Protecting Student Records and Facilitating Education Research: A Workshop Summary (2009)

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Margaret Hilton, Rapporteur Committee on National Statistics Center for Education Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education 

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS  500 Fifth Street, N.W.  Washington, DC 20001 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Gov- erning Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engi- neering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This study was supported by Award No. 20071157 between the National Acad- emy of Sciences and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Award No. 9010 between the National Academy of Sciences and the William T. Grant Foundation, and Award No. 200800057 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Spencer Foundation. The work of the Committee on National Statistics is sup- ported by a consortium of federal agencies through a grant from the National Science Foundation (Number SBR-0453930). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project. International Standard Book Number-13:  978-0-309-12799-8 International Standard Book Number-10:  0-309-12799-8 Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); Internet, http://www.nap.edu. Copyright 2009 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America Suggested citation: National Research Council (2009). Protecting Student Records and Facilitating Education Research: A Workshop Summary. Margaret Hilton, Rap- porteur. Committee on National Statistics and Center for Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. 

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Planning Committee on Protecting Student Records and Facilitating Education Research Felice J. Levine (Chair), American Educational Research Association, Washington, DC Robert F. Boruch, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Helen F. Ladd, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University Martin Orland, WestEd, Washington, DC Jay Pfeiffer, Florida Department of Education, Tallahassee Barbara Schneider, College of Education, Michigan State University Thomas J. Plewes, Study Director Margaret Hilton, Senior Program Officer, Center for Education Michael J. Siri, Senior Project Assistant Paula Skedsvold, Director of Education Research Policy, American Educational Research Association (until August 2008)  

Committee On National Statistics 2007-2008 William F. Eddy (Chair), Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University Katharine Abraham, Department of Economics and Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland WILLIAM Dumouchel, Lincoln Technologies, Inc., Waltham, Massachusetts John Haltiwanger, Department of Economics, University of Maryland V. Joseph Hotz, Department of Economics, Duke University Karen Kafadar, Department of Statistics, Indiana University Douglas Massey, Department of Sociology, Princeton University Sally Morton, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina Vijay Nair, Department of Statistics and Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan Joseph Newhouse, Division of Health Policy Research and Education, Harvard University Samuel H. Preston, Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania Kenneth Prewitt, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University Louise Ryan, Department of Biostatistics, Harvard University Roger Tourangeau, Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland, and Survey Research Center, University of Michigan Alan Zaslavsky, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard University Medical School Constance F. Citro, Director vi 

Acknowledgments This report is a summary of a workshop on protecting student records and facilitating education research convened by the National Research Council (NRC) and the American Educational Research Association. The workshop would not have become a reality without the generous support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation. We thank our colleagues who served on the planning committee, each of whom brought deep and varied expertise to the process of planning the workshop. Their diverse expertise on protecting student records and facil- itating education research added greatly to the success of the endeavor. Although the planning committee played an important role in designing the workshop, they did not participate in writing this report. We are especially grateful to the experts who quickly responded to our request for background papers on research and privacy issues, including Gerald Gates, U.S. Bureau of the Census (retired); Jane Hannaway, Urban Institute; Helen Ladd, Duke University, Susanna Loeb, Stanford Uni- versity; Clara Muschkin, Duke University; and Steven Winnick, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough. Their papers provided a substantive con- text for the rich discussions that took place at the workshop. We also thank the many experts, including members of the work- shop planning committee, who participated as presenters and panelists: Thomas R. Bailey, Columbia University; Ellen Campbell, U.S. Depart- ment of Education; Lizanne DeStefano, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign; Myron Gutmann, University of Michigan; Helen Ladd, Duke vii 

viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS University; Roberta Ness, University of Pittsburgh; Kenneth Prewitt, Columbia University; Ross Santy, U.S. Department of Education; Barbara Schneider, Michigan State University; Marilyn Seastrom, U.S. Department of Education; Jeff Sellers, Florida Department of Education; and Jonathan White, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This workshop summary has been reviewed in draft form by indi- viduals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the Report Review Committee of the National Research Council. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and respon- siveness to the charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process. We thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Eric Hanushek, Hoover Institu- tion, Stanford University; Stephen Plank, Department of Sociology and Baltimore Education Research Consortium, Johns Hopkins University; Barbara Schneider, College of Education, Michigan State University; and Steven Winnick, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, Washington, DC. Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the con- tent of the report, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Eleanor Singer, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. Appointed by the National Research Council, she was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the author and the institution. We are grateful for the leadership and support of Michael Feuer, executive director, and Miron Straf, deputy director of the NRC’s Divi- sion of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (DBASSE), and Constance Citro, director of the Committee on National Statistics. We also thank Paula Skedsvold, former director of education research policy at the American Educational Research Association, Margaret Hilton, senior program officer in the NRC Center for Education, Christine McShane, senior editor, and Michael Siri, senior project assistant in the Committee on National Statistics. Felice J. Levine, Chair Thomas J. Plewes, Study Director Planning Committee on Protecting Student Records and Facilitating Education Research 

Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Balancing Privacy, Confidentiality, and Access at the U.S. Department of Education 9 3 The Value of Education Research Using Student and School Records 23 4 Reconciling the Access, Privacy, and Confidentiality of Education Data 37 5 Reconciling Access and Confidentiality in Federal Statistical and Health Data 51 6 Reflections and Next Steps 75 References 83 Appendixes A Workshop Agenda and Participants 87 B Biographical Sketches of Planning Committee Members 93 ix