The Regulations Protecting Student Information from Unauthorized Use

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Education consultant Chip McGee served as a superintendent at Bedford School District in NH between 2003 and 2018. In 2016, Chip McGee was part of a task force approved by the Bedford School Board in NH to assess the issues and challenges relating to the use of social media and other technologies by school students and the impacts these technologies had on student privacy.

In its report, the task force acknowledged that technology had advanced dramatically over the years and had changed the education landscape. Many modern day schools even use third party technological services such as online educational tools to enhance learning. However, with these advancements comes the need to safeguard students’ information. The task force encouraged schools and parents to follow the US Department of Education’s privacy recommendations, one of which is maintaining awareness on relevant federal and state laws that prevent the commercialization of student information. Here are some of these laws:

-Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. This Act gives parents the right to inspect their children’s education records and seek amendments where the records are inaccurate. It also requires schools to seek parental consent before disclosing certain personally identifiable information in educational records.

-Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. This Act limits how commercial entities can collect and use data on children under the age of 13. It also has parental consent protections.
-Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment. This Act protects children in grades K-12 who take surveys from having their personal information collected used in marketing.

-Children Internet Protection Act. This Act requires schools taking federal discounts for internet access to set up internet safety protocols preventing students from accessing harmful content and protecting their personal information from unauthorized use and dissemination.