Our infrastructure is designed to ensure the privacy of the data it contains. We adhere to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the Student Data Protection Act and the Student Privacy Acts, which provide guidance to the safeguarding of the sensitive data contained within our database. This guidance has been integrated into the design, and creation of the digital and physical architecture of the Utah Data Research Center.
Personally identifiable information-the information necessary to properly identify a person-is employed solely for matching records across data sources, and never revealed to external researchers or the public. In addition, the Utah Data Research Center limits the possibility of creating identifying records due to linking data sets by employing a rules engine.
Our data governance and privacy documents were drafter in consultation with the U.S. Department of Education's Privacy Technical Assistance Center incorporating state-of-the-art techniques, concepts and procedures.
Our database is optimized for research, with data normalized, de-identified and matched across data sets for ease of use, privacy and efficiency. Our researchers have access to data starting from early education on through primary and secondary education; higher education, including universities and technical colleges; and beyond into the work force.
Our research is directed by a research agenda, which is shaped by the Utah Data Research Center's partner agencies, Utah legislators and the public. Future research will be available to the public through formal reports, online dashboards and in-person presentations.
