Shortly before heading home for August recess, Representatives Todd Rokita (R-IN), Marcia Fudge (D-OH), John Kline (R-MN), and Bobby Scott (D-VA), all on the House Education and Workforce Committee, introduced the Student Privacy Protection Act (H.R. 3157). As explained in the committee press release, the legislation would update the student privacy protections under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974.
H.R. 3157 evolved from a discussion draft (see May AERA Highlights) circulated earlier this spring. The revised version eliminated a provision from the original draft that was of great concern to education researchers and to AERA: the option for parents to remove the student records of their children from the administrative data systems being used by an “organization conducting studies for, or on behalf of, educational agencies or institutions.”