Student data privacy and education research must be balanced (Michael Hansen, Brookings)

Last week, the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing on data privacy protections for students. At issue is whether and how Congress will update the decades-old Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, commonly known as FERPA, for use in the modern age where big data is king. It's a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records, and which governs the state and local education agencies that collect and maintain data on their students.

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Michael Hansen is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and the Deputy Director of the Brown Center on Education Policy. A labor economist by training, he has conducted original research on the teacher quality, value-added measurement, teacher evaluation, and teacher responses to incentives and accountability using state longitudinal data systems. Other areas of research include school turnaround and STEM learning.