Students Grading Papers

The Supreme Court has ruled that students grading other students' papers is not a violation of the law and calling out the grade is not
a violation of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act.  The case was decided as a result of a class action lawsuit filed against the
Owasso Independent School District in Oklahoma.  In the case before the court, students would exchange papers and mark them according
to the teacher's directions.  The paper(s) would then be returned to the owner.  Students would have the option of calling out his own score
or to go privately to the teacher's desk with the grade. 

Justice Kennedy writing for the court said, "...even assuming a teachers grade book is an education record, the Court of Appeals erred,
for in all events the grades on students papers would not be covered under FERPA at least until the teacher has collected them and
recorded them in his or her grade book.  We limit our holding to this narrow point, and do not decide the broader question whether the
grades on individual student assignment, once they are turned in to teachers, are protected by the Act."

Read the Supreme Court Decision