GUIDELINES FOR FACULTY AND STAFF RELATING TO EDUCATION RECORDS
INTRODUCTION
Education records are kept by University offices to facilitate the educational development of students. Faculty
and staff members may also keep informal records relating to their functional responsibilities with individual
students.
A federal law, the Family Educational Rights And Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (FERPA), also known as the
Buckley Amendment, affords students certain rights concerning their education records. Students have the
right to have some control over the disclosure of information from their records. Educational institutions have
the responsibility to prevent improper disclosure of personally identifiable information from the records.
STUDENT AND PARENT RIGHTS RELATING TO EDUCATIONAL RECORDS
Students have the right to know about the purposes, content, and location of information kept as part of their
education records.
They have the right to gain access to and challenge the content of their education records. FERPA was not
intended to provide a process to be used to question substantive judgments that are correctly recorded. The
right of challenge is not intended to allow students to contest, for example, a grade in a course because they
felt a higher grade should have been assigned.
Students also have the right to expect that information in their education records will be kept confidential,
disclosed only with their permission or under provisions of the law.
FERPA considers all students independent which limits the education record information that may be
released to parents, without the student's specific written permission, to directory information. Parents have
the right, under certain conditions, to gain access to information in their student's education records. Parents
who claimed the student as a dependent on their most recent IRS 1040 are permitted access to the student's
education records.
DIRECTORY INFORMATION
Some information about students is considered directory information. Directory information may be publicly
shared by the institution unless the student has taken formal action to restrict its release.
Directory information includes:
- Name
- Address (excludes e-mail)
- Phone
- Program of Study
- Participation in Officially Recognized Activities
and Sports
- Appropriate Personal Athletic Statistical
Data
- Most Recent Previous Educational Institution
Attended
- Dates of Attendance
- Degrees and Awards Received (including dates)
- Enrollment Status (full/part-time)
- Class Level
- Date of Birth
Students can make a request that their directory
information not be released at any time. The Office of Student
Records has a form to fill out for this request. Students who
have done
this are coded with an "N" in the CONF
field on the SQDA screen
on ISIS and a message is displayed in DSIS. This information
is also located in
PeopleSoft. The request will be honored
until
such
time
at
the student
requests
otherwise
in
writing.
In
the
event
that
such
written notification is not filed, the University assumes that
the student does not object to the
release of the directory
information.
RELEASE
OF NON-DIRECTORY INFORMATION
There are forms that the University has created
to grant access to a student's educational record; both of
these
forms supersedes the suppression of Directory Information.
The first form is the Student Consent to
Release Information. This form allows students to give access to their
educational records to specified individuals. This access remains
in effect until the student revokes
permission in writing.
The second form is the Declaration of Dependency Status
for 2007 Federal Income Tax Return. This form can
be used by parents
who claimed the student as a dependent on their 2007 IRS 1040.
These individuals are
permitted access to the student's education
records. This access is for only the academic year that follows
the
tax year; this year we will be working on the tax year
2007 for permission for the academic year 2008-09.
Once the Office of Student Records receives one of these completed
forms, the information will be
documented in PeopleSoft in
the Service Indicator module. Attached is a document that gives
more
information and instructions on locating this Service
Indicator in PeopleSoft.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to
contact The Office of Student Records at 581-1288.
EDUCATION
RECORDS
Education records are specifically defined
as records, files, documents, and other materials that contain
information directly related to a student and maintained by
the University or someone acting for the University
according
to policy.
Excluded from education records are records
of instructional, supervisory, and administrative personnel
and
ancillary educational personnel in the sole possession
of the maker and that are not accessible or revealed to
any
other person, except for a substitute. Additionally, notes
of a professor or staff member intended for his or
her own
use are not part of the education record, nor are records of
police services, application records of
students not admitted
to the University, alumni records, or records of physicians,
psychiatrists, psychologists,
or other recognized professionals.
Records relating to an individual who is employed
by the University not as a result of his or her status as a
student are also excluded. However, employment records relating
to University students who are employed as
a result of their
status as students are considered education records.
SOME GUIDELINES FOR FACULTY & STAFF
1. DO check students' FERPA
and Service Indicators in PeopleSoft to see if the student
has granted
individuals access to their educational record
or have suppressed access to their directory information.
2. DO keep only those individual student records necessary for the fulfillment of your teaching and advising
responsibilities. Private notes of a faculty member concerning a student and intended for the faculty member's
own use are not part of the student's education records.
3. DO keep any personal professional records relating to individual students separate from their education
records. Private records of instructional, supervisory, and administrative personnel and ancillary educational
personnel are to be kept in the sole possession of the maker and are not to be accessible or revealed to any
other person, except a substitute.
4. DO change factual information regarding grades and performance in an education record when the student
is able to provide valid documentation that information is inaccurate or misleading. The substantive judgment
of a faculty member about a student's work, expressed in grades and/or evaluations, is not within the purview
of students' right to challenge their education records.
5. DO NOT post
students' grades using any part of their social
security number. Please have the student select
a unique number
code which they place in the ID Grid. In order for the report
to print properly the code must
start by using the "A" column
or "left justified."
6. DO NOT leave
papers, graded exams books, or lab reports containing student
names and grades in
publicly accessible places. Students are
not to have access to the scores and grades of others in their
class.
7. DO NOT request
information from the education record custodian without a legitimate
educational interest
and the appropriate authority to do so.
8. DO NOT share
education record information, including grades or grade point
averages, with other faculty or
staff members of the University
unless their official responsibilities identify their "legitimate
educational
interest" in that information for that student.
9. Remember that you
may not release GPA information for any reason i.e.
Academic Reference. This
information is not Directory Information
and cannot be relased to anyone without expressed written
consent
from the student.
10. WHEN IN DOUBT, err
on the side of caution and do not release the requested information.
Contact the
Office of Student Records for guidance.
Questions about FERPA can be addressed to the
Office of Student Records, 581-1288.
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