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The Department of Education received some 125 comments on proposed new regulations for the main federal school privacy law suggesting revisions to make sure student data remain accessible to researchers, to enable states to better track student outcomes, and to protect school officials who disclose student information to ensure the health and safety of students and others.

The proposed changes to the regulations for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, released March 24, represent the most comprehensive update to the law鈥檚 guidance in decades. At the K-12 level, says parents must consent to the release of their children鈥檚 educational records that contain personally identifiable information.

The proposed rules would make it clear that schools can enter into agreements to provide researchers with individual student data, as long as the subject of the research was testing, student aid, or 鈥渢o improve instruction.鈥� And, under the proposed rules, researchers could initiate the project, as long as the school district agreed with its purposes. The district would not have to endorse or agree with the study鈥檚 conclusions.

The draft guidelines could help researchers circumvent roadblocks thrown up by some school districts鈥� interpretation of FERPA, said Eric A. Hanushek, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, based at Stanford University.

鈥淭he department has recognized the importance of making data available to researchers,鈥� he said in an e-mail. 鈥淚t has moved ahead to clarify areas that were subject to misinterpretation in the past.鈥�

But Mr. Hanushek said the Education Department is also 鈥渘ot insisting鈥� that states cooperate on research, so a state that doesn鈥檛 want to share information could still 鈥渄rag its feet鈥� under the proposed regulations.

Permitting researchers to have access to student records has become particularly important in recent years, given that implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act has created an array of data that could be used to address questions about how best to boost student achievement and improve teacher effectiveness, said Felice J. Levine, the executive director of the American Educational Research Association, in Washington.

Agreements for Research

In their comments, some researchers and state education officials suggested the proposed regulations be clarified to ensure that states could create so-called longitudinal data systems, which track students from one level of education to another, and give researchers access to them.

The AERA and similar organizations also encouraged the Education Department to provide additional guidance on how researchers could enter into agreements with schools, enabling the researchers to use student data for the purposes of a study.

They urged the department to 鈥渃ertify鈥� agreements between researchers and state and local educational agencies as meeting the requirements of FERPA. And the department could post sample agreements on its Web site to serve as models for researchers and schools, the organizations suggested.

The AERA also recommended that the phrase 鈥渢o improve instruction鈥� in the proposed regulations be interpreted broadly, since researchers may examine a variety of factors, such as socioeconomic status or physical health, that can affect student achievement and teacher quality.

Mental-health advocates praised language in the proposed rules aimed at making it easier for educators to disclose student information to curb a potential threat to the health or safety of the student or other people. The proposed regulation was drafted in the wake of the massacre at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in April 2007, in which a student at the university, Seung Hui Cho, killed 33 people, including himself.

A report on that incident from a panel established by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine recommended that FERPA include stronger protections against liability for school officials who disclose student information in an emergency.

The proposed federal regulations would implement the Virginia panel鈥檚 call for a 鈥渟afe harbor鈥� provision to protect school officials who disclosed private information about a student, as long as they believed the information was necessary for health or safety reasons.

The Education Department鈥檚 draft 鈥渟afe harbor鈥� provision 鈥渟trikes the right balance in determining whether a disclosure by an educational institution or agency is justified,鈥� Michael J. Fitzpatrick, the executive director of the Arlington, Va.-based National Alliance on Mental Illness, said in written comments.

鈥楽ignificant Threat鈥�

But the National School Boards Association, based in Alexandria, Va., expressed concern that school officials might not believe they have the expertise to decide whether an individual鈥檚 behavior constitutes an 鈥渁rticulable and significant threat鈥� to a student鈥檚 health or safety, or that of those around them. The group suggested that school districts be able to seek advice from outside experts, such as law enforcement and mental-health-professionals, in making the determination.

And the NSBA suggested that the terms 鈥渁rticulable and significant threat鈥� may present too high a standard, although the group said it had struggled to come up with alternative language. It said that school officials might not act on a potential crisis until it was too late.

鈥淭he changes to the health and safety emergency were written with the events of Virginia Tech in mind,鈥� Lisa E. Soronen, an NSBA senior staff lawyer, wrote in a comment. But, she said, school districts cope daily with threats such as sexual abuse, physical assaults, and gang activity.

She suggested that the Education Department provide more specific guidance on how to decide when such behaviors 鈥渕eet the threat threshold鈥� and collaborate with the NSBA and other education groups to devise informal guidance on how the health and safety emergency exception 鈥渨orks in real life.鈥�

The comment period closed May 8. LeRoy S. Rooker, the director of the Education Department鈥檚 Family Policy Compliance Office, which administers the privacy law, said in an e-mail that the department plans to issue the final regulations by late fall.