1. What if a parent contacts a faculty or staff member to say that he or she is worried about how his or her child is doing in a particular class or about the child’s overall academic performance or standing?

The best approach is for the parent to talk directly with the student. Parent-child communication isn't always easy and young adults are not always as forthcoming as parents would like. However, parent-child conversation is the most effective and certainly the preferred method for a parent to learn about his or her child’s performance.

2. What if a parent tells a faculty or staff member that he or she has already talked with the student and still has questions?

In this situation, you will need the student to sign a release; only after the signed release is in your possession are you free to discuss a student’s performance. A release form is available on the University Registrar’s website. Of course, in doing so, the faculty or staff member cannot release any information that identifies another student.

3. Does the University have a written policy about information from student records that can be shared with parents and other third parties?

Yes. The Northwestern University policy (entitled “FERPA: Students Right to Access Records Release of Student Information Policy”) is available at http://www.registrar.northwestern.edu/ferpa/ and can also be found in the undergraduate catalog and student handbook. Information regarding FERPA is also contained in the Parents’ Handbook.

The privacy protection FERPA gives to students is quite broad. With limited exceptions, FERPA gives privacy protection to all student education records. Education records are defined as "[t]hose records that are directly related to a student and [are] [m]aintained by an educational agency or institution or by a party acting for the agency or institution." Examples of student records entitled to FERPA privacy protection are grade reports, transcripts, and disciplinary records.

Under FERPA, the access rights that parents and legal guardians had in the elementary and secondary school settings are transferred to the student once a student has turned eighteen, or is attending any post-secondary educational institution (regardless of the student’s age and regardless of who is paying for the student’s education).

6. Does Northwestern notify parents if a student is put on academic probation, or is subject to academic dismissal?

No. Information about grades and academic standing is sent directly to students. However, a letter of probation or dismissal to a student may direct the student to a FERPA release form and request that he or she complete it to allow the appropriate University representative to speak with a parent. Under some circumstances, a parent will be notified of a change in a student’s enrollment status, but in such event, no explanation will be provided.

7. Can a faculty member post student grades or leave graded student work outside of his or her office?

No. Faculty members should not publicly display student grades or student work (e.g., papers, tests, laboratory reports), particularly in association with student names, identification numbers, or other personal identifiers.

8. Is posting grades, identified by SSN or EmplID numbers, on a website or course management system such as Blackboard allowed? Only students in the class see the posting.

FERPA does not permit the posting of grades, using either the entire student ID number or a portion of the ID number. As reflected in the attached letter from the Department of Education, this information is considered to be personally identifiable and cannot be disclosed to other student's absent the student's express written permission: http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/doc/hunter.doc . Faculty need to develop a means of conveying grade information to students on an individual basis.

There is a different method in Blackboard to give grades to individual students without revealing the other student grades. You can use Blackboard's "gradebook" function to do what you want to do, without actually posting the whole spreadsheet for all in the class to view. If you go into the Control Panel, choose "gradebook" (extreme right column, midway down), you'll see a web-based gradebook that you can either use instead of your spreadsheet, or you can upload the spreadsheet you have (if it's not especially complex and has all the students' names in column A). Each student has a tool called "view grades" in the toolbar, which they use to view their "row" of the gradebook. This solves the problem.

9. If a student asks a faculty member or a teaching assistant for an explanation regarding his or her performance, can a faculty member compare the work of the student asking for the explanation with the work of other students?

No. Although a faculty member or teaching assistant can, of course, explain why a particular student performed well or poorly on a given examination or other assignment, in so doing, the faculty member or teaching assistant should not discuss or make reference to the performance of other students. Disclosing information regarding Student A to Student B, jeopardizes the privacy rights of Student A.

Faculty and staff members should not share this information with one another unless the person to whom the information is disclosed has a “legitimate educational interest” in the information. To have such an interest, the faculty or staff member must have a need to know the information to perform his or her job function. Mere curiosity is insufficient to satisfy this standard.

Prior to providing any information in response to such a request, the faculty or staff member should ensure that the licensing or accrediting organization has provided proof of the student’s express written consent to disclose the information requested. Without the student’s express written consent, no information should be disclosed.

12. Where can I find out more information about FERPA?

FERPA is enforced by the U.S. Department of Education and more information can be found at its FERPA website: http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html