Student Records Scanning

Document Scanning in the Education Industry

Public and private educational institutions have a growing need to manage their student records effectively. These institutions are faced with the challenge of storing these records and being able to retrieve them when necessary.

Shoreline’s experience in the document management industry has equipped us to assist several schools with their student records. We offer solutions such as document scanning and document storage that improve the way educational institutions operate.

What is a Student Education Record?

A student education record is defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as "all records that schools or education agencies maintain about students."

These records can consist of:

Date and place of birth, parent(s) and/or guardian addresses, and where parents can be contacted in emergencies
Grades, test scores, courses taken, academic specializations and activities, and official letters regarding a student's status in school
Special education records
Disciplinary records
Medical and health records that the school creates or collects, or maintains
Documentation of attendance, schools attended, courses taken, awards conferred, and degrees earned
Personal information such as a student's identification code, social security number, picture, or other information that make it easy to identify or locate a student

The Challenges of Storing Student Records

The biggest challenge that school districts face when managing their student's records is that there are no formal retention requirements for maintaining them. FERPA suggests that school districts keep temporary student information for a least 5 years after the student no longer attends. In addition, FERPA also suggests that permanent student records should be kept for a minimum of 60 years!

With the need to maintain these records for such a substantial amount of time, there simply may not be enough storage space within the facility. If the district can store the documents on-site, rarely are the storage conditions suitable for the long term. Older records can be badly damaged if stored in facilities without temperature or humidity control. Some districts turn to off-site storage where they are locked into long-term contracts that end up much more costly than initially anticipated.

The Solution

Shoreline works with schools, higher education institutions and universities of all sizes, both public and private, to convert their physical student records to digital images. Scanning and digitizing student records provide solutions to these challenges.

With our Student Records Scanning services, you can:

Save valuable time and money searching for records
Eliminate the need to store records on-site, which allows for better utilization of the space
Cut the cost of storing records in a storage facility
Allow you to access every document with a simple search
Reduce the element of human error