Data Governance

This brief provides guidance on how to successfully manage complex data systems by establishing a comprehensive data governance approach. Data governance principles discussed in this paper apply to a large number of audiences and can be used to improve data management of systems spanning pre-school through postsecondary education and into the workforce.

This PTAC Document aims to assist schools and districts in crafting data use policies to ensure appropriate protection of students’ data.  While it is not mandatory to develop a data use policy, the U.S. Department of Education recommends doing so as a best practice.

This document was developed as a companion piece to the video Developing a Privacy Program for your School District.  The document provides an overview and rationale for why districts need, and should take the time to create and implement a program to protect personally identifiable information from student records.

This guidance document is intended to help educational agencies and institutions create visual “maps” of how their data flows in the data systems.  Including maps in data governance plans can help organizations better understand what data are in their systems, where the data reside, what sources they come from, why those data are collected, what limitations or restrictions apply, how they are linked, and what policy questions those data are used to answer.

mapping data flow flows

This checklist is designed to assist stakeholder organizations with establishing and maintaining a successful data governance program by summarizing the key data privacy and security components of such a program and listing specific best practice action items.

This case study illustrates a scenario where the Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) investigates an alleged violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, resulting in SPPO imposing a 5-year ban on sharing education data with the offending party.

This document provides best practice recommendations for State educational agencies (SEAs) on presenting information about education data governance and sharing on a SEA website. 

Parents often ask questions like “What information are you collecting about my child?” “Why do you need that information, and what do you use it for?” or “How do you safeguard my child’s information?” These are legitimate questions that parents want schools and districts to answer.  This document provides a number of recommendations for keeping parents and students better informed about schools’ and districts’ collection and use of student data.