1. Educational Privacy What do faculty need to know?

2. Laws Restricting Educational Record Release  Student educational records are covered by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Texas Public Information Act. FERPA (1974) is a federal law that provides students (and parents in some cases) with some protections and control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education record.

3. Laws Restricting Educational Record Release  Student educational records are covered by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Texas Public Information Act.  What are educational records? Any records that are directly related to the student, contain personally identifiable information, and are maintained by the university.

4. Laws Restricting Educational Record Release  Student educational records are covered by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Texas Public Information Act.  What are educational records? Any records that are directly related to the student, contain personally identifiable information, and are maintained by the university.  What aren’t educational records? Private notes of individual faculty or staff (NOT kept in student advising folders). This includes TAs and SAs as “faculty extenders.” Statistical data compilations that have no mention of personally identifiable information about specific students.

5. What information can be released?  “Directory Information” can usually be released. For example: Name, address, telephone number, and university e-mail address Major and minor fields of study Participation in officially recognized activities and sports Dates of attendance Previous educational institutions/agencies attended Classification and number of hours of current enrollment Degrees and awards received (but not GPA) Thesis and dissertation Date of graduation Physical factors (height and weight) of athletes Photographs

6. What information can be released?  “Directory Information” can usually be released. For example: Name, address, telephone number, and university e-mail address Major and minor fields of study Participation in officially recognized activities and sports Dates of attendance Previous educational institutions/agencies attended Classification and number of hours of current enrollment Degrees and awards received (but not GPA) Thesis and dissertation Date of graduation Physical factors (height and weight) of athletes Photographs  So what can’t be released? Examples: The courses a student is currently enrolled in. A student’s sex, marital status, race, ethnicity… Student ID numbers.

7. What information can be released?  “Directory Information” can usually be released. For example: Name, address, telephone number, and university e-mail address Major and minor fields of study Participation in officially recognized activities and sports Dates of attendance Previous educational institutions/agencies attended Classification and number of hours of current enrollment Degrees and awards received (but not GPA) Thesis and dissertation Date of graduation Physical factors (height and weight) of athletes Photographs  So what can’t be released? Examples: The courses a student is currently enrolled in. A student’s sex, marital status, race, ethnicity… Student ID numbers.  However, students can ask to have all their information, even directory information, kept private.

8. What about parents?  Regardless of age, parents/guardians do not automatically have rights to students’ post secondary educational records.

9. What about parents?  Regardless of age, parents/guardians do not automatically have rights to students’ post secondary educational records.  Even with evidence of dependency, the release of educational records to a parent is only permissible, not required.

10. What about parents?  Regardless of age, parents/guardians do not automatically have rights to students’ post secondary educational records.  Even with evidence of dependency, the release of educational records to a parent is only permissible, not required.  However, release of information to anyone (including parents) is acceptable if the student provides signed consent.

11. Who is the “keeper” of the records?  The Office of the Registrar is considered the official entity responsible for student academic records, as well as permissions to release such records.

12. Who is the “keeper” of the records?  The Office of the Registrar is considered the official entity responsible for student academic records, as well as permissions to release such records.  It is recommended that faculty refer requests to release information from academic records to the Office of the Registrar. This includes requests from parents.

13. What about University staff/faculty?  University staff/faculty with a legitimate educational interest may access educational records.

14. Scenarios

15. Posting Grades

16.  Dr. A chooses to individually distribute exam grades during class. Is this acceptable? YesNo

17. Posting Grades  Dr. A chooses to individually distribute exam grades during class. Is this acceptable? Yes But please, no commentary (even if it’s well intentioned)! “Don’t worry. There’s still time to pull up your grade.” “Wow! That’s a great improvement from your last test!”

18. Posting Grades  Dr. B chooses to post exam grades by the last four digits of the students’ Social Security Numbers. Is this acceptable? YesNo

19. Posting Grades  Dr. B chooses to post exam grades by the last four digits of the students’ Social Security Numbers. Is this acceptable? No Avoid using Social Security Numbers or any fragment of them.

20. Posting Grades  Dr. C chooses to post exam grades by the last four digits of the student ID number. Is this acceptable? YesNo

21. Posting Grades  Dr. C chooses to post exam grades by the last four digits of the student ID number. Is this acceptable? Probably not Technically it is probably legal, but Student ID numbers should also be protected.

22. Posting Grades  Dr. D chooses to post exam grades by a secret number/code chosen by the student for that class alone. Is this acceptable? YesNo

23. Posting Grades  Dr. D chooses to post exam grades by a secret number/code chosen by the student for that class alone. Is this acceptable? Yes But even in this case, when grades are posted, they should not be in alphabetical order by student name.

24. Returning Assignments

25.  Dr. E leaves graded portfolios in a box in the department office for students to pick up. Is this acceptable? YesNo

26. Returning Assignments  Dr. E leaves graded portfolios in a box in the department office for students to pick up. Is this acceptable? No Students would likely be able to look at each others’ grades while picking up portfolios.

27. Returning Assignments  Dr. F leaves graded exams in individual sealed envelopes in the department office for students to pick up. Is this acceptable? YesNo

28. Returning Assignments  Dr. F leaves graded exams in individual sealed envelopes in the department office for students to pick up. Is this acceptable? Yes Professors could ask students to provide envelopes, if the cost to the department is prohibitive.

29. Returning Assignments  Dr. G leaves graded papers with department staff at the department office to be given to students (when presenting ID). Is this acceptable? YesNo

30. Returning Assignments  Dr. G leaves graded papers with department staff at the department office to be given to students (when presenting ID). Is this acceptable? Yes As long as staff are instructed that the papers are confidential, and not to view the grades (and staff are agreeable to the task).

31. Returning Assignments  Dr. H generally writes her student grades on the front of the exam and then brings them to class where students pick them up on the desk in the front of the room. Is this acceptable? YesNo

32. Returning Assignments  Dr. H generally writes her student grades on the front of the exam and then brings them to class where students pick them up on the desk in the front of the room. Is this acceptable? No Students would be able to see each others’ grades when picking up tests.

33. Advising

34.  Dr. I posts his advisees names on his door so that they can schedule appointment times with him. Is this acceptable? YesNo

35. Advising  Dr. I posts his advisees names on his door so that they can schedule appointment times with him. Is this acceptable? Yes Only if he ensures that none of the students have restricted directory information (including name and the fact that they are enrolled).

36. Advising  Dr. J posts his advisees student ID numbers on his door, but only those who have not restricted directory information. Is this acceptable? YesNo

37. Advising  Dr. J posts his advisees student ID numbers on his door, but only those who have not restricted directory information. Is this acceptable? No Student ID numbers should not be posted.

38. Other Information Sharing

39.  Dr. K has agreed to write a letter of recommendation for an excellent student for admission to graduate school. He writes the best letter he can including personal observations about the student’s performance in class (motivation, social skills, leadership…), information about the student’s excellent performance in school in general (GPA), and information and the student’s extracurricular activities (student government, student newspaper, athletics). Is this acceptable? YesNo

40. Other Information Sharing  Dr. K has agreed to write a letter of recommendation for an excellent student for admission to graduate school. He writes the best letter he can including personal observations about the student’s performance in class (motivation, social skills, leadership, course grade…), information about the student’s excellent performance in school in general (GPA), and information and the student’s extracurricular activities (student government, student newspaper, athletics). Is this acceptable? No A release from the student is required when including information from the student’s educational records (except for directory information) – namely the GPA and course grade.

41. Other Information Sharing  Dr. L’s niece attends UTPA. His sister asks how her daughter is doing in class. He checks her academic record, and replies that she is passing all of her classes, but that he can’t say more without her daughter’s permission. Is this acceptable? YesNo

42. Other Information Sharing  Dr. L’s niece attends UTPA. His sister asks how her daughter is doing in class. He checks her academic record, and replies that she is passing all of her classes, but that he can’t say more without her daughter’s permission. Is this acceptable? No Dr. L does not have a legitimate educational interest, and so should not access his niece’s records at all. Also, release of academic information, even to parents, is best done with the student’s consent and through the Office of the Registrar.

43. Other Information Sharing  Dr. M suspects that a student of her’s has been cheating in class. She checks the student’s schedule and sees that he is also enrolled in her colleagues course. She shares her suspicions with her colleague and asks if her colleague has seen any evidence of him cheating. Is this acceptable? YesNo

44. Other Information Sharing  Dr. M suspects a student of her’s has been cheating in class. She checks the student’s schedule and sees that he is also enrolled in her colleagues course. She shares her suspicions with her colleague and asks if her colleague has seen any evidence of him cheating. Is this acceptable? No Trolling for evidence of academic dishonesty is not considered a legitimate educational interest (and would be particularly unfortunate for this student if he is not cheating).

45. Other Information Sharing  Dr. N is telephoned by a newspaper in another state. A public official there who has been accused of falsifying his resume claims to have earned a Master’s degree under Dr. M’s supervision from UTPA. Dr. M confirms that he did. Is this acceptable? YesNo

46. Other Information Sharing  Dr. N is telephoned by a newspaper in another state. A public official there who has been accused of falsifying his resume claims to have earned a Master’s degree under Dr. M’s supervision from UTPA. Dr. M confirms that he did. Is this acceptable? Kind of Degrees awarded and theses are both considered directory information. Assuming the public official did not request confidentiality, release of this information is permitted. However, it is probably best to refer this request to the Office of the Registrar because they would be able to most easily check whether release was restricted (and to protect the faculty member from liability given the controversy surrounding the case).

47. Other Information Sharing  A parent calls Dr. O and wants to know if her son is attending class regularly. Dr. O responds that he is. Is this acceptable? YesNo

48. Other Information Sharing  A parent calls Dr. O and wants to know if her son is attending class regularly. Dr. O responds that he is. Is this acceptable? No At least not without further information. Instead: Encourage the parent to ask the student for the information. If you know the answer (e.g. if you take attendance) and are willing to share it with the parent, you can check with the Office of the Registrar to see if it is acceptable to provide the answer to the parent (if consent has been given, or if the student is a tax dependent).

49. Other Information Sharing  A UTPA athletic coach calls and asks if a student athlete is attending class regularly. Dr. O responds that he is. Is this acceptable? YesNo

50. Other Information Sharing  A UTPA athletic coach calls and asks if a student athlete is attending class regularly. Dr. O responds that he is. Is this acceptable? Yes Student athletes provide consent for sharing of academic information with representatives of athletics for advisement purposes. Also sharing this information with other university officials for legitimate educational reasons would likely be acceptable anyway.

51. Other Information Sharing  An academically-oriented fraternity calls and asks if a student is attending class regularly, which is a condition for continued membership in this fraternity. Dr. O responds that he is. Is this acceptable? YesNo

52. Other Information Sharing  An academically-oriented fraternity calls and asks if a student is attending class regularly, which is a condition for continued membership in this fraternity. Dr. O responds that he is. Is this acceptable? No The information is not directory information. Sharing it with an off-campus individual would require a signed release form.