Students clearly have a legal right to access to and privacy of their education records; but not so clear is public access to campus crime reports and AIDS-related records. Computerized records and the use of Social Security numbers as identifiers create other legal concerns. (Author)

The use of prototyping and simulation at St. Louis University to evaluate the implementation decisions and design of a student information system are described with regard to their impact on, and interaction with, institutional policies and procedures. (Author/MLW)

Hoachlander look at Perkins accountability requirements and suggests that they can lead to improved programs if they are used correctly. Rader and Quick discuss how to use spreadsheets to keep on top of student portfolios and program data. (JOW)

A British project collected evidence about whether adult involvement in uncertificated or part-time study led to more advanced, certificated programs. Results demonstrated a need for better recordkeeping and revealed some of the circumstances that enabled ease of movement between forms and levels of learning. (SK)

A nontechnical overview of electronic data interchange (EDI) and of the SPEEDE/ExPRESS Project, which uses EDI to transmit transcripts between schools and colleges, is presented. It explores the fundamental value of the technology, specific costs and benefits, and its potential to transform the delivery of academic support services. (Author/MSE)

Discusses the work of Susan Isaacs on assessing and recording the progress of infant school children in Britain between 1934 and 1936. Compares Isaacs' approach to that advocated in a 1992 book on assessment in early childhood education edited by Blenkin and Kelly. Concludes that Isaacs' work still has a contribution to make to educational…

The Department of Education has suffered legal defeats in Missouri and Arkansas in its campaign to prevent colleges from publicly releasing names of students arrested by campus security. Controversy involves interpretation of a 1974 privacy-protection law, the Buckley Amendment. College officials are unsure about how to deal with the issue. (MSE)

This article addresses practice issues related to school health records and school nursing documentation. Because the issues have been posed by practicing school nurses, the article is in Question and Answer (Q&A) format. Specifically, the questions addressed concern the following: ownership and storage location of student health records when…

Since April 2003, school nurse and school health officials have been clamoring for guidance on how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Family Education Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) interface in the school environment. This article provides an up-to-date explanation of how school health leaders are interpreting the…

Now that all 50 states and the District of Columbia are building statewide longitudinal data systems, the next step is to ensure that the information in these systems is used to improve student learning. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) has identified 10 actions that states can take to ensure that the right data are available and accessible and…

Imagine if, at the start of the school year, a teacher could have detailed information about the academic history of every student in her or his classroom. This is possible if the teacher can log on to a Web site that provides access to an educational data warehouse. The teacher would see not only several years of state assessment results, but…

If we let all students at Ithaca College be our population, then our Office of Institutional Research can provide us with various parameters about this population. For example, we can obtain parameters regarding SAT scores, birth month, and GPA. Each student samples from the population and we compare their results to the parameters. This allows us…

Student education records are official and confidential documents that are protected by one of the nation's strongest privacy-protection laws, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA, also known as the Buckley Amendment, defines education records as all records that schools or education agencies maintain about students. FERPA…

This workbook is the result of a 3-year study of transcripts and other documentation from study-abroad programs and is designed to be of use to both those responsible for making credit transfer determinations and those advising students on study abroad programs. It provides the following information: (1) guidelines for the documentation necessary…

A checkbook learning activity which is adaptable to all grades, ages, and subject areas is described. The four reasons given for using checks in the classroom are to provide practice for students in computational skills, to increase student motivation, to provide real-world experience, and to replace the teacher's grading system. The following…