Which compliance framework lays out guidelines for protecting the privacy of student education records in educational institutions?

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a United States federal law specifically designed to protect the privacy of student education records. This law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's education records, which transfer to the student when they reach the age of 18 or attend a school beyond the high school level. It governs the access to and release of these records, ensuring they are not disclosed without written consent, with some specific exceptions.

A. HIPAA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects sensitive patient health information (PHI), not student education records.

B. PCI-DSS: The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) applies to organizations that handle branded credit cards, securing cardholder data, not academic information.

D. GDPR: The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a broad EU law protecting the personal data of EU citizens, not a framework specifically for US student records.

1. U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html. (See the "About FERPA" section, which states, "The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) ... is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records.")

2. Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute. (n.d.). 20 U.S. Code § 1232g - Family educational rights and privacy. Retrieved from https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/20/1232g. (This document provides the full legal text of the statute, defining its scope and purpose in section (b) "Release of education records.")

3. University of California, Berkeley, Office of the CIO. (n.d.). Major Laws and Policies Related to Information Security and Privacy. Retrieved from https://security.berkeley.edu/resources/major-laws-and-policies-related-information-security-and-privacy. (This university resource explicitly lists and describes FERPA as the law governing "the privacy of student records.")