The recent massacre at Virginia Tech pointed out one of the major
confidentiality issues facing education today. Educators have frequent
contacts with students and learn many things about the students that
be used to help students succeed or fail. But what information should
be private, and what information should be shared? When a student
applies to a university or other postsecondary institution, only a
limited amount of academic information is sent. This information is
used for admissions purposes. Information that becomes the basis of
the student’s record is generally obtained from the student,
not from the school where he or she attended. Thus there is much information
that might be useful, but is not currently obtained by institutions
of higher education.
Education organizations are bound by a 1976 federal law referred
to as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA
is primarily focused on giving a child’s parents the right to
see what is included in their child’s student record and the
right to request changes if there are perceived inaccuracies. After
the age of 18, the parents are no longer considered in control of
the student’s record, and the student is given the right to
review his or her record. FERPA strictly limits access to the contents
of student records to persons within education organizations and school
systems needing access in order to do their jobs or where a student
is planning to enroll.
Student records contain many types of information, including information
about the student’s demographic characteristics, parents and
family, courses taken, assessment results, programs participated in,
athletics and other extracurricular activities participation, health
screening, and inoculations. But student records also may include
information about psychological and other types of specialized testing,
special accommodations for classroom participation, and disciplinary
reports. Until recently, when a student moved from one school district
to another, information about a student’s special education
identification and discipline were considered too prejudicial to be
sent with the student’s academic record. Parents wanted their
children to have a “clean record” when they changed schools.
This has been set aside by states recently because of the need to
quickly provide services when a child has special needs and the need
to safeguard students and educators if a student is a persistent disciplinary
problem.
The automation of student records has added new elements to the confidentiality
dilemma at all levels of the education system. With regard to access
restrictions, it is easier to provide access to all of the data from
a student’s record than to provide selective data fields to
an educator based on his or her work-related needs. But this may mean
that an educator has access to information that is not needed and
should not be provided. It is also easier to just store all of the
information about a student in a long-term archive than to pick particular
fields to maintain.
The automation of student records requires rigorous security policies
and practices, and these must be maintained for long-term archives
as well as current files. One obvious risk is student hackers who
seek to change grades or other information in their academic records.
But another risk is when archived records are inappropriately accessed.
The public disclosure of high school or college transcripts 30 years
after someone has attended school could be very problematic to public
figures.
Elementary/secondary and higher education alike are dealing with
these issues, and trying to devise policies and procedures that will
ensure that student records are securely maintained and used appropriately.
But there is much to be decided if we are to ensure the safety and
support of all students.