Confidential Student Information -- Effective Immediately

We have recently been advised that the Office of Management, US Department of Education, has ruled in a case from another State that the public posting on the Web (or by any other medium) of final course grades using the last four digits of a student's social security number is a violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA or the "Buckley Amendment.")

Accordingly, effectively immediately all academic work grades, including final course grades, exams, quizzes, and homework, or any other confidential student information may not be publicly disclosed or posted, on the Web or by any other medium, using any part or combination of a student's social security number without the written consent of each student. Please note that since final course grades may be inferred from the collection of raw scores on exams, quizzes, etc., our policy is written to include all academic work to avoid any confusion or dispute as to what constitutes a confidential student record. In summary, our policy prohibits the disclosure of any confidential student information in a personally identifiable manner, which now include name, student identification number, social security number or a portion thereof, without the student's written consent.

Faculty may continue to use student specific password protected systems (such as UT Direct and its applications) to communicate academic work grades or other confidential information to individual students. Students may also access their final course grades using UT Direct services. ITS is currently developing an e-grade book application that may be available in Spring 03, which will also provide faculty with a password protected system to communicate academic work grades to individual students.