The U.S. Education Department is preparing revisions to rules that govern the release of student records, department officials said on Tuesday. The new rules, due in draft form this summer, will clarify how states can develop and use longitudinal databases in accordance with federal privacy law, and give the government additional tools to police violations of the law.
At issue is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, or Ferpa, which is designed to protect the privacy of student records. Under the law, colleges must generally obtain a student’s consent to release data from an education record.
Education Department officials say confusion about the law has hampered states’ efforts to develop data systems that track students’ academic progress from kindergarten through entering the work force. They say state officials aren’t sure what information they can share across agencies and with researchers who study student-learning outcomes, and are wary of acting without federal approval.
“There is a lot of confusion about what Ferpa does and doesn’t require, and a lot of perceived barriers,” one official said on Tuesday. “Our goal is to clarify what is and isn’t permitted, while ensuring that data is safeguarded and privacy protected.”
The expansion of state student-record systems is central to President Obama’s accountability agenda, which aims to improve education through the smarter use of data. The federal government has provided millions of dollars to help states develop such systems, and this winter, the Education Department announced that it would convene a panel of government and private-sector experts to develop guidelines for how states could create student-record systems in compliance with Ferpa.
But some groups representing students and colleges worry that the new rules could undermine longstanding student protections, sacrificing privacy in the name of accountability.
“We hope that they can strike a reasonable balance between legitimate state data-collection needs and the privacy rights of American families,” said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. “The wholesale gutting of Ferpa in the name of informing policy with better data would put the administration on a collision course with student groups, consumer advocates, privacy activists, and ordinary Americans who don’t want their children tagged and tracked for life.”
Sarah A. Flanagan, vice president for government relations at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, said her group will be watching to see whether the department preserves the law’s student-consent requirement and other conditions on the release of records.
Congress barred the creation of a national “unit record” data system in 2008, citing privacy concerns. However, lawmakers have poured millions into state-based systems in recent years, including $250-million in the recent economic stimulus bill.
“There’s been a lot of money flowing to states to build and expand these systems,” said Aimee R. Guidera, director of the Data Quality Campaign, a coalition of state-based groups that supports revisions in the rules. “That’s why its so important for states to get further clarification around Ferpa.”
