Confidentiality of Educational Records

The federal government enacted the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to protect the confidentiality of student records and the privacy of students and their parents. Not all documents related to students that are kept by an educational agency are automatically considered confidential. FERPA protects the privacy of certain aspects of a student's records, referred to as personally identifiable information. That is, information that would make the student's identity easily traceable. IDEA '97 also protects the confidentiality of student records.

Under Chapter 12 of Pennsylvania's education regulations, each school district, charter school, intermediate unit, and area vocational technical school must establish policies on pupil records that are consistent with the FERPA. The Pennsylvania Department of Education has guidance to parents to help them understand their rights to student records (see Parental Access to Student Records).