Is the release of student work to the public covered by FERPA?

The correct answer recognizes the importance of protecting students' personally identifiable information under FERPA, which stands for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. FERPA generally prohibits educational institutions from disclosing personally identifiable information from student education records without the student's consent.

In the context of student work being released to the public, if that work includes identifiable details about the student, such as their name, contact information, or other unique identifiers, then it is covered by FERPA and cannot be released without the student's explicit consent. This ensures the privacy and confidentiality of students' educational records, aligning with FERPA's primary aim of safeguarding individuals' educational information.

Situations where the work does not contain personally identifiable information may change the dynamics, but the involvement of identifiable information necessitates compliance with FERPA regulations to protect student privacy. The other options do not adequately reflect the requirements relating to consent and privacy laid out by FERPA, leading to their inability to capture the law's full scope regarding publicly accessible student work.