Transcript Records Management for Teaching Assistants

Brad Houston, UWM Records Officer
August 19, 2014
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Control of records throughout their life cycle
to ensure efficiency in their creation, use,
maintenance, and disposition
Defines groups of records and their retention
times
Protects UWM and its employees against
audits/litigation
As a Teaching Assistant, you are subject to
Wisconsin Records Laws!
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Created whenever you
interact with students
 Gradebooks
 Student Coursework
 Email Correspondence
Retained for grade
appeals, audits
 Privacy laws and
concerns: dictates
disclosure
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Introduce participants to relevant policies and
schedules for student records, including
Electronic Records
Discuss retention and privacy requirements
under Family Education Rights and Privacy
Act (FERPA)
Suggest records participants should keep for
their own use
Procedures, retention, best practices
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Recorded information, in any format, that
allows an office to conduct business
 Value determined by content
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Four types of record value:
 Administrative
 Legal
 Fiscal
 Historical
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Personal materials
Working notes and drafts
 Once a draft is shared with colleagues, it becomes
a “record”
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Envelopes and routing slips
Duplicate copies
 Includes vast majority of “cc” email
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Any Record created in the course of dealing with
students or their information
 Vital
▪ Transcripts, accounts, enrollment lists
 Administrative
▪ Transcripts, Add/Drop forms, etc.
 Advising
▪ Case files, disciplinary files, email or written correspondence
 Academic
▪ Grades, Coursework, Exams, etc.
Records created over
course of academic
course
 Usually held by
individual instructors
 Very high
administrative value;
almost no long-term
value
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Academic and Grade Appeals!
 UWM Select Policies S-28 and S-29
 Students have up to one year to appeal grades
 Records kept through ALL levels of appeals
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Academic Records must show:
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No error made in grade calculation
Grade conforms to announced grading policy
Work done by students removing incomplete
Consistent grade calculation for new incompletes
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Grade Books: 2 years after grades assigned
Student Coursework: 1 year after grades
assigned
 Usually final exams the only example of these
materials that are retained
 Copies of papers, midterms, etc. fall under this
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Course Syllabi: 2 years after semester ends
and transfer to archives
 Why? Proof of grading policy consistency
Email correspondence
with students IS a
record (UWCOMM001)
 If you discuss grading
policy/rationale with
students, that
correspondence CAN
be used in appeal or
litigation
 If in doubt, discuss
grades only in person
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Electronic documents are
records too, and subject to
public records request!
Records in Content
Management Systems
(e.g. D2L or PAWS) may be
used as evidence in grade
appeals/grievances
PAWS/D2L issue: what
constitutes the “record” in
these databases?
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“Examinations, coursework, assignments,
etc. as retained by academic departments to
serve as source documents for submitted
official grades.”
Retention time: 6 months after grades
submitted
 n.b. If D2L records are ONLY copy of grade
records, save for 1 year after submission instead
▪ Export, export, export!
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In general, records created through PAWS are
responsibility of Enrollment Services
Access to student records subject to same
FERPA privacy/disclosure requirements
If you submit grades through PAWS, retain
documentation of grade calculations (grade
books, etc.)
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Online (within D2L or PAWS system)
 Convenient, but may involve access restrictions
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Off-line (Print out)
 Most reliable, but most unwieldy
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Near-line (PantherFile or OneDrive)
 Reliable, moderately accessible
 Don’ t rely on one hard drive or Departmental
LAN for this
 Security Settings!
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“Cloud computing” lets
you store and access
records remotely
 Dropbox, Google Drive,
etc.
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UWM only contracts
with OneDrive
 Security, Access *still*
not guaranteed
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Be aware of FERPA
concerns
Disclosure rules for Student Records
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Students have right to view educational
records
Educational records are only accessible to
student
 Student may authorize disclosure
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Directory Information may be made available
 Exception: if a student has opted-out
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Certain other exceptions exist
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All records pertaining to students maintained
at UWM
Presumption of confidentiality
Major exceptions:
 Instructor personal/sole possession notes
 Employment Records
 Campus Security Records
 Alumni records
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Individual Students
UWM Employees with “Genuine Educational
Interest”
Exempted classes
 Financial Aid Providers
 Other educational institutions (for transfers, etc.)
 Specifically exempted officials (FERPA Manual)
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Accrediting groups/student study groups
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Release FERPA-protected
information to parents
 Exception: if student is under
18
Post test or course grades
using social security
numbers
 Provide records to UWM
staff without “legitimate
educational interest”
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Yes! But make sure
first:
 You have the student’s
permission; OR
 You have redacted any
identifying information
from copies displayed or
distributed
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Do not disclose student information if you
have ANY doubt re: permissions
 Contact Legal Affairs for guidance
 Advise requestor to direct request to Public
Records Custodian
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Current Legal Affairs stance: presume ALL
student information is private
 Why? Directory Info “Opt Outs”
What you should be keeping as a student
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Your personal records as students, not TAs,
are not subject to Public Records laws
Retention of these records is for your benefit
on the other side of earlier cases:
 Grade Appeals
 Thesis/Comprehensive Examination Appeals
 Career-building/Networking
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Assume, however, that YOUR students will
have these in case of their own appeals
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Copy of syllabus and/or grading rubric
All graded materials; special emphasis on
materials under consideration
Any and all correspondence with instructors
Record of meetings, including dates and
topics discussed
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Reading Lists, with additions noted
Question Prompts (as applicable)
Copies of responses (as applicable)
Any/All correspondence with committee
members
Committee comments on responses (as
applicable)
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CURRENT copy of your resume/C.V.
Some examples of coursework/teaching
portfolio
 n.b. Keep this for students for whom you are likely
to WRITE letters of recommendation!
 Evaluation summaries for teaching portfolio
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Grant documentation
 Copies of: application, correspondence, research
data
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Most data from
research funded by
external sources must
be managed:
 For accessibility
 For sharing purposes
 For short- or long-term
storage
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http://uwm.edu/libraries/dataservices/
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See also: Responsible Conduct of
Research program
Summary and resources
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Retain most student academic records for at
minimum 1 year
Retain administrative or advising student
records according to schedules
Do not disclose student records outside of
specific exceptions
Prepare to preserve or purge electronic
records, as appropriate
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UWM FERPA Guide
 https://www4.uwm.edu/current_students/records_grades/
ferpa_facstaff.cfm
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UWM Select Policy 29: Grade Records and Retention
 http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/acad%2Badmin_policies/S29.
htm
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UWSA General Records Schedule for Academic
Records
 http://www.uwsa.edu/gc-
off/records/schedules/Student.Records.Reference.Chart.pdf
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UWM General Records Schedules
 http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/arch/recordsmgt/
common.cfm
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Records Management Guidelines
 http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/arch/recordsmgt/
guidelines.cfm
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D2L Cleanup Blog
 http://d2lcleanup.blogspot.com/
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This presentation available online:
 http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/arch/recordsmgt/TAstudent.ppt
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Or, contact UWM Records Management:
 [email protected] (Brad Houston)
 414-229-6979
 http://www.records.uwm.edu