Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA)

This section houses all guidance documents, training materials, policy letters and other resources directly related to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.  The FERPA regulations can be found here.

Guidance

Presentation: 25th Annual MIS 2012 - Protection of Personally Identifiable Information Through Disclosure Avoidance Techniques (Feb 2012)

This presentation reviews key disclosure avoidance concepts and provides best practice suggestions for implementing the techniques to ensure proper protection of the privacy and confidentiality of student records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Guidance

Model Notice for Directory Information

This document is a template notice for notifying parents and eligible students (students over 18 years of age or attending a school beyond the high school level) about the type of information from student’s education records, designated by a School District as “directory information,” that schools may disclose without consent, unless advised to the contrary.  This document also can be viewed in Spanish here.

Guidance

FERPA General Guidance for Students (En Español)

This compliation of letters and guidance documents provides eligible students with general information about the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). This document is a compilation and update of various letters and guidance documents previously issued that respond to a variety of questions about FERPA. This version is the Spanish translation.

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.

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.