Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

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terms and definitions, the permanent record contains all relevant information and is easier to interpret….

Automated Database The advantages of maintaining student records in an automated database, however, are numerous. Automated databases promote the maintenance of consistently defined information, since the computer software specifies how data are coded and otherwise entered…. Student data must be kept confidential. …Whether or not student data are maintained in a computer, all school or school district staff needing data about an individual student or groups of students must have access to pertinent information. …Teachers can analyze student performance using a variety of types of information and decide what concepts need to be retaught or reinforced. Obviously, the purpose of the project is to produce standardization among data-gatherers so that all of the student information can be computerized and stored in a central database. As the Handbook states: Technical advances in computer data entry, storage, and retrieval are developing quickly, making these aspects of student records management less expensive, more efficient, less demanding of physical space, and more accessible to multiple users. Incidentally, if you are curious about the legislation that authorized funding for all of this, the Handbook refers to the Standards for Education Data Collection and Reporting (SEDCAR) developed pursuant to the Hawkins-Stafford Amendments of 1988 which authorized “an effort to improve the comparability, quality and usefulness of education data.” SPEEDE/ExPRESS System The Handbook also reveals that its standards are compatible with those of the SPEEDE/ ExPRESS format. (SPEEDE stands for Standardization of Postsecondary Education Electronic Data Exchanges, and ExPRESS stands for Exchange of Permanent Records Electronically for Students and Schools.) SPEEDE/ExPRESS “provides a standard format for a student record or transcript to be sent from one school or school district to another or from a school or school district to a postsecondary institution.” Confidentiality Although lip service to confidentiality is required in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), the law allows information in student records to be disclosed “without student or parental permission” to: 1) School employees who have a need to know. 2) Other schools to which a student is transferring. 3) Certain government officials in order to carry out lawful functions. 4) Appropri ate parties in connection with financial aid to a student. 5) Organizations doing certain studies for the school. 6) Accrediting organizations. 7) Individuals who have obtained court orders or subpoenas. 8) Persons who need to know in cases of health and safety emergencies. 9) State and local authorities to whom disclosure is required by state laws adopted before November 19, 1974. FERPA also “guarantees the student and/or his or her parents the right to inspect and review all of the student’s education records maintained by the school or school district, and