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FERPA, COPPA and Student Privacy with AI
FERPA and COPPA are the two main US federal laws that apply when a teacher puts student work, names or records into an AI tool: FERPA controls when schools may disclose information from education records, and COPPA limits how commercial online services collect personal information from children under 13.
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Prezentare generală
Knowing how each one applies lets educators use AI without exposing students, or their schools, to privacy harms.
Scufundare în profunzime
FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, applies to schools and colleges that receive US Department of Education funding. It gives parents rights over their children's education records, meaning records directly related to a student and maintained by the school. Those rights transfer to the student at age 18 or on entering postsecondary education. As a general rule, a school needs written consent before disclosing personally identifiable information from those records. The exception that matters most for AI is the school official exception. A school may share records with an outside vendor that performs a service the school would otherwise do itself, has a legitimate educational interest, is under the school's direct control regarding use and maintenance of the data, and does not re-disclose it. That control is normally established through a contract or data privacy agreement. A teacher who signs up for a free chatbot under personal terms of service and pastes in graded work with names has created no such control. COPPA, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. It covers operators of commercial websites and online services directed at children under 13, or that knowingly collect personal information from them, and requires verifiable parental consent. FTC guidance lets a school consent on parents' behalf, but only for the educational purpose, not the vendor's commercial purposes such as advertising. The FTC finalized updates to the COPPA Rule in 2025. Common misconceptions: FERPA does not ban AI tools; it governs disclosure. Removing names is not always enough, because detailed stories about a student's family can still identify them. A vendor calling itself 'FERPA compliant' settles little, since compliance is the school's obligation and depends on the agreement. States add their own laws, such as California's SOPIPA. FERPA is enforced by the Department's Student Privacy Policy Office, and individuals cannot sue a school directly under FERPA.
Impact strategic
Risc și siguranță
Daunele catastrofale și cotidiene ale IA depind de cine înțelege riscurile și cine poate acționa.
Decizii mai clare
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Tăierea hype-ului
Explicațiile clare reduc captarea de hype, PR de laborator și teatrul vag de etică.
The Future of FERPA, COPPA and Student Privacy with AI
Expect more schools to route AI use through licensed education versions of tools rather than consumer accounts, because a contract is what turns a vendor into a school official under FERPA. State student-privacy laws continue to evolve, and the updated COPPA Rule raises expectations for how children's data is retained and shared. Federal regulators could issue further guidance specific to AI, but the core questions are unlikely to change: who receives student data, under whose control, for what purpose, and for how long. Teachers who build the habit of de-identifying prompts now will be prepared regardless of how the rules shift.
Implementare în lumea reală
A high school English teacher wants AI feedback on 30 essays. Instead of pasting them with names into a free consumer chatbot under her personal account, she uses the district-licensed tool covered by a signed data privacy agreement, and removes names and ID numbers anyway.
A district technology director reviews an AI tutoring vendor's contract and requires that student prompts are not used to train models, that data is deleted on request, and that the vendor names every subprocessor, including the underlying model provider.
A fifth-grade teacher wants her class to use an AI writing app. Because the students are under 13, COPPA applies; under FTC guidance the school can consent in place of parents only if the vendor uses the data for the classroom purpose and not for advertising.
A counselor is tempted to paste a student's IEP notes into a chatbot to draft a letter home. She recognizes those notes as a sensitive education record and instead writes the prompt with generic placeholders like 'Student A' and no identifying details.
Riscuri și balustrade
Tratarea riscului existențial ca SF în timp ce capacitatea se agravează.
Confuză siguranța produsului de suprafață cu alinierea sub autonomie ridicată.
Lăsând audiențe non-engleze și neexperte doar surse de calitate scăzută.
Foaia de parcurs de implementare
Separați riscurile de deteriorare a produsului, utilizare greșită și pierderea controlului / dezaliniere.
Întrebați ce dovezi v-ar schimba punctul de vedere cu privire la termene și severitate.
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Întrebări frecvente
What is FERPA, COPPA and Student Privacy with AI?
FERPA and COPPA are the two main US federal laws that apply when a teacher puts student work, names or records into an AI tool: FERPA controls when schools may disclose information from education records, and COPPA limits how commercial online services collect personal information from children under 13. Knowing how each one applies lets educators use AI without exposing students, or their schools, to privacy harms.
Under FERPA's school official exception, what condition must an outside AI vendor meet?
The exception requires the vendor to perform an institutional service, have a legitimate educational interest, stay under the school's direct control over the data, and not re-disclose it. A contract usually establishes that control.
COPPA's consent requirements apply to personal information collected from children of what age?
COPPA covers commercial operators directed at children under 13 or that knowingly collect data from them.
Which agency enforces COPPA?
COPPA is enforced by the FTC, while FERPA is enforced by the Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office.
When do FERPA rights transfer from parents to the student?
A student who turns 18 or attends a postsecondary institution becomes an 'eligible student' and holds the FERPA rights.
Why might removing students' names from an essay still leave it identifiable?
FERPA's definition of PII includes indirect identifiers and information linkable to a student, such as a rare diagnosis or a named family event.
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