Introduction
Why?
As a Graduate Assistant (GA), you will have access to and regular contact with confidential student records. As a GA, you will also amend these records through normal processes such as reporting grades, submitting discipline or honor code violations, or other procedures within your role responsibilities. As you will see, even emails and tests are considered confidential education records.
All individuals with access to any kind of student information are expected to know and understand the basic principles of FERPA and adhere to them.
The objectives of this training are to familiarize GAs with FERPA, specifically:
Understanding the basic governing principles of FERPA and why compliance is important
Understanding to whom FERPA applies and your responsibilities under FERPA
Understanding how to properly and appropriately handle student records and information
Understanding institution-specific policies and procedures for consent, access, and/or disclosure of student information
Key Terms & Acronyms
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Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
A federal law that affords any student in a post-secondary institution (regardless of age) the right to have access to their education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records. The FERPA statute is found at 20 U.S.C. § 1232g and the FERPA regulations are found at 34 CFR Part 99.
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Graduate Assistant
Administrative Assistant
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Student Information System
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Learning Management System
In the case of the University, this refers to Instructure Canvas.
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Institution-Specific Protocol and Procedures
(as opposed to federal law or guidelines)