Under The Law: You say "records,' and I say "data'

FERPA the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act protects student privacy by laying out when and how education records that are maintained by the school can be used within and outside of the school district and when student records can be released. FERPA's goal is to prevent unauthorized disclosure of students' personally identifiable information. School employees (and school attorneys) handle student records and data according to FERPA every day. But the law was enacted in 1974, before digital recordkeeping, big data, texts, email, the internet, and easy digital transmission of information, which means that much about FERPA is now outdated.