to October of 2009.