Educational Research: Student Submission to Surveys, Analyses, or Evaluation

In this policy, “surveys, analyses, or evaluations” refer to methods of gathering data for research purposes.

No student shall be required to submit to any survey, analysis, or evaluation that reveals information concerning:            

1. Political affiliations or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent;
2. Mental or psychological problems of the student or the student’s family;
3. Sex behavior or attitudes;
4. Illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior;
5. Critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close family relationships;
6. Legally recognized privileged or analogous relationships, such as those of lawyers, physicians, and ministers;
7. Religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or student’s parents; or
8. Income (other than that required by law to determine eligibility for participation in a program or for receiving financial assistance under such program without the prior written consent of the student’s parent/guardian, or of the student, if he/she is 18 years of age or older).

Before any survey, analysis, or evaluation is administered to any student that covers the above topics,

1. the District must notify the student’s parent or guardian of the survey and each of the sensitive topics listed above that it covers;
2. the District must provide the student’s parent or guardian with the option to receive a copy of such survey, analysis, or evaluation for review; and
3. the District must obtain the affirmative written consent of the student’s parent or guardian to administer such survey, analysis, or evaluation to their child. Consent must be obtained separately for each such survey, analysis, or evaluation. 

All instructional materials, including teachers’ manuals, films, tapes, or other supplementary material which will be used in connection with any such survey, analysis, or evaluation shall be available upon request for inspection by the student’s parent/guardian.  For the purpose of this policy, “instructional material” does not include academic tests or assessments.

A parent may inspect, upon request, any survey created by a third party before the survey is administered or distributed to a student.

The Superintendent/designee will be responsible for implementing any procedures necessary to protect the privacy of participating students and to provide parents with access to surveys not less than 14 days before administration or distribution.

The District will notify parents of this policy at least annually at the beginning of the school year and within a reasonable time of any substantive change in policy. The District will also directly notify parents annually at the beginning of the school year when surveys, analyses, or evaluations are scheduled or anticipated.  Parents shall have the opportunity to opt their child out of participation in any survey, analysis, or evaluation, regardless of the topics that they cover.  Students who are 18 years of age or older may opt out of such surveys, analyses, or evaluations.

Parents/guardians or eligible students who believe their rights have been violated may file a complaint with the Family Policy Compliance Office of the U.S. Department of Education. LEGAL REF: 20 U.S.C. § 1232(h)