FERPA

Resources Related to Online Teaching

FERPA is the federal law that protects the privacy of personally identifiable information (PII) in students’ education records. “Education records” are those records that are: (1) directly related to a student; and (2) maintained by an educational agency or institution or by a party acting for the agency or institution. FERPA provides parents and eligible students the right to access a student’s education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to protect the PII in students’ education records. (An “eligible student” is a student who has turned 18 or is attending college at any age.) Under FERPA, an educational agency or institution may not disclose PII from students’ education records, without consent, unless the disclosure meets an exception under FERPA. 20 U.S.C. 1232g; 34 C.F.R. Part 99.

Key Resources:

• Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services: Requirements and Best Practices—this resource identifies applicable exceptions under FERPA, including the school official exception. This resource, while originally developed for online educational services, is also applicable for virtual learning tools and includes best practices for safeguarding student education records under FERPA.
• Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services: Model Terms of Service—this checklist is a helpful tool to evaluate online educational apps
• Security Best Practices includes additional resources on safeguarding education records.

There are also additional resources on related topics under FERPA, including classroom observations, use of emails, videos, and other virtual learning tools. Under FERPA, the determination of who can observe a virtual classroom, similar to an in-person classroom, is a local school decision as teachers generally do not disclose personally identifiable information from a student’s education record during classroom instruction. FERPA neither requires nor prohibits individuals from observing a classroom.

• Letter to Mamas on classroom observation is also applicable to virtual classrooms.
• Email and Student Privacy identifies best practices for emails.
• With regard to videos and virtual classrooms, to the extent videos are recorded and maintained as education records, the FAQs on Photos and Videos under FERPA might be useful.

The US Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) is available to assist with your student privacy questions under FERPA.