The National Forum on Education Statistics (Forum) organized the Education Data Privacy Working Group to explore how state and local education agencies (SEAs and LEAs) can support best practices at the school level to protect the confidentiality of student data in day-to-day instructional and administrative tasks. Many of the best practices applicable at the school level may also be helpful in protecting student data at the SEA and LEA levels. The Working Group created this guide in order to highlight common privacy issues related to the use of student data and present basic approaches to managing those issues. The U.S. Department of Education's Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) offers legally authoritative resources on education data privacy. The information presented in this guide is based largely on the collective experience of the members of the Forum. To illustrate the situations that occur in schools and education agencies, the Working Group developed a number of case studies. Each case study includes a description of the potential risk as well as various approaches that can be used to minimize the risk. The case studies are included in Chapter Two of the guide. In order to provide the necessary context for understanding the case studies, Chapter One of the guide presents an overview of important legal and procedural privacy concepts. The Appendices include references used in preparing the paper, additional resources, and sample privacy-related documents from districts. This guide was developed primarily as a resource for LEAs and SEAs to use in assisting school staff in protecting the confidentiality of student data. Education agencies may find the guide useful in developing privacy programs and related professional development programs. A listing of related resources, and sample documents are provided.