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chalker wrote:5. FERPA. This is a federal law that restricts the release of personal student information. There are a lot of nuances involved in the law, but I know that several lawyers have looked at it and indicated that various SO related institutions might be at risk were they to release detailed information on competitor performances. There is some ambiguity here, but some of the guidance that's been provided is to NOT release raw data / tests.

Random question: is this the law that Illinois lists as a reason for why they don't release raw scores, or is there a more restrictive state law?

chalker wrote:5. FERPA. This is a federal law that restricts the release of personal student information. There are a lot of nuances involved in the law, but I know that several lawyers have looked at it and indicated that various SO related institutions might be at risk were they to release detailed information on competitor performances. There is some ambiguity here, but some of the guidance that's been provided is to NOT release raw data / tests.

I am not in favor of releasing everything, but FERPA is not one of the reasons. When I can see in the local paper and online the individual football stats of any player on our high school team or the times, distances, or heights of our track athletes, it is hard to see how SO results are any different. I long for a day when all the SO teams are given that kind of invasion of privacy.

GoldenKnight1 wrote:

chalker wrote:5. FERPA. This is a federal law that restricts the release of personal student information. There are a lot of nuances involved in the law, but I know that several lawyers have looked at it and indicated that various SO related institutions might be at risk were they to release detailed information on competitor performances. There is some ambiguity here, but some of the guidance that's been provided is to NOT release raw data / tests.

I am not in favor of releasing everything, but FERPA is not one of the reasons. When I can see in the local paper and online the individual football stats of any player on our high school team or the times, distances, or heights of our track athletes, it is hard to see how SO results are any different. I long for a day when all the SO teams are given that kind of invasion of privacy.

By "everything", do you include tests and raw scores, or just raw scores? If the latter, why?

I think raw scores should be released for everything but not the graded tests that students took at Regionals and States for the reasons Chalker has listed and more. I see no reason why you should not get to find out how close (or otherwise) the scores were. Though I do feel that if you are not going to release the non-building event scores then you should not release the building event scores.

Unome wrote:

chalker wrote:5. FERPA. This is a federal law that restricts the release of personal student information. There are a lot of nuances involved in the law, but I know that several lawyers have looked at it and indicated that various SO related institutions might be at risk were they to release detailed information on competitor performances. There is some ambiguity here, but some of the guidance that's been provided is to NOT release raw data / tests.

Random question: is this the law that Illinois lists as a reason for why they don't release raw scores, or is there a more restrictive state law?

Yes, this is the case in Illinois specifically, although I believe that many states, including Illinois, have state laws modeled after FERPA. I've personally discussed this in the past with legal counsel.

GoldenKnight1 wrote: I am not in favor of releasing everything, but FERPA is not one of the reasons. When I can see in the local paper and online the individual football stats of any player on our high school team or the times, distances, or heights of our track athletes, it is hard to see how SO results are any different. I long for a day when all the SO teams are given that kind of invasion of privacy.

FERPA absolutely is one of the reasons some tournaments cite. You can go to the Illinois state website and find a page that discusses the fact they don't release raw scores due to legal restrictions. In my discussions with legal counsel in the past about this, I too brought up the athletic stat angle. If I recall correctly, there are 2 potential reasons those are allowed: 1. there a specific exemptions in some state laws allowing for the release 2. those aren't considered 'academic' records. It's debatable if SO results are 'academic' records, but clearly they are much more likely to be considered academic by a court than athletic.

Check out the newly renovated state website!