2015-16 Public Education in Tennessee: A Policymaker’s Guide | Page 20
What protections exist for student data?
COLLECTION
ACCESS
STORAGE
State: States report aggregate information, not personally identifiable
student information, to the U.S.
Department of Education or any other
federal agency.51
State: Every district is required to
create guidelines for teachers in giving surveys or evaluating students.52
Federal: FERPA provides specific
Federal: The U.S. Department of Ed-
Federal: Student information cannot
State: Tennessee is required to ensure the security of all data storage
systems.56
ucation is prohibited from creating
a national database of personally
identifiable student information.54
be used for marketing purposes.55
guidance to states and districts for
data storage.53
Table 2
In 2014, the Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation
increasing state protections for student data privacy.
Specifically, the SBOE is charged with the following tasks:
•
Creating a publicly available data inventory along with the
purpose or reason for inclusion in the data system
•
Developing publicly available district and state policies to
comply with FERPA, Tennessee Code and other privacy-related
statutes, regulations, and policies.
Strict regulations on the contracts governing third-party
agreements are also included, along with prohibitions on
collecting student data related to (1) political affiliation; (2)
religion; (3) voting history; and (4) firearms ownership.
20 | Public Education in Tennesee
A key component of the Tennessee legislation is the
enhanced protection of de-identified student data within
third-party contracts that still allow districts and schools
to use data for educational improvement. Further, the TDOE
is required to develop a model student records policy for
districts including: annual notification of parental right to
request student information; security when providing student
data to parents or guardians; and a plan to allow parents
and guardians to view online, download, and transmit
data specific to their children’s educational records. This
legislation is designed to ensure the protection of student
data within the effective use of educational information.