FERPA for Me! FERPA for You!

Back-to-School Joy

So excited was I, the techno-geek in cool teacher clothes, when I learned that my district had an Edmodo sub-domain and the Superintendent's Leadership Council was advocating using this most awesome of Social Learning Platforms in classrooms throughout the district.  I rushed to be chosen as one of the trainers for my school (I'm a bit of an overachiever if you must know).  To get the ball rolling, I asked if I could introduce Edmodo at our Welcome Back Faculty Meeting.

BAM!  (That's me hitting a brick wall!)

Surprised, I was, as Yoda would say, when I was told not to showcase this tool at our opening faculty meeting.  Well, I did a little digging to learn why.

FERPA Can Be Confusing!

It turns out, there's this law called the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act that governs when and what kind of information can be given out about students.

A FERPA Frenzy

Having no idea what FERPA is, I did what any good learner would do; I went on a searching spree.  

Here's what I found out:

• FERPA was first passed into law in 1974 - it has since had several revisions
• FERPA gives parents & students the right to access their educational records, correct any errors in the educational records and consent to the disclosure of information to third parties

 What does FERPA mean for educators?

• Any educational institution which receives money from the federal government must follow FERPA!  If not, they risk losing all federal funds!
• Information which identifies a student (race, gender, hair color, etc.) must be protected.
• "Directory Information" such as name, address and phone numbers can be made available BUT parents & students must be notified of such and have the right to refuse disclosure. 
• ALL student information must be given "due diligence" by educators in order to protect student information.
• Each state and/or district has different policies for protecting student information.  Be sure you check what your state/district policies are if you are wary of using any identifiable student information.  This is NOT a time where you ask for forgiveness after the fact!

A FERPA-ble Moment

So, before you begin using all of those cool tech tools you've been hearing and learning about all summer, consider having a FERPA-ble moment with your students - it is their information after all!

Best Practices for Protecting Student Information While Using Tech Tools:

• Discuss privacy issues with your students - cull Digital Citizens!
• If you are an educator who posts student grades (more middle/high school teachers), be careful of HOW you post grades.  Best practice is to first, post only by the last four numbers of a student's ID number and, second, be sure to randomize those numbers before posting.
• Send a letter home to parents outlining how you plan to use technology in the classroom to begin the conversation at home.
• For the elementary students, consider creating usernames and passwords that do not identify them.  For example, if a student is in the "Red Reading Group", give them the username of Red1, Red2 and so forth.
• For middle and secondary students, have a class discussion about the kinds of information they would want other people to be able to access.
• Digital Footprints are a very powerful visual to show how any information posted online, even by someone who shares the same name, can affect how someone is viewed.
• When having students create passwords, remind them to use a password that would not be obvious to others.  Passwords that use addresses, names and other identifiable information could be susceptible to hacking. Suggest they use symbols, numbers and capital letters.
• When having students create their own usernames and passwords, remind them to use a password that is unique for each application they use.