Skip Navigation
Forum Guide to the Privacy of Student Information
NCES 2006-805
July 2006

Military Recruiters

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 both require high schools to provide military recruiters with access to directory-type information on secondary school students. Upon request, and after notifying parents, schools must release to military recruiters the name, address, and telephone numbers of high school juniors and seniors. (The disclosed information is used only for armed services recruiting and to inform high school students of scholarship opportunities.)

To minimize their administrative burden, some schools notify parents of the military recruiters' right to student data by utilizing the same notice they use to inform parents of directory information disclosure. A sample directory information notice with reference to disclosures to military recruiters can be found on the Family Policy Compliance Office's (FPCO) website.

Schools that normally do not disclose directory information policy and, therefore, may not have a directory-information disclosure policy under FERPA, must nevertheless release to military recruiters the student information listed above unless parents (or eligible students) disallow disclosure.