Understanding the Law
Maintaining confidentiality of student records can be achieved by knowing the basic requirements of the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). This tutorial is designed to give you a basic understanding of the rules governing release of student information at Williams College.
Take the Quiz!
1. You get a frantic phone call from an individual who says that he is a student’s father and must get in touch with them immediately because of a family emergency. Can you tell him when and where their next class is today?
2. You receive a call from a recruiting firm asking for names and addresses of students with a GPA of 3.0 or better. They say they have good job information for these students. Can you help these students get jobs by giving out this information?
3. A student asks you for grade information over the phone because they don’t have access to Williams Student Records. Do you give the grade to them?
4. You receive a phone call from the local police department indicating that they are trying to determine whether a particular student was in attendance on a specific day. Since they are in the middle of an investigation, are you allowed to give them this information?
5. If a student’s parent calls asking how a student is doing in a class, can you give out that information?
6. Is it allowable for faculty to leave exams, papers, etc. outside their offices for students to pick up?
7. An unauthorized person retrieves information from a computer screen that was left unattended. Under FERPA, is the staff member or institution responsible?
8. You have been granted access to certain education records in accordance with your duties at Williams. Since this is information you are entitled to under FERPA can you disclose this information to any party?
9. You are facing an emergency situation where you fear the health and safety of people is in jeopardy if you do not release certain protected information to a third party. Can you exercise judgment and release the information?
Request Access to Williams Student Records
Now that you have a basic understanding of FERPA, request access to Williams Student Records.
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