--- From: Sonia Arrison <sarrisonat_private> To: "'declanat_private'" <declanat_private> Subject: Privacy Laws Harm Education? Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 17:52:12 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Declan, Most of us remember that in elementary school teachers would give spelling tests and then ask students to pass their paper to the student behind them to grade it. Well, that common and useful exercise might be outlawed by presumably well-intended privacy laws. The US Supreme court will be deciding whether school grading practices violated the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). This is yet one more example of how strict privacy laws upset social balance and result in poor unintended consequences. There'll be more on the unintended consequences of privacy laws in my soon to be released privacy paper, "Consumer Privacy: A Free Choice Approach". Below is an article on the "paper swapping" case as well as some links to useful info. -Sonia Sonia Arrison Director, Center for Freedom and Technology Pacific Research Institute 755 Sansome Street, Suite 450 San Francisco, CA 94111 ph: (415) 989-0833 x 107 fx: (415) 989-2411 www.pacificresearch.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- High court agrees to hear paper-swapping case KELLY KURT, Associated Press Writer Monday, June 25, 2001 ©2001 Associated Press URL: <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/06/25/nat ional1848EDT0730.DTL> (06-25) 15:48 PDT TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court, taking up the privacy issue, has agreed to decide whether to end common classroom practices such as allowing students to grade each other's assignments and posting honor rolls. The court announced Monday it will hear the appeal of Owasso Public Schools. Kristja J. Falvo sued the district in 1998, alleging her three children -- ranging from ninth to 11th grade -- were embarrassed when other students graded their work and then called grades out to the teacher. A federal judge sided with the district, but the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled that the grading practice violated the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. The act prohibits educational institutions from releasing "education records of students ... without the written consent of their parents." The appeals court found that grades students report to the teacher constitute "education records." [...] Links with info on FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ) follow. Failure of an educational agency or institution to comply with FERPA can result in the loss of Federal funding. http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SDFS/actguid/infshare.html http://www.feti.tec.ar.us/family.htm http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles/fs9878.txt http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/about/98juvjust/980513b.html And a link to the Falvo case: http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/10th/995130.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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