Policies and Procedures

Protection of Human Subjects

This is a brief overview of principles, regulations, and policies which affect research involving human subjects in research activities supported by the Department of Education.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

Clearances

Valid clearances are required to be on file with the Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) for all those persons conducting work within the District. This rule applies to all who apply through the Research Review Committee (RRC) whose work requires their presence within a school or schools, including working with students online.

For those submitting new proposals, clearances must be valid within one year of the approval date. For those working on approved and active research projects, updated clearances are due to ORE every three years. Valid, updated clearances are required for each submission, even if a researcher is working on other projects. Please note: If you are an SDP employee, you do not need to provide clearances if your clearances on file with the District are current. 

Please follow the links below to access the required clearance applications. Once clearances are received, please scan and email the final clearance letters and certificates to researchreview@philasd.org. We cannot verify clearance results with login codes.

Questions?

Please email researchreview@philasd.org.