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Origination of FERPA
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) originated August 21, 1974, by President Harrison Ford (“Laws & Guidance,” 2021). This law aimed to give parents the rights to access the records of their children. It also gave them the right to seek amendments to such records, and rights to control the dissemination of personal information disclosure from such records of their children (Mendelsohn, 2021). -
FERPA Laws become Effective
FEPRA laws became effective on November 19, 1974, after 90 days of enactment. -
1st Major Amendment
The first amendment was initiated by Senators Buckley(FEPRA, 2021). The changes in this amendment reinforced the student rights for a hearing aimed to challenge their records’ contents based on what they feel is inaccurate, a violation of privacy, and misleading. -
2nd Major Amendment
This amendment included changes intended to clarify that FEPRA did not inhibit the access to the records or the student by local and state education officials in relation to evaluation or audit of the education program supported by the state or the federal government (FEPRA, 2021). -
3rd Major Amendment
This development aimed to establish the Department of Education with special duties to handle the issues related to access to student records (Fuller, 2017). -
4th Major Amendment
The fourth amendment was led by Senator Jeanne Clery. This change enabled post-secondary educational institutions to expose disciplinary proceeding results to the victims of violent crimes as performed by the institution against the offender (FEPRA, 2021). -
5th Major Amendment
The fifth development was a Higher Education Amendment Act that aimed to exclude from the details of the educational record developed for law enforcement reasons and kept by educational institutions’ law enforcement units. -
6th Major Amendment
The sixth amendment provided rights to review and inspect educational records kept by various state agencies that were not within FEPRA’s scope. -
7th Major Amendment
The seventh amendment aimed to improve higher education by giving schools the power to expose to the public various results of disciplinary proceedings in which a student perpetrator was found guilty of violent crimes. -
8th Major Amendment
The eighth amendment was developed to prevent campus sex incidences by empowering educational institutions to disclose publicly the information of registered sex offenders (“Protecting Student Privacy,” 2021). -
9th Major Amendment
The ninth was the P.L. 107-56 that was enacted to enforce the US Patriot Act. -
10th Major Amendment
The regulations under this amendment permitted educational agencies and institutions to disclose education records without consent to "contractors, consultants, volunteers, and other outside parties providing institutional services and functions or otherwise acting for an agency or institution. -
11th Major Amendment
The regulations also authorize schools to publicly disclose student ID numbers that are displayed on individual cards or badges.