It is imperative that school administrators understand the rights of parents and students as guaranteed by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). School personnel should know the rights of parents and students regarding access to education records and understand the restrictions of disclosure. Educational leaders must balance the privacy rights of students, the interest of parents in school records, and the reporting of student achievement for accountability purposes. To protect the rights of students and parents, school administrators must be knowledgeable about FERPA's regulations and be familiar with relevant court cases concerning the issue of student records. The purpose of this research was to investigate issues related to the FERPA as it pertains to students, parents, and school personnel. This qualitative and document-based study utilized a legal-historical research orientation. In order to represent the complete history of the FERPA, a time phase from the law's inception in 1974 to 2008 was investigated. An analysis of court cases relevant to FERPA decided by the United States Supreme Court, United States Courts of Appeal, United States Federal District Courts, and state appellate courts was utilized for this study. In order to determine patterns and trends of these court decisions, data from the cases were derived by a case-by-case analysis, according to the key facts and reasoning of each court. Trends and state appellate courts was utilized for this study. In order to determine patterns and trends of these court decisions, data from the cases were derived by a case-by-case analysis, according to the key facts and reasoning of each court. Trends and patterns were derived from the process of data reduction and interpretation. Additionally, secondary source materials--scholarly and legal journals--were discussed and evaluated. According to the research of this study, 10 issues related to the tenets of FERPA have been addressed and standardized by court judgments: access, applications, directory information, discipline records, education records, grades and grading practices, private cause of action, recommendation letters, student media and subpoena. Court decisions in this research study established 41 guidelines for administrators to utilize in the domain of student records. Principles identified from this research should help administrators balance the need for disclosing information regarding school safety and achievement while protecting student records for privacy and confidentiality. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]