Erin Werra Archives - Education IT Reporter

Tag: Erin Werra

Jan 7
2026

How FERPA Informs K-12 Cybersecurity

By Erin Werra, Marketing Content Specialist, Skyward.

Though the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA) was implemented in 2000, a 1974 law paved the way for kids’ privacy online.

The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) came first and dealt primarily with paper gradebooks and report cards then. How times change.

Today, FERPA holds the line in multiple ways. Not only does the regulation give families rights to access their children’s data, but it also provides guidance for what schools need to do to protect children’s data—whether it’s kept in paper files onsite or hosted files in the cloud. And as edtech providers build solutions for schools, FERPA provides the foundation for any decision dealing with student data.

Since schools are custodians of children’s data, the buck stops with the superintendent and school board. This means school districts must choose an edtech vendor with superior security strategy. What does that look like? There are two parallel security rails that keep student data safe in a student information system (SIS).

The first is FERPA’s language about “legitimate educational interest.” The way an SIS manages who can see which student matters. This may be permissions-based, which means certain roles will have less access in the software. From a security standpoint, this tactic supports least privilege: only the minimum necessary rights are granted to each user, creating higher levels of security in the system overall.

Next, it’s crucial that each edtech vendor have a deep and rich repository of authentication tools, including multi-factor authentication (MFA) and single sign on. But it’s perhaps even more important to have the right attitude about keeping data safe and each user’s responsibility to prevent exposing credentials to a cybercriminal.

It’s up to each school district to defend whether an educator has a legitimate educational interest and therefore can view a student’s data. So in practice, limiting access to student data may result in pushback.

After all, legitimate interest may exist, but an SIS system cannot be reasoned with to accept one-off cases. What can teams do to manage the real needs of educators and create a secure AND reasonable, FERPA-compliant approach to sharing data?

Just like edtech vendors, this is a double-winged approach. First, educators can understand student data in its repository role: that is, the data is kept safe and secure (whether that’s an onsite data center or a cloud-hosted approach) until it is needed.

Next, educators can own their roles in staying FERPA-compliant with complete administrative support. On occasion an educator is asked by families to share student data, but far more common is the review of student data by professional learning communities (PLC). This analysis helps educators determine their efficacy, crowdsource ideas from other professionals, and create detailed strategies for student progress. It’s important! It’s equally important to maintain student privacy.

That’s why the practice of FERPA first can inform how educators share information amongst each other, whether in software or via printouts and screenshots. If teachers choose to print and capture, those reproductions are covered under FERPA, too.

Educators are targeted by criminals spoofing edtech software providers. Being empowered to protect the network by being critical of email requests and aware of phishing scams can help your district stay FERPA compliant.

Another obstacle for FERPA compliance? The kids themselves.

Students who are digital natives do not automatically understand good boundaries of data stewardship, but you can bet they can navigate a device quickly. This can be a recipe for disaster.

The good news is educators and edtech vendors are well aware students can pose a threat to data security. Students can infiltrate secure systems using stolen or guessed passwords, so educators can create a strong passphrase and use MFA, reporting any unexpected prompts for credentials to IT. Students can stumble upon printed data, so educators can secure, destroy, or redact the information they export from edtech systems.

For an act pre-dating the widespread use of technology, FERPA does some pretty outstanding things to keep K12 data safe in cyberspace. Whether it’s written, typed, calculated using grading software, or otherwise introduced into an edtech system, the right attitude about protecting student data matters. FERPA matters.

Dec 7
2021

Use Task-Based Permission To Tighten Security

By Erin Werra, edtech enthusiast and writer, Skyward.

One of the core tenants of FERPA states that student records should only be available to those who have a specific need to see them. On the other side of district operations, sensitive financial information can easily become fodder for fraud if it falls into the wrong hands.

There’s a lot of data to safeguard as a system administrator.

One strategy to explore is task-based roles in your student information system or enterprise resource planning system. How does this strategy keep your data safe? Let’s explore.

Roles vs. tasks

The first step is to define the difference between roles and tasks within the software.

Roles apply to the user and carry a specific set of permissions.

Tasks are actions available to the user, including screens in different areas of the software, and different data sets the user can access.

In some systems, the default method of assigning permissions (whether view or edit permissions) is based on an individual’s role in the organization. But what if users who share a role shouldn’t necessarily share access to the same screens, tasks, and data?

Task-based permission and least privilege

Rather than automatically assign everyone in a similar role the same permissions, consider instead which screens, data, and tasks people in those roles need to view. Consider the concept of least privilege: only the minimum necessary rights should be granted to maintain the highest level of security.

Let’s say, for example, a new administrative assistant needs to access data about demographics, attendance, and create new student profiles. The system administrator can create a role using those exact permissions, and then add the role to the related security group. This might mean all administrative assistants have similar, but not identical, permissions and are all part of the same security group.

Aug 21
2021

The Cost of Proactive vs. Reactive Data Security

By Erin Werra, writer, Skyward’s Advancing K12 blog.

This past year, K12 schools became the top targets of ransomware attacks. In August and September 2020, districts accounted for 57% of reported ransomware attacks. You know the threat is out there, but is your district prepared?

Nothing worth having is free. Create a strong plan when things are going well, and you’ll be grateful if disaster strikes.

Security teams

Brilliant teams are run by people, not by machines. Salary, training, and planning fall under this category.

Has your security team grown in proportion with ransomware risks? According to CoSN’s 2020 EdTech Leadership survey, 69% of districts say they are proactive or very proactive—but less than 20% of respondents had a dedicated full-time employee responsible for cybersecurity. 46% listed it as a shared responsibility, 30% “part of the job,” and 10% ad-hoc. This means an overwhelming majority of school districts run the risk of cybersecurity missteps or passing the buck.

One study by ISC², a professional IT organization, shows more than 4 million cybersecurity jobs are unfilled worldwide. Not only is this a potential blind spot, but it’s an opportunity for students pursuing STEM and computer science fields.

Backup services

Know your data recovery options. Data hosting services may offer multiple options for backup and recovery, but multiple data centers should be a priority. Whether hosting offsite or in person, frequent backups are crucial.

Single sign-on

Humans creating passwords is one of the weakest points of any network. Single sign-on uses multiple strategies to strengthen security, as well as makes logging on to the many, many different ed tech solutions any given district relies on much easier.

Training programs

Constant vigilance is easier when training prompts frequent reminders. Your team members all possess wildly different levels of tech savviness—even the most grizzled veterans of the computer sciences benefit from security training updates. Security training creates a unified set of standards for everyone to follow and may even give you a baseline set of data, so you know where to add training.

Crisis communication templates

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and create templates when the worst is yet to come. Readers will appreciate calm, collected communication more than a slapdash letter in the event of a data breach.