FERPA, data resources for districts
New Videos on the FERPA Complaint Process
We have developed two new videos about the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) complaint process.
- FERPA's Complaint Process Explained provides information on FERPA’s complaint process, including information on who may file a complaint as well as common reasons complaints are filed.
- What Happens When I File A Complaint? provides information about what happens as the Department considers a complaint.
New Guidance on Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment
The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) is a federal law that affords certain rights to parents of students attending elementary or secondary schools with regard to a survey, analysis, or evaluation that asks students to reveal information of a personal nature. PPRA also includes requirements concerning marketing surveys, parental access to instructional material, as well as the administration of certain physical examinations to minors.
We are pleased to announce a new 2-page general guidance on PPRA. This new guidance is written in plain language and explains the rights of parents and the requirements of local educational agencies (LEAs) under PPRA.
Redesigned FERPA and PPRA Complaint Page
New FERPA Flyers
LEA Privacy Website Review Second Year Report
We are performing a four-year review of a sample of the websites of 1,504 LEAs to identify whether and how these websites include information about student privacy. In each year of the study, we are reviewing a nationally representative sample of 376 LEA websites, focusing on whether the LEAs included key student privacy documents and information about FERPA and PPRA on the LEA website, as opposed to on individual school, board of education, or other websites. This recently released report includes the first two years of research findings.
Highlights of the two-year findings include:
- 54 percent of LEAs reviewed posted on their websites the LEA’s Annual Notice under FERPA,
- 52 percent of LEAs posted on their websites the LEA’s policy under the Directory Information exception under FERPA, and
- 29 percent of LEAs posted on their website the LEA’s policy under PPRA.