owassovfalvo

//Owasso Independent School District v. Falvo//
//122.S.Ct.934 (2002)//

//Facts:// P: (Falvo) Falvo is afraid that her son with a language based learning disability is embarrassed by peer grading of assignments in the general education setting. Under The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) the release of educational files or personally identifiable information in the records is protected. To gain certain information under the act there must be written consent from the parents. Information that can be considered as personally identifiable information includes student exams as well as grade books and administrative papers. D: (Owasso Independent schools)The school district has no formal policy around how teachers grade student work. They maintain that immediate feedback is important to students.

//Issues/Answers:// Is the Owasso Independent School district in violation of FERPA? No

//Basis/Rationale// Legal Basis- A student is not acting for the school district when he or she is grading another student’s paper. Rationale- The student is acting for the teacher. Under the language in FERPA, This means that assignments are not educational “records”

//Notes://
 * Under FERPA parents are allowed to have a hearing held in order question and change grades. When FERPA was submitted this provision was not intended to, “allow lawyers and judges to rule on spelling tests and art projects”.
 * Falco has 3 other children in the Owasso Independent School District who she believes are all embarrassed by peer grading
 * Justice Kennedy wrote that “Teachers need to be able to grade assignments in different ways or their work loads would be too heavy.”.
 * Educational records are limited to those documents that are held in a central place at the school.