What Should I Know as a TA?
As a teaching assistant, you will have access to protected student information. FERPA prohibits disclosure of student information to other persons – even to the students’ parents.
FERPA Protects Student Privacy
The Act prohibits you as a TA from disclosing educational records or personally identifiable information from any student’s university records to any third party without that student’s prior consent. FERPA considers Teaching Assistants to be an extension of the faculty member.
Some consequences of FERPA for you as a Teaching Assistant are:
Student Progress: you may not discuss students’ academic performance with their parents, family, or friends or provide them academic information about your student.
Grades:
- You should return homework and exams in a manner that preserves student confidentiality.
- You should communicate student grades individually using student-specific password-protected systems, and
- You may never post grades publicly in any manner that might identify students.
Response to Requests
You may not:
- Give anyone student schedules or assist anyone, other than authorized University offices, with finding a student on campus.
- Provide anyone with class rosters.
A common situation that arises after grade reporting for freshmen and sophomores is that their parents will contact the professors and TAs of their child’s course to ask for more information about their child’s grade. As a TA, you should not respond to these types of emails, but forward them directly to your professor without communicating with the parent.
- If you are unsure as to whether a situation could be violating FERPA, it is important to ask your professor before disclosing any student information to a third party.