What is the "FERPA Block” in Postsecondary Data?
You may have heard postsecondary data outcomes users discuss a “FERPA block” — when student information does not appear in data released from sources such as the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), making it difficult to calculate student-level data such as enrollment and persistence. But what does “FERPA block” actually mean, and why does it happen?
The National Student Clearinghouse
The NSC is a non-profit organization that serves as a data source for education and workforce data. Through contracts with individual education agencies and institutions of higher education, NSC collects data on student enrollment and degree and credential attainment. Among other services to these institutions and other education organizations, the NSC conducts research on student outcomes and educational pathways through its Research Center. The NSC is required to comply with privacy laws, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
Passed by congress in 1974, FERPA governs the privacy of student educational records (records directly related to a student and maintained by the education agency), access to these records, and the disclosure of information from them. FERPA affords parents and eligible students, those students who are 18 or older or who are enrolled in postsecondary education at any age, the right to have access to the education records, to seek to have the records amended, and the right to consent to the disclosure of personally identifiable information from education records, except as provided by law.
Any educational agency or institution that receives funds under a program administered by the Secretary of Education must abide by FERPA’s requirements. That means that unless permitted by an applicable FERPA exception, generally the institution may not disclose information from student records unless the parent or the eligible student provides consent.
One of these exceptions to general consent is for information that the agency or institution designates as “directory information.” FERPA allows the release of directory information to third parties under certain conditions, unless the parent or eligible student has opted out of this disclosure. Directory information is information contained in a student’s education records that would generally not be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed, and may include information such as
- name;
- address;
- telephone numbers;
- date and place of birth;
- participation in officially recognized activities and sports; and
- dates of attendance.
However, FERPA also allows students to restrict access to this information by notifying their institution of higher education (IHE).
FERPA Blocks
So what is a “FERPA block?” Simply put, it’s that the student has exercised their right to block the release of their directory information data elements. Because of this, these students cannot be included when NSC provides student-level data back to K-12 agencies or in some types of aggregate reports. In their public reports, NCS cannot even share that students are missing because of opting out as this information alone may be used to identify students. Further, some IHEs have discontinued the release of public directory information institution-wide, either by specific data elements or by certain reporting functions, blocking another source that could be used to show postsecondary outcomes data.
While NSC’s StudentTracker provides aggregate outcome reports that generally include counts of “FERPA-blocked” students, its student-level reports will omit any information pertaining to these students. NSC reports FERPA blocks are rare (affecting an average of only 3-4% of students at each institution and 1% of institutions opt out of other disclosures), but for researchers with larger concentrations of these students or high schools trying to determine where their graduates are attending postsecondary education, this block on the identity of some students frustrates their efforts.
While it may be frustrating to find student information blocked within the NSC outcome reports, organizations seeking these data to identify students’ enrollment and persistence but find themselves faced with FERPA blocks have options. They can work with IHEs directly to obtain the information they need, whether under a different exception to FERPA‘s general consent or through direct consent from the student. In addition, organizations faced with institution-wide FERPA blocks may find it beneficial to educate the IHE on the impact to postsecondary outcomes data and encourage them to eliminate institution-wide blocks at the IHE.
