Security / Privacy
Click here to view Cal-PASS Security Policies.
Below is an excerpt from The Family Educational Right to Privacy Act (Buckley Amendment) that covers Cal-PASS activities...
Student record data may be released to:
(F) organizations conducting studies for, or on behalf of, educational agencies or institutions for the purpose of developing, validating, or administering predictive tests, administering student aid programs, and improving instruction (emphasis added), if such studies are conducted in such a manner as will not permit the personal identification of students and their parents by persons other than representatives of such organizations and such information will be destroyed when no longer needed for the purpose for which it is conducted.
Visit the FERPA homepage.
Guiding Principles for Data Use
All Cal-PASS participants agree to adhere to the following data sharing guiding principles. These principles are displayed on the Cal-PASS web site before any access to data (unitary or aggregate) occurs.
- Data Ownership - Each school, community college and university retains the right to its own data. The specific Data Sharing Consortium can claim no right to ownership of data produced for Consortium research. Moreover, institutional members of the Consortium are permitted access to data for uses previously approved by the Consortium.
- Data Uses - Information produced through this consortium is primarily for internal institutional use.
- Consortium Review for External Reporting - When deciding to release data that is not for internal purposes, every consortium member shall first review the data and determine what data will be released and in what form.
- Sensitivity to Consortium Members - Any reports utilizing consortium data shall not disadvantage any institution in the consortium.
- Confidentiality Safeguards - No individual person will be identified in any report. Each member of the consortium will maintain as confidential all data received from any other member. Each party will establish at least the safeguards set forth in this guiding principle to ensure the continued confidentiality and security of the student data and to preclude the personal identification of students or their parents by persons other than designated officials of the institution. All student records will be kept in secure facilities. Any information published in any form will not have the potential to identify individual students. Each institution will comply with all provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and applicable California law concerning the privacy of student records. The confidentiality requirements of this guiding principle shall survive termination or expiration of the data-sharing agreement/MOU. All student data transmitted to and retrieved from the consortium server shall be maintained (processed, stored, and transmitted in a secure manner) to further protect the confidential nature of the data.