ISBE’s Data Sharing Review Board (DSRB) reviews requests for personally identifiable information (PII) on Illinois students and educators. These requests include agreements that are necessary to fulfill state or federal mandates, research projects, and other uses of PII. The DSRB considers the merits of each request for PII, including state and federal laws, such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the requests’ alignment with ISBE’s mission and policies, the potential benefit for Illinois residents of sharing the data, and the risks to Illinois students and educators that are associated with the project.
The DSRB is comprised of four voting members. The current members are:
- Executive Director of Data, Accountability & Assessment
- Executive Director of Safe and Healthy Climate
- Director of Data Strategies & Analytics
- Director of Software Solutions
A representative from ISBE Legal also reviews each request for PII, advises the DSRB on its legal acceptability, and may veto a request at any stage in the process. In addition to ISBE Legal review, the necessary steps for a data sharing agreement include
- submitting a data sharing agreement request form to
datashare@isbe.net
- the DSRB administrative team reviewing the request for clarity and completeness
- data owner/subject matter expert reviewing the request
- the DSRB reviewing and voting on the request
The order in which these steps occur may be different for specific requests.
Process
- Complete and Refine the Request
- Initial Review
- Draft Agreement
- DSRB Review
- DSRB Vote (Request is denied if DSRB votes "No")
- Sign Agreement, Share Data
If the request for PII is approved, the requestor(s) enter into a written agreement with ISBE that governs the use, time period or term, disclosure protections, authorized users, and required destruction of that PII. If you are requesting student PII, we strongly encourage you to complete the U.S. Department of Education's FERPA training.
