FERPA and privacy of student information

Q: Are there limitations on what schools can track with regard to a student’s age? The ATEC survey requests that the school provide average age of a student, can I provide that information?

A: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) sets forth the rules on privacy of information and what schools can and cannot share with third parties without the student’s consent.  So, for example, a school could not share grades, academic performance, conduct, absenteeism, billing, financial aid, or other academically-related material with a third party unless my student has given consent on that information.
 
FERPA laws state: "An academic institution may disclose, without any consent, “directory” information such as the student’s name, telephone number, date of birth, address, dates of attendance and any scholastic achievements if applicable. That being said, an academic institution must notify all eligible students and all parents concerning directory information and offer eligible students and parents a reasonable amount of time to request the institution to not disclose directory information about them."
 
So, unless a student specifically asks the school not to release “directory information” (that information that could be found in a simple directory listing of students), then the school can release that information.  Given the fact that the Department of Education includes date of birth as directory information, a school absolutely can provide not only the age of its average students, it could go as far as providing a list of their active students and their individual ages.

See more at:  https://education.laws.com/ferpa-regulations