Handbook Table of Contents > Preparing to Teach > Privacy of Student Records
Indiana University Teaching Handbook
Preparing to Teach
Privacy of Student Records
Federal law provides for the confidentiality of student records. Each instructor must take care that student records not be revealed to anyone other than the student. If you post grades of any kind, be certain to establish for each student a special identification code (or use only a part of their ID numbers) that only you and the student know. Or you can post the grades via the World Wide Web, if you have set up an on-line grade book developed by the Bureau of Evaluative Studies and Testing (BEST, 855-1595). Use the students’ names and identification numbers to keep grade records, but do not permit any student to inspect those records.
Indiana University, in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 (also known as the Buckley Amendment), permits its students to inspect their records whenever appropriate and to challenge specific parts of them. Specific guidelines and procedures for inspection of student records may be found in Appendix 4 of the IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct (43-45). A detailed statement of these rights, and a summary of our institutional policies as mandated by the University Faculty Council, are set out in the Academic Handbook, the Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct, and the Schedule of Classes.
In general, the Buckley Amendment prohibits the release or disclosure to anyone other than the student her/himself of any part of the content of a student’s education records without the prior, written consent of the student. Some (relatively common) examples of the inappropriate disclosure of education records by instructors are:
- showing a student’s examination or paper to another student without removing all information on the examination that would make the identity of the first student easily traceable
- posting examination scores, class grades, or other documents without removing all personally identifiable information (name, student ID number) or obtaining the prior written consent of each student involved
Indiana University fully supports the rights of its students to access and review their education records and to prevent the disclosure of their contents to third parties without prior consent from the student. The university instructs all academic personnel to ensure that their practices comply with the university’s system-wide policy concerning the release of student information. University academic personnel who wish further clarification on these matters may contact Michael Klein or Kip Drew, Office of University Counsel, 855-9739.
(adapted by permission from an unpublished memo, K. R. R. Gros Louis, 1995)
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