No — a teacher generally cannot tell other students your grades. Federal law treats your grades as part of a private educational record, and a school that receives federal funding needs written consent from you (or your parent, if you’re under 18) before that information goes to anyone who isn’t authorized to see it. That covers more than handing over a transcript. Reading a score aloud in class, posting a grade list where classmates can identify you, and casual talk about how you’re doing in a subject all fall under the same rule. One narrow exception exists for peer grading, which the U.S. Supreme Court has said sits outside the law’s reach.
Why Your Grades Are Legally Private
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, known as FERPA, is the federal law that protects student records. It applies to every school from elementary through university that receives federal funding, which covers virtually all public schools and most private colleges.1U.S. Department of Education. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Before releasing personally identifiable information from your education records to outside parties, the school needs signed, written permission.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC 1232g – Family Educational and Privacy Rights
Grades, GPA, and test scores are all protected. The Department of Education has specifically said a school cannot classify GPA as “directory information” — the low-sensitivity category (name, enrollment status) that schools can release more freely.3U.S. Department of Education. Is It Permissible to Release Grade Point Average (GPA) to Honors Organizations Without Consent Whatever a school’s directory policy says, grades are never public information.
What Counts as a Teacher Sharing Your Grades
FERPA’s definition of disclosure is deliberately broad. It covers any release of personally identifiable information from education records “by any means, including oral, written, or electronic means.”1U.S. Department of Education. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) That language closes the loopholes people often assume exist.
A teacher who reads your test score out loud to the class is making an oral disclosure. A teacher who tapes a grade list to the classroom wall, or posts one on a course website organized by name or student ID, is making a written disclosure. Posting scores by a partial Social Security number or a student ID number is still a violation, because those identifiers count as personally identifiable information. So does an “anonymous” list in alphabetical order, if classmates can work out whose grade is whose from the sequence.
The practical test is simple. If another student can connect a grade to you, the method doesn’t matter. Spoken, written, printed, or digital — the rule applies the same way.
The Peer Grading Exception
The one common classroom practice that FERPA does not reach is peer grading. In Owasso Independent School District v. Falvo, decided in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court held that having students swap papers and score each other’s work does not violate the law.4Justia Law. Owasso Independent School Dist. No. I-011 v. Falvo, 534 U.S. 426 (2002) The Court’s reasoning: a score on a student-graded paper is not yet an “education record,” because the school hasn’t collected it and entered it into its own records. Until that happens, it’s just a mark on a page.
The ruling is narrow on purpose. It permits students to exchange quizzes, grade them, and call out answers. Once the teacher records those scores in the grade book, they’re protected again like any other grade, and the teacher can no longer disclose them to classmates.
Who a Teacher Can Talk to About Your Grades
FERPA allows a teacher to discuss your grades with other school officials who have a legitimate educational interest — for example, a math teacher and a guidance counselor coordinating on academic support.1U.S. Department of Education. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Each school defines who qualifies as a “school official” in its annual FERPA notice. Other students never qualify. The exceptions that let schools share records without consent (health and safety emergencies, subpoenas, financial aid, program audits) all involve adults with a specific institutional role. None of them authorize disclosure to classmates.
A Note on Parents and College Students
One boundary worth flagging, because it surprises families. FERPA rights belong to a parent while a student is a minor, but they transfer to the student at 18 or on enrollment in any postsecondary institution, whichever comes first.5U.S. Department of Education. Eligible Student After that, a college can decline to share your grades with your parents unless you sign a waiver, your parents claim you as a dependent on their federal taxes (in which case the school may share but isn’t required to), or there’s a health or safety emergency.6U.S. Department of Education. Must Postsecondary Institutions Provide a Parent With Access to an Eligible Students Education Records Colleges can also inform parents of students under 21 about alcohol or drug policy violations.
What to Do if a Teacher Shared Your Grades
Write down what happened while it’s fresh. Note who made the disclosure, when and where it happened, exactly what was shared, and who saw or heard it. Save anything you can: emails, screenshots of a posted grade list, messages from classmates confirming what they saw. Solid documentation is what turns a complaint into something the school has to take seriously.
Then raise it with school administration. FERPA doesn’t require you to go through the school before contacting the Department of Education, but the Department strongly encourages it.7U.S. Department of Education. File a Complaint Ask who handles FERPA compliance. In a K-12 district that’s usually a central office administrator; at a college, it’s typically the registrar. Bring your evidence and ask what the school will do to keep it from happening again.
If the response isn’t adequate, file a complaint with the Student Privacy Policy Office at the U.S. Department of Education. The deadline is 180 days from when you learned about the violation, not necessarily the date it happened.8U.S. Department of Education. How May a Parent or Eligible Student File a FERPA Complaint With the Department of Education You can email the complaint form to FERPA.Complaints@ed.gov or mail it to 400 Maryland Ave, SW, Washington, DC 20202-8520.7U.S. Department of Education. File a Complaint If a teacher posted grades in September but you didn’t find out until November, your clock runs from November. Even so, don’t wait.
What Enforcement Actually Looks Like
FERPA is enforced against the school, not the teacher personally. The Student Privacy Policy Office investigates complaints and can require the institution to take corrective action.7U.S. Department of Education. File a Complaint For repeated or systemic violations, the Department can withhold federal funding, a penalty schools take seriously even though it’s rarely used.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC 1232g – Family Educational and Privacy Rights
One important limit: you cannot sue the school for money damages under FERPA. The Supreme Court settled that in Gonzaga University v. Doe, holding that the statute does not create a private right of action.9Justia Law. Gonzaga Univ. v. Doe, 536 U.S. 273 (2002) Enforcement runs through the Department of Education. State privacy laws may add protections, and in some places a basis for a lawsuit, but coverage varies.
The teacher who made the disclosure typically faces consequences from the employer rather than from the federal government. Depending on how serious the breach was and the school’s internal policies, that can range from a written reprimand to suspension or termination.