Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 is a United States Federal law which only applies to schools that receive funding by the United States Department of Education. It was introduced to the House by one James L. Buckley and passed January of 1973. The bill passed the Senate over a year later in 1974, and was signed into a law by then President Gerald Ford on the 21st of August, 1974 (Rights, 2006).
FERPA is a law which gives parents access to all the educational records of their children. Parents should know that they are entitled to know and are able to view their child’s educational records at any time. They also have the opportunity to seek the records for official and personal use. Parents have the right to have records amended and they also have control over the disclosure of the information in the records. When a student turns 18 years old, schools will have to ask the students’ consent prior to the disclosure of records.
The FERPA law gives students the right to privacy regarding their grades, standing and even billing information. Any individual who is to release information about a certain students’ grades to a third party will be held liable for violating this law. This means that schools are not allowed to post grades, conduct issues or any other type of information without the students’ (if 18 years or older) or parents’ consent. This also means that students who are applying for postsecondary school have the right to view any recommendations given by their instructors to the schools they are applying to. However, students are also allowed to waive this right.
References
Rights, F. E. (2006). Privacy Act of 1974. Implementation Guidelines–An amendment to the Elementary and Secondary.
