Under FERPA, for an employee of the institution to have access to student records a person must have a legitimate educational interest. In most cases, the legitimate educational interest is part of a person’s daily duties, but the legitimate educational interest does not allow an employee to have access to everyone’s records or all parts of particular student’s record. The process outlined in the form below is for any UCA staff or faculty member wishing to conduct research using data they are not allowed access to, or portions of a student’s record that are not given access to, as part of their regular job duties. An individual must be granted temporary status as a “school official” for this access. PLEASE NOTE: Access to information as part of one’s regular job duties does not imply consent for use of such information beyond the scope of those regular duties.
The application, review, and approval process to receive the designation as a school official can be done by using the form linked below. This form should only be sent to Amber Hall, Director of Institutional Research, after you have completed the application portion. Notice that you have to go through IRB approval before submitting the application. Part of the review process is reading a NCES Technical Brief from October 2011, which is linked below as well.
Application, Review, and Approval: Designation as a School Official