Letters of Importance

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.

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. 

The Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) is performing a four-year review of a sample of the websites of 1,504 local education agencies (LEAs) to identify whether and how these websites include information about student privacy.

This resource aims to provide parents of K-12 students information to help understand what it means when your school has a data breach, as well as provide tools and best practices to help navigate the sometimes confusing process of protecting your children’s data in the event of a breach.

SPPO-21-03

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.