ARTICLE INTENDED FOR:
Faculty and Staff users of Starfish
INTRODUCTION:
By accepting a role in Starfish, users accept the responsibility to:
- Protect the privacy of student records
- Maintain standards of accurate and ethical record-keeping
POLICY NUMBER:
AD-11 University Policy on Confidentiality of Student Records
AD-88 Code of Responsible Conduct
POLICY DESCRIPTION:
1. Protect the privacy of student records
Both Federal and University policies apply to the privacy of Starfish records. Users must adhere to all policies when accessing and creating student records.
Federal policy
All records in Starfish are part of the student’s educational record, and are protected by The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- Students have the right to view Starfish records by request
- All Starfish users must complete the Penn State FERPA Tutorial
University Policy
AD-11 University Policy on Confidentiality of Student Records applies to all Starfish records
- Users should only access Starfish records to perform their job
- Users should never look up student records out of curiosity
- Users should never include medical information in a Starfish record
2. Maintain standards of accurate and ethical record-keeping
Starfish is used to record recommendations and interpretations of policy. This record protects both the student and the university by allowing mistakes to be corrected, and students to be held accountable to instructions provided by university personnel.
AD-88 Code of Responsible Conduct requires university personnel to:
- Keep accurate, complete, and appropriately documented records
- Abide by the appropriate professional code of ethics – in this case, academic advising
To maintain appropriate records, Starfish users will:
- Record the recommendations and policy interpretations shared with students
- Follow appropriate conventions of documentation, so records are complete, but do not include protected information
- Consult Starfish records made by others
- Follow up on tracking items (e.g., flags and kudos)