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Spellings Offers Guidance to Help Clarify Privacy Law

Document seeks to tell when concerns about a student may be shared.

Alexandria, Va.

The Department of Education has issued simpler guidance for parents and educators aimed at clearing up widespread confusion about when information may be shared under the main federal student-privacy law. The document tries to help schools more easily identify students who pose a threat of violence and get preventive aid for them.

Also, the FBI has issued a report indicating that the most prevalent incidents of crime in schools and colleges are simple assaults, followed by drug violations and destruction of property.

The simpler guidance for understanding the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act , or FERPA, grew out of recommendations by federal officials, including Ms. Spellings, that studied the fatal April 16 shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, in Blacksburg, Va. A panel established by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, had recommended that Congress and the Education Department consider changes to FERPA and its regulations to clarify confusing provisions of the law and to offer stronger protections for school officials over...