The Department of Education proposed an amendment last Thursday to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act that would grant states the flexibility, when deemed necessary, to divulge private student records to ensure taxpayer funds are being invested in effective programs.
By making data more readily available to research groups, the writers of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making claim the amendment would facilitate states’ abilities “to evaluate education programs, build upon what works and discard what does not, increase accountability and transparency and contribute to a culture of innovation and continuous improvement in education,” according to the summary posted on the government website.
NPRM deals with discrete issues about student IDs and directory information. Institutions of higher education can adopt information policies claiming what information they will treat as directory and publish as well as who will receive the information, said Steven Winnick, a partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough practicing in education law and policy.
Under FERPA, directory information including name, address, phone number and so forth can be published without student consent. At the University, however, a student may choose to restrict the release of his directory information at any time, Assoc. University Registrar Jonathan Helm said. If a student wishes to be withheld from the printed directory, the student must notify UREG within 10 class days after the initial day of class for a fall semester.
“It is important to remember that this restriction only applies to the release of directory information,” Helm said. “It does not impact the release of educational record information based on other exceptions to obtaining the prior written consent of a student within FERPA. Examples of these exceptions to prior written consent include releases to school officials with legitimate educational interest and releases to accrediting organizations.”
Students are reminded annually of their rights under FERPA by email, the Student Financial Services informational brochure on fee payment and registration, and the Undergraduate and Graduate Records, he said. In addition, the University shares information about privacy with students and parents at orientation each summer.
Winnick said “directory information is not threatening because it is not that intrusive or does not threaten your privacy rights.”
Policy disputes nevertheless have arisen as NPRM seeks to strike a balance between bettering public education institutions and maintaining student privacy. Critics are denouncing the proposed rules as flagrant breaches of student rights and have expressed concerns about how much data will be collected, the organizations which will have access to that data and the purposes and extents to which the data will be used.
“Students are usually very trusting of institutions to govern very private and potentially embarrassing information,” said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. “If you fail calculus three times, it would be a reasonable assumption that it would be between you, the college registrar and the university. You certainly don’t expect it to end up in the student newspaper. That happens to be because federal law mandates it to be that way.”
Nassirian said the current political climate and nature of modern political reform has driven coalitions of foundations and state officials to latch onto the notion that the only thing that will drive collegiate registrars toward better accountability is for states to collect personal information about students and store them in huge databases.
“We don’t contest the right of states to make better public policy and demand data,” Nassirian said. “What we are contesting is how that is happening and the total disregard for private rights.”
The Department of Education is soliciting opinions about this issue and will accept comments pertaining to the proposed rules through May 23. After comments are reviewed, the department aims to publish a final rule by the end of the year.