Maybe you work with students every day to build English-language proficiency. Maybe you have bilingual students in your classroom.
Whatever your teaching specialization, parents are key partners in achieving student academic success. If parents have a non-English primary or home language, providing translated records and information is key to building a strong partnership. Schools are also legally required to provide parent communication in translation, especially documents like IEPs and 504s.
As you handle these records and work with others to translate them, you’ll need to keep the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) in mind. Failing to follow FERPA can result in severe consequences. We’ll cover what you need to know about FERPA and translation below.
FERPA protects sensitive student information, including grades, transcripts, class lists, course schedules, health records, and disciplinary records. Parents have the right to access their children’s educational records until their children are 18 or enrolled in a post-secondary institution. FERPA also regulates the disclosure of these records to third parties, including translation services. You’ll need to get permission from parents before sending student records to a translation company for translation.
All educational institutions that receive federal funding are required to comply with FERPA, including K-12 schools, colleges, and universities.
Whatever your teaching specialization, parents are key partners in achieving student academic success. If parents have a non-English primary or home language, providing translated records and information is key to building a strong partnership. Schools are also legally required to provide parent communication in translation, especially documents like IEPs and 504s.
As you handle these records and work with others to translate them, you’ll need to keep the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) in mind. Failing to follow FERPA can result in severe consequences. We’ll cover what you need to know about FERPA and translation below.
FERPA Overview
FERPA protects sensitive student information, including grades, transcripts, class lists, course schedules, health records, and disciplinary records. Parents have the right to access their children’s educational records until their children are 18 or enrolled in a post-secondary institution. FERPA also regulates the disclosure of these records to third parties, including translation services. You’ll need to get permission from parents before sending student records to a translation company for translation.
All educational institutions that receive federal funding are required to comply with FERPA, including K-12 schools, colleges, and universities.
School Obligations to Students and their Families
Equal Access
Schools must provide all parents of enrolled students with the same meaningful access to information, which means that it must provide information in translation to families with limited English proficiency. Schools may have trained members on their staff who can help with this service or can work with translation companies to ensure all parents are getting the information and communication they need.
Notification of Rights
Schools must provide an annual Notification of Rights to families that outlines their rights under FERPA. You’ll need to translate this notice of rights for families that have limited English proficiency. If your school doesn’t already have the necessary translated forms, a translation company can help complete the translation.
Informed Consent and Authorization
The only way to get informed consent and authorization for the annual Notice of Rights and any request for student records is by translating those forms into a language that parents can understand. Translation companies can make this easy by taking care of the translation piece.
Secure Storage
While FERPA does not have explicit standards for schools regarding digital data security, schools are responsible for protecting student information and data. When you request translation of student documents, you’ll need to choose an organization that has good data security practices, complies with FERPA, and holds its team accountable for data security.
Guidelines for Choosing a Translation Service
As you evaluate translation services, consider the following:
Expertise and Experience
Does the company have experienced translators in the target language? Has the company translated FERPA-protected educational records before?
Assess your overall language needs. Maybe you just need a few languages that are commonly spoken in the United States. Or, maybe you need to find a company that offers translation in languages that aren’t as common in the United States. When you’re looking at a translation company, check what languages they offer services in.
Next, consider the experience of the company’s translators. Ask about the translator’s language expertise and what kinds of documents they specialize in. These questions will help you understand if the company is a good fit.
Translation Quality and Process
What levels of translation quality are available? How does the company ensure consistency and accuracy in its translations?
Just like there are different writing styles for a research paper, novel, blog article, and social media posts, there are different qualities of translation. Most translation companies offer a few different levels. Zab Translation Solutions offers Publication Quality, Reading Quality, Reference Only, and Machine Translation. These differing levels have different price points, timelines, and costs.
Make sure that the translation company offers the quality level you need for your documents. With student records, it will usually be Publication Quality. You’ll want to ensure an accurate, high-quality translation because a mistranslation or low-quality translation can lead to confusion on the parents’ end and increase your school’s liability risk.
The second consideration is the consistency and accuracy of the translation. Unless you speak the target language, it is difficult to assess this yourself. Instead, you should focus on the translation company’s process for preventing errors and ensuring a high-quality final product. How many people review a translation before you get it? If there is an error, what is the process for fixing it and preventing it in the future?
FERPA Compliance
Does the company offer certified translations? How do they answer questions about data storage and security?
You need to ensure the privacy and security of your students’ protected information. You should be confident that your translation company follows all the best practices to ensure your students’ privacy and complies with FERPA.
Reliability
How dependable is the company in keeping timelines, sticking to budgets, and delivering a high-quality, ready-to-use end product?
Whether it’s school registration, parent-teacher conferences, or IEP meetings, you have strict deadlines for getting documents to parents. You need a translation company that sticks to deadlines reliably.
A lot of preparation and details go into these events, so you’ll also want to look for a company that offers a ready-to-use end product so that the only thing standing in your way is the copy machine.
And, it’s always best to stay on-budget. So, finding a company that does that reliably matters.
Ensuring FERPA compliance as you translate documents will keep your students’ information safe while you work with their families to support their English-language learning and overall academic success. Choosing a trusted translation company will also ensure that you have one less thing to do and will let you focus on what you do best: teaching.
Do you need help with translation at your school? Get a quick quote or email [email protected] to ask for service and pricing details.
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