Protection Policy

Purpose

To provide a protection policy for student work being used for assessment and accreditation purposes. 

Policy

Consistent with the mission and values of the University of San Francisco, student work will be periodically collected to provide evidence of student success and educational effectiveness. Student work is defined as any product that students complete to demonstrate what they have learned, including research papers, essays, presentations, and portfolios. Student work collected for assessment and accreditation purposes does not require consent from the student. Assessment is an education activity that does not meet the federal definition of research (45 CFR 46.102d) and therefore is excluded from Institutional Review Board (IRB) review.

Appropriate safeguards must be put in place to assure student privacy. Access to student work will be restricted to faculty and the Office of Assessment and Accreditation Support staff. Once obtained, all student work will be secured in a password-protected and encrypted online database. Use will be supervised by the Office of Assessment and Accreditation Support staff. Although FERPA allows disclosure of personally-identifiable information without written consent for assessment and accreditation purposes (99.31), all student work will be stripped of personally-identifying information. Information will be aggregated to avoid identifying students consistent with the University of San Francisco's Data Governance Standards.

Download the Policy for Assessment of Student Work

Approved by the University Assessment Committee on 06/02/2017; Revised 06/26/2017.