As an employee of a school or other education institution, you may sometimes access individual student records while performing your official duties. Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), you are legally and ethically obliged to safeguard the confidentiality of any information they contain. This guide provides a general overview of the legal and related issues you may encounter while carrying out your duties. The Forum Guide to the Privacy of Student Information: A Resource for Schools was written to help school and local education agency staff better understand and apply FERPA, a federal law that protects privacy interests of parents and students in student education records. The Forum has developed full reports on student (and staff ) privacy guidance, but a shorter document was needed to provide a quick overview and links to other resources when more information is needed. This guide 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.