Resources

This section houses all guidance documents, training materials, policy letters and other resources dedicated to protecting student privacy.  To narrow the list of documents below, use the drop down menus to select the type of resource, the topic and/or the audience and click the ‘apply’ button.  An updated list of resources will then be displayed below.

Guidance

An Eligible Student Guide to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act or FERPA provides certain rights for parents regarding their children’s education records. When a student reaches 18 years of age or attends an institution of postsecondary education at any age, the student becomes an “eligible student,” and all rights under FERPA transfer from the parent to the student. This guide provides general information on an eligible student’s rights under FERPA.

Best Practices

LEA Website Privacy Transparency Review Final Report

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.

Letters

Letter to Postsecondary Institutions about the American Community Survey (ACS)

Letter to institutions of postsecondary education regarding the applicability of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to the disclosure of certain personally identifiable information from student education records to representatives of the U. S. Census Bureau (Bureau) who are conducting Group Quarters (GQ) or group housing data collection for the American Community Survey (ACS). Unlike the decennial census, the ACS is an on-going monthly survey of a sample of housing units and GQs, but the guidance is consistent with census collections.