Institutions are held liable if they do not comply with FERPA.
Treat all student records and files with confidentiality.
Parents cannot have access to a student's records if the student is an adult.
The importance of protection and maintaining student confidentiality regarding their records.
It is important to understand what falls under FERPA with regard to education records. I also found it interesting that advisor or instructor notes that are personnel and never shared with the institution is not part of the educational record
Student confidentiality is very important and should be maintained at all times under the FERPA law.
For me this is basically the same as what we do on a daily basis in the healthcare field, protect PII. It can be tempting to look at information that you really don't need to (we as humans are nosey) but if it does not apply to us or anything that we are specifically doing then we don't need to access it.
FERPA is for education and it kind of resembles HIPPA that is used in the medical field. It was nice to see that we have one that works with the students to keep our information safe.
FERPA is similar to HIPAA in that records must not be accessed without a specific reason. I learned form this module that schools have some autonomy when it comes to complying with FERPA as long as compliance is maintained. For example, when schools validate callers they can construct their own screening methods.
Keeping information confidential is a base for safety and respect that everyone should be able to feel confident about not having third party access.
I learned that notes about a student were considered sole possession, unless you transferred the full file to someone else, then they are considered to be a record.
Proper procedures ae needed to make sure a requester of student information is who they say they are and has a valid right to the information.
The best thing you can do is to just treat every piece of information about a student as confidential and thus controlled by FERPA -- it is better to be safe than sorry.
I learned that:
1. FERPA is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records
2. students have the right to access and request changes to their education records.
3. Staff and faculty notes that are maintained in a student's shared file are considered an educational record and must be shared with students upon request. However, notes that are maintained in the "sole possession" of an employee are not part of the student's educational record.
4. Institutions must permit access to that part of the record which pertains only to the inquiring student, cannot destroy any documents that are pending a request for access, and may charge fees for providing copies of records as long as it does not restrict access. When a student requests access to their education records, institutions must protect any sensitive information while also ensuring the student's right to access is not denied.
Comment on Carmen Andreu's post:
Very well said. FERPA provides specific guidelines in Protecting the students rights!!
My takeaways from this module are the fundamentals on which FERPA is based, what rights students' have, and what is defined as an educational record.
FERPA is meant for the privacy of students records. It helps students access their records whenever they need it provided to them.
FERPA allows us to actively protect our students' personal and academic information while also ensuring that anyone who goes against this compliance is held accountable. Compliance is fairly simple, however compliance is subject to interpretation when it comes to who is considered school personnel with interest in the well being and education of the student. Still we should be able to act appropriately within the confines and refresh ourselves as needed to ensure we maintain the compliance.
the need of institutions to comply with requests for academic records
