Researchers (And Reporters) Against FERPA

There's an interesting post in The Gadfly from the past week about how the 1974 FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) law is hindering education research (and theoretically intiatives like growth models and value-added assessments as well).

One thing that gets left out of the post -- and the EdWeek story that inspired it -- is the impact of FERPA on reporters' efforts to document what's going on in schools. I'm all for student privacy, but I hate school officials invoking FERPA (not always accurately) in response to information requests. And for God's sake, change the name.