Teaching · For Teachers

Share the fewest fields, for a stated purpose, until a set date.

Pick the basis for sharing, list every data element and the question it answers, and check the agreement’s terms. The summary flags required terms that are missing, fields with no purpose, and how long until the data must be destroyed.

Start an agreement checkWhat you get
$5one-time · every device you sign in on
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Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the For Teachers toolkit, $79 for 72 items.

The agreement check

One record per agreement. No student records are entered here. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · For Teachers$5 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
For each agreement, the basis, a data element list tied to research questions, every term marked present or missing, security, the destruction date, and a list of fixes before signing.
Who it is for
District data and records officers, teachers and graduate students requesting data for research, research partners, and administrators who sign agreements.
Format
Browser checklist. Several saved agreements; printed with the summary for counsel, or as a blank checklist; CSV of the data element table; export and import a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the For Teachers toolkit ($79) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Teachers space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
only what is needed
Drawn for this page. A sound agreement shares the fewest fields that answer the questions, keeps them locked, and sets the day they are destroyed.

How to use it

  1. Start a record with an agreement code and the draft date.
  2. Choose the recipient and the basis for sharing, and write the research questions.
  3. List each data element, whether it identifies a student, and which question needs it.
  4. Mark each term as in the agreement or missing, and the security measures.
  5. Set the destruction date and fix what the summary lists before signing.

Start an agreement check

What the checklist is for

The studies exception

FERPA lets a school share personally identifiable information without consent with organizations conducting studies for it, under a written agreement that states the purpose, scope and duration and the information disclosed; limits use to that purpose; bars identifying students or parents to anyone outside the study; and requires destruction when the data are no longer needed, with a time period. The audit or evaluation exception has similar terms.

Minimum necessary

Each field shared is a field that can leak. Tying every element to a research question makes it easy to drop the ones nobody needs, such as an address in an attendance study. De-identified data still need care: grade, school and a rare category together can single a student out.

What this checklist is not

It is not legal advice or an approved template. Your district’s counsel and records officer approve agreements, and state student privacy laws often add terms.

Sources

  1. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act regulations, 34 CFR 99.31(a)(6) (studies exception and written agreement terms), 99.31(a)(3) and 99.35 (audit or evaluation exception), 99.31(b) (de-identified records) and 99.30 (written consent).
  2. U.S. Department of Education, Privacy Technical Assistance Center: Written Agreement Checklist and guidance on data sharing agreements.
  3. U.S. Department of Education, Privacy Technical Assistance Center: Data De-identification: An Overview of Basic Terms, and guidance on small cell suppression.
  4. National Center for Education Statistics, Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems technical brief: Basic Concepts and Definitions for Privacy and Confidentiality in Student Education Records (NCES 2011-601).

The example agreement is made up. The checklist helps draft an agreement; counsel and the records officer approve it. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.