---
title: FERPA in AmplifyED (operational)
category: security
order: 1
lastUpdated: 2026-06-08
featureAvailability: GA
roles: [admin, district-admin, facilitator]
relatedArticles: [procurement/ferpa-overview, security/access-controls, student-management/ferpa-exports, procurement/data-retention-deletion]
---

## At a glance

- **Who uses it:** Admins and facilitators operating AmplifyED day-to-day.
- **Purpose:** The operational counterpart to the procurement-facing [FERPA overview](/help/procurement/ferpa-overview) — what you actually do inside the app to stay aligned with FERPA.

## The short version

- Treat AmplifyED as part of your student education record.
- Use roles to enforce need-to-know.
- Use note visibility to keep parent-bound text intentional.
- Use the audit log when responding to parent or compliance inquiries.
- Use the dossier export for FERPA-formatted record requests.

## Day-to-day practices

### Mind note visibility

Notes are **Internal** by default. Choose **Teacher-visible** only when the teacher needs the content for instruction. Choose **Parent-visible** only when the content is appropriate for a parent dossier — typically plan summaries and outcome statements.

### Don't paste PII you don't need

If a note doesn't need a Social Security number, a diagnosis code, or a sibling's name, don't paste it. Anything written becomes part of the record.

### Use the right form for the right submitter

- Parents and students submit on the **student intake** form.
- School staff submit on the **staff intake** form.

Both honor your district's branding and FERPA notice.

### Respond to parent inspection requests via the dossier export

Don't email screenshots. Use **Students → open student → Export record** to generate a FERPA-formatted ZIP with PDF + CSVs. See [FERPA exports](/help/student-management/ferpa-exports).

### Lean on the audit log

When asked "who looked at my child's record," filter the audit log to that student. The log shows every read, export, and edit.

## What FERPA expects from the school (not AmplifyED)

- Granting access only to staff with a legitimate educational interest.
- Notifying parents of their rights under FERPA annually.
- Handling parent requests for inspection and amendment of records.
- Maintaining the school's record of disclosures.

AmplifyED provides the tooling (roles, audit log, dossier export). The judgment calls remain the school's.

## Related articles

- [FERPA overview (procurement)](/help/procurement/ferpa-overview)
- [Access controls](/help/security/access-controls)
- [FERPA exports](/help/student-management/ferpa-exports)
- [Data retention & deletion](/help/procurement/data-retention-deletion)

## FAQ

**Do facilitators automatically have a "legitimate educational interest"?**
The platform scopes facilitators to their assigned caseload. The school decides which staff hold the facilitator role, and that decision is the basis for legitimate educational interest under FERPA.

**What if a parent disputes a note?**
Use **Note → ⋯ → Redact** (admin only). Redacting clears the body and preserves authorship/timestamp in the audit log. Add a follow-up note documenting the amendment if your process requires it.