Data Stewardship: Managing Personally Identifiable Information in Student Education Records (NCES 2011-602)

Each Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) Technical Brief is intended to provide “best practices” for consideration by states developing Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems. This SLDS Technical Brief focuses on data stewardship, which involves each organization's commitment to ensuring that privacy, confidentiality, security, and the appropriate use of data are respected when personally identifiable information is collected. Data stewardship involves all aspects of data collection, from planning, collection and maintenance to use and dissemination. The Brief also discusses internal control procedures that should be implemented to protect personally identifiable information, including the use of unique student identifiers and linking codes, workforce security, authorization for access, role based access to student record data, permitted uses, and the handling of data breaches. This Brief concludes with a discussion of accountability and auditing, including an overview of the types of audit activities that can be implemented to ensure that all stages of data stewardship have been successfully implemented.