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PPRA and FERPA

All SS/HS grantees must adhere to the provisions of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment

The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) is a Federal law that affords rights to parents of minor students with regard to surveys that ask questions of a personal nature. Under PPRA, schools are required to obtain written consent from parents before minor students are required to participate in any U.S. Department of Education-funded survey, analysis, or evaluation that reveals information concerning the following areas:

  • political affiliation;
  • mental and psychological problems potentially embarrassing to the student and his/her family;
  • sex behavior and attitudes;
  • illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating and demeaning behavior;
  • critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close family relationships;
  • legally-recognized privileged or analogous relationships, such as those of lawyers, physicians, and ministers;
  • religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or student's parent; or
  • income (other than that required by law to determine eligibility for participation in a program or for receiving financial assistance under such program).

PPRA applies even if a survey is anonymous or confidential.

Many surveys of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug prevention programs ask about students’ own use of substances. These surveys would be subject to PPRA.

Even if participation in a survey is not required, documentation needs to be provided to USEd demonstrating that participation is truly voluntary, and that students are not pressured to take part in any way.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. Education Records are defined as:

all records, files, documents, and other materials containing information directly related to a student. For students who attend a public school district, all records pertaining to services provided under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are considered “education records” under FERPA. For Pre K–12 students, health records, including immunization records and school nurse records are considered “education records” under FERPA.

Careful attention needs to be paid to the type of data that are being collected on programs, policies, and practices involving students. For example, individually identifiable attendance records would be subject to FERPA.

PPRA and FERPA regulations around obtaining active parental consent supersede any IRB rulings on protection of human subjects. That is, PPRA and FERPA may require your project to obtain active parental consent even if your IRB does not.

More information about PPRA and FERPA can be found on the Department of Education Web site.

The Department of Education recently published a new version of EDGAR online to address the recent changes made to Part 99 – Family Educational Rights and Privacy. Access to an updated version of EDGAR is at this link (EDGAR) http://www2.ed.gov/policy/fund/reg/edgarReg/edgar.html

The text for this change can be found in the Federal Register notice published on December 2, 2011 (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-12-02/pdf/2011-30683.pdf).