AI for Teachers: Student Privacy and FERPA Basics Before You Use a Chatbot

Not legal advice. This is general information. Your district's policies, state law and your administrator or privacy officer decide what is allowed for you.

Before you use any AI tool for teaching, know what must stay out of it. This page belongs to the AI for Teachers hub and applies to every guide in it.

What FERPA is, in one paragraph

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a U.S. federal law that protects the privacy of student education records at schools that receive U.S. Department of Education funds. Schools generally need consent before disclosing personally identifiable information from those records, with exceptions, and generally must keep vendors that handle such data under school control through agreements. Read the Department of Education's explanations at studentprivacy.ed.gov. Other laws may also apply, such as COPPA (children under 13) and state student privacy laws.

Do not paste these into a general AI chatbot

• Student names, photos, ID numbers, addresses, birthdays or parent contact details.
• Grades, test scores, attendance, discipline or behavior records.
• IEP, 504, health, counseling or disability information.
• Student work with names or identifying details.
• Anything a student shared in confidence.
• Combinations of details that could identify a child even without a name ("the only 3rd grader in Room 12 who...").

What is generally lower risk

• Lesson outlines, example problems, vocabulary lists and activity ideas.
• Template letters and comment banks with placeholders.
• Rubrics and quiz drafts built from your own objectives.

Even these may be limited by district policy or by copyright and licensing of the material you paste.

Checklist before using a tool with students or student data

1. Is the tool approved by your school or district? If not, ask before using it for anything beyond non-student tasks.
2. Read the tool's privacy policy and terms. Does it use your inputs to train its models? Can that be turned off? (Settings change; check official pages.)
3. Age rules: many AI tools set minimum ages and may need parental consent for younger users. Check the terms before any student use.
4. Does the school have a data-protection agreement with the vendor?
5. Can parents opt out, and have they been told?

The U.S. Department of Education's 2024 toolkit, Empowering Education Leaders: A Toolkit for Safe, Ethical, and Equitable AI Integration, discusses privacy, data security and opting out; see also the Department's AI guidance page.

Habits that protect you

• Use placeholders, then fill in details outside the AI tool (see parent emails).
• Use a work account on an approved tool rather than a personal account when your school provides one.
• Keep a note of which tools you used for what, in case your school asks.
• Check outputs for accuracy and bias (how to check AI answers).

For general personal-data safety, read is it safe to share personal info with AI chatbots?

Frequently asked questions

Does FERPA ban teachers from using AI?

No. FERPA is about protecting personally identifiable information in education records. Using AI for tasks that involve no such information is generally outside its concern, but your district policy may still apply.

Is it safe if I remove the student's name?

Not always. Other details can still identify a student. When in doubt, leave it out.

What if my school has an approved AI tool?

Follow the approved uses and any training your school provides. Approval for one use does not cover every use.

Who do I ask?

Your administrator, technology director or district privacy officer.