Conventional wisdom in sales management encourages public delivery of positive feedback, and private delivery of negative feedback. In stark contrast, U.S. educators typically provide all performance feedback in relative (if not strict) privacy to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). To investigate this discrepancy, we hypothesize and test the effects of feedback transparency (i.e., public versus private delivery) and feedback valence (i.e., positive versus negative feedback) on key student outcomes: motivation, fairness, and satisfaction. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for research and educational practice, including whether or not FERPA legislation may hamper desired student outcomes.