The following information is designed to assist JHU researchers in preparation of research projects that involve JHU student data/education records, which may be subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). For further information about FERPA and JHU’s FERPA compliance protocols, please reference the content published elsewhere on this FERPA Compliance page.

Short Separator

Use of Education Records in Research

FERPA provides guidelines on how educational institutions are to use and release student’s education records. Under FERPA, education records are records that (1) are directly related to a student who is or has been in attendance at an educational agency or institution; and (2) are maintained by an educational agency or institution or by a party acting for the educational agency or institution. This encompasses information or data recorded in any medium, including (but not limited to) transcripts; class schedules; course work including papers, exams, grades, and evaluations; disciplinary records; internship program records; and student financial records.

Other examples of education records commonly used in research include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Student identifiers derived from school records
  • A student’s enrollment in a particular course
  • Discussion board postings or other class engagement within course LMS platforms
  • A student’s status as a participant in a university program or recipient of a university service

Please note that in many cases, education records are accessible to and used by JHU school officials to complete their job duties. A JHU faculty member, for example, must access student assignments, test scores, final grades, and other records to perform their duties as members of the faculty. A JHU staff member, for example, may need to access student participation records and evaluations of a particular university service. Under FERPA, this access is considered “legitimate educational interest.” Generally, JHU school officials’ use of the same types of data from education records for research purposes requires written consent from students.

Homewood Institutional Review Board Review

Principal investigators (PIs) may submit research projects that utilize educational records for review and approval of the Homewood Institutional Review Board (HIRB). During their review, if the HIRB team determines that a project plans to use JHU student education records, the project will be routed to the OUR to complete an ancillary review for FERPA compliance purposes.

For questions about the Homewood Institutional Review Board, please visit the HIRB website or contact their office at [email protected]. The HIRB’s guidance for use of student education records in research can be accessed on the HIRB website via this link. For questions about FERPA compliance as it pertains to studies conducted by JHU researchers, please contact the OUR at [email protected].

OUR’s ancillary review for FERPA compliance purposes involves assessment of the following:

Study recruitment

  • confirmation that recruitment of JHU students is conducted using a FERPA-compliant approach
  • confirmation of identifiable education records utilized in recruitment to determine which records, if any, should be listed in the study’s consent forms so that students who chose to participate in the study can affirmatively consent to disclosure of the information to the study team for research purposes

Data sources

  • confirmation of data sources utilized in the study that will result in disclosure of identifiable education records to the study team for research purposes

Identifiability of study data

  • determination of whether education records obtained by the researcher for use in the study are received as identifiable or de-identified, which affects the extent to which consent is required for use of the records

Use of third-party (non-university) software platforms

  • review to determine if the study involves maintenance or storage of education records in a third-party (non-university) software platform, which requires additional considerations for consent documents and review for IT risk

Consent

  • collaboration with the HIRB team and the study team to ensure that, if applicable, FERPA language is included in project consent documents, and that consent obtained electronically is compliant with FERPA
  • confirmation of which identifiable education record data elements, if any, must be included in the project consent documents so that students can affirmatively consent to disclosure of the information to the study team for research purposes