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The Forum Guide to Data Ethics
NCES 2010-801
March 2010

Appendix A: Related Resources

These materials may be useful to school, district, or state education agency staff considering data ethics.

Forum Guide to Metadata: The Meaning Behind Education Data

Forum Guide to Metadata: The Meaning Behind Education Data

This document was developed to empower staff to use data more effectively as information. It explains what metadata are, why they are critical to the development of sound education data systems, what components comprise a metadata system, what value metadata bring to data management and use, and how to implement and use a metadata system in an education organization.

 

Every School Day Counts: The Forum Guide to Collecting and Using Attendance Data

Every School Day Counts: The Forum Guide to Collecting and Using Attendance Data

This Forum guide offers best practice suggestions on collecting and using student attendance data to improve performance. It includes a standard set of codes to make attendance data comparable across districts and states. The publication also presents real-life examples of how attendance information has been used by school districts.

 

Managing an Identity Crisis: Forum Guide to Implementing New Federal Race and Ethnicity Categories

Managing an Identity Crisis: Forum Guide to Implementing New Federal Race and Ethnicity Categories

This best-practice guide was developed to assist state and local education agencies in their implementation of the new federal race and ethnicity categories, thereby reducing redundant efforts within and across states, improving data comparability, and minimizing reporting burdens. It serves as a toolkit from which users may select and adopt strategies to help them quickly begin the process of implementation in their agencies.

 

Forum Guide to the Privacy of Student Information: A Resource for Schools

Forum Guide to the Privacy of Student Information: A nResource for Schools

This free publication was written to help school and local education agency staff members better understand and apply the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law that protects privacy interests of parents and students in student education records. It defines terms such as "education records" and "directory information"; and offers guidance for developing appropriate privacy policies and information disclosure procedures related to military recruiting, parental rights and annual notification, videotaping, online information, media releases, surveillance cameras, and confidentiality concerns related specifically to health-related information. Much of the guidance relating to privacy policies would be of interest to organizations generating business rules about the topic.

 

Forum Guide to Protecting the Privacy of Student Information: State and Local Education Agencies

Forum Guide to Protecting the Privacy of Student Information: State and Local Education Agencies

This free guide presents a general overview of privacy laws and professional practices that apply to information collected for, and maintained in, student records. The publication also provides an overview of key principles and concepts governing student privacy; summarizes federal privacy laws including recent changes; identifies issues concerning the release of information to both parents and external organizations; and suggests good data management practices for schools, districts, and state education agencies. Much of the guidance relating to privacy policies would be of interest to organizations generating business rules about the topic.

 

Forum Curriculum for Improving Education Data: A Resource for Local Education Agencies

Forum Curriculum for Improving Education Data: A Resource for Local Education Agencies

This curriculum supports efforts to improve the quality of education data by serving as training materials for K–12 school and district staff. It provides lesson plans, instructional handouts, and related resources, and presents concepts necessary to help schools develop a culture for improving data quality.

 

Forum Guide to Education Indicators

Forum Guide to Education Indicators

This publication provides encyclopedia-type entries for 44 commonly used education indicators. Each entry contains a definition, recommended uses, usage caveats and cautions, related policy questions, data element components, a formula, commonly reported subgroups, and display suggestions. This publication will help readers better understand how to appropriately develop, apply, and interpret commonly used education indicators.

 

NCES Nonfiscal Data Handbook for Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education (2007)

The NCES Handbooks are a valuable source of metadata for organizations and individuals interested in education data. These print and online resources define standard education terms for students, staff, schools, local education agencies, intermediate education agencies, and state education agencies. The Handbooks are intended to serve as a reference for public and private organizations, including education institutions and early childhood centers, as well as education researchers and other users of education data. In order to improve access to this valuable resource, NCES has also developed the NCES Handbooks Online, a web–based tool that allows users to view and download Handbook information via an electronic table of contents, a drill down finder, element name and first letter searches, and advanced query options.

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