FERPA protects a student’s educational record, regardless of how the record’s maintained and who maintains it. An educational record consists of papers as well as electronic data. Besides grades, it typically includes test scores, comments, evaluations and similar assessments about a student, maintained by an instructor, counselor or any other school official.

Faculty members may not release any personal information about a student such as:

• Social Security Number
• Grades
• Grade point average
• Class schedules
• Employment information
• Academic performance information, such as academic suspension, probation, disqualification or academic dishonesty charges
• Admission information

To ensure that student’s records are not accessible to other students or unauthorized individuals, instructors should exercise caution in the way student’s records are maintained. To notify students of a final grade, FERPA does allow the mailing of postcards. But here, instructors should require students to provide them with a self-addressed, stamped postcard on which they’ve written the course name or number. Instructors can then note the grade and the card can be sent through the U.S. mail.