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Student records, and who may see them

A student record is anything the school keeps that identifies a learner, and it is seen by the family and by staff who need it to teach or protect that learner, and by nobody else without a written request.

Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.

What it is for

A colleague asks you to forward a file because they are doing a project. Another asks in the corridor how somebody did on the test. Both are ordinary friendly requests, and both have an answer that is not yours to give.

How to think about it

Three questions before anything is shared. Is this a record. Does this person need it to teach or protect this learner. Is there a written request from the family. If you cannot answer all three, it does not leave you, and the office handles it rather than you.

Worked example

Record: grades, attendance, reports, discipline file, assessment results
Kept by the school and identifying the learner.
Not a record while it stays private: your own memory-aid note, shown to nobody
The moment it is shared or filed, it becomes one.
Who may see it: the family, the learner where the rules allow, and staff who need it to teach the learner
Not everybody who works in the building.
Anyone else: a written request, handled by the office
Not by you, in a corridor, from memory.

Your turn

Write the test a colleague has to pass before a record is shared with them.

Staff may see a record only with an  reason.

The trap

The corridor conversation. Most records leak in friendly two-sentence exchanges between people who both work at the school, and neither of them meant anything at all by it.

Practise student records and who may see them on HoneA question on it now, a real problem where there is one, and it is remembered for review. Free, no email needed.