Data Processing and Privacy Protection

Once the Census Bureau receives the completed survey forms, staff enter responses from the surveys into electronic data files, which are checked against the survey forms for accuracy. Names, addresses, and other identifying information for schools, principals, teachers, library staff, and districts are removed from the files to protect respondents’ confidentiality.

When the respondents’ identifying information is removed from the data files, a school identification number is used to connect principal and teacher data to data from the schools in which they work. Only users who have official clearance from NCES may have access to data files that include data from Bureau of Indian Affairs schools or data that allow analysts to connect sampled schools, teachers, or principals to the school districts with which they are associated.

Three federal laws protect the confidentiality of all individually identifiable information collected by NCES–authorized surveys, of which SASS is one: the National Education Statistics Act of 1994, as amended, the Privacy Act of 1974, and the Computer Security Act of 1987. In particular, the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, as amended, prohibits any of these activities:

• Producing any publication in which data furnished by any particular individual can be identified; or
• Permitting any person not authorized by the NCES Commissioner to examine any individual data or reports.

A violation of any of these restrictions is a felony, punishable by imprisonment of up to five years, and a fine up to $250,000.

Top