Privacy of Education Records

Every student’s school records carry a layer of federal privacy protection that determines who can see grades, disciplinary history, and other personal information, and who must ask permission first. This protection follows students from grade school through college, though the rights themselves shift from parents to the student at a certain point in that journey. Understanding these rules matters for parents checking on a child’s progress, students applying to jobs or graduate programs, and anyone who has found an error in their own file.

The core law behind nearly all of this is FERPA, a federal statute that gives parents and students the right to inspect records, seek corrections, and limit disclosure to outsiders. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): A Comprehensive Guide lays out how the law works and whom it covers.

Who controls the records changes over time. While a student is a minor, parents generally hold these rights, but control transfers once a student reaches a certain age or enrolls in a postsecondary institution, a shift explained in When FERPA Rights Start: Age and Enrollment Explained. Schools also carry their own compliance duties, covered in Understanding School and College Responsibilities Under FERPA.

Access and correction are the two rights readers use most often. If you want to see what is in a file, Accessing Your Education Records: Understanding Your FERPA Rights walks through the process, while Correcting Errors in Your Education Records: Understanding Your FERPA Rights explains how to challenge inaccurate entries. When a school won’t cooperate, Filing a FERPA Complaint: Understanding Your Rights and the Process describes the formal route for raising a concern.