---
kind: "section"
citation: "20 U.S.C. § 9573"
title: "20"
title_heading: "Education"
number: "9573"
heading: "Confidentiality"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/20/9573"
units:
  - "Chapter 76 — Education Research, Statistics, Evaluation, Information, and Dissemination"
  - "Subchapter I — Education Sciences Reform"
  - "Part F — General Provisions"
---

# §9573. Confidentiality

- (a) **In general—** All collection, maintenance, use, and wide [dissemination](/usc/20/9501.md?p=10) of data by the [Institute](/usc/20/9501.md?p=14), including each office, [board](/usc/20/9501.md?p=4), committee, and center of the [Institute](/usc/20/9501.md?p=14), shall conform with the requirements of [section 552a of title 5](/usc/5/552a.md), the confidentiality standards of [subsection (c)](#c) of this section, and sections [1232g](/usc/20/1232g.md) and [1232h](/usc/20/1232h.md) of this title.
- (b) **Student information—** The [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9) shall ensure that all individually identifiable information about students, their academic achievements, their families, and information with respect to individual schools, shall remain confidential in accordance with [section 552a of title 5](/usc/5/552a.md), the confidentiality standards of [subsection (c)](#c) of this section, and sections [1232g](/usc/20/1232g.md) and [1232h](/usc/20/1232h.md) of this title.
- (c) **Confidentiality standards—**
  - (1) **In general—**
    - (A) The [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9) shall develop and enforce standards designed to protect the confidentiality of persons in the collection, reporting, and publication of data under this subchapter.
    - (B) This section shall not be construed to protect the confidentiality of information about institutions, organizations, and agencies that receive grants from, or have contracts or cooperative agreements with, the Federal Government.
  - (2) **Prohibition—** No person may—
    - (A) use any individually identifiable information furnished under this subchapter for any purpose other than a research, statistics, or evaluation purpose under this subchapter;
    - (B) make any publication whereby the data furnished by any particular person under this subchapter can be identified; or
    - (C) permit anyone other than the individuals authorized by the [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9) to examine the individual reports.
- (d) **Administration—**
  - (1) **In general—**
    - (A) **Disclosure—** No Federal [department](/usc/20/9501.md?p=7), [bureau](/usc/20/9501.md?p=5), agency, officer, or employee and no recipient of a Federal grant, contract, or cooperative agreement may, for any reason, require the [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9), any Commissioner of a National Education Center, or any other employee of the [Institute](/usc/20/9501.md?p=14) to disclose individually identifiable information that has been collected or retained under this subchapter.
    - (B) **Immunity—** Individually identifiable information collected or retained under this subchapter shall be immune from legal process and shall not, without the consent of the individual concerned, be admitted as evidence or used for any purpose in any action, suit, or other judicial or administrative proceeding.
    - (C) **Application—** This paragraph does not apply to requests for individually identifiable information submitted by or on behalf of the individual identified in the information.
  - (2) **Employee or staff violations—** Whoever, being or having been an employee or staff member of the [Department](/usc/20/9501.md?p=7), having taken or subscribed the oath of office, or having sworn to observe the limitations imposed by [subsection (c)(2)](#c-2), knowingly publishes or communicates any individually identifiable information (as defined in [paragraph (5)(A)](#d-5-A)), the disclosure of which is prohibited by [subsection (c)(2)](#c-2), and that comes into such employee or staff’s possession by reason of employment (or otherwise providing services) under this subchapter, shall be found guilty of a class E felony and imprisoned for not more than five years, or fined as specified in [section 3571 of title 18](/usc/18/3571.md), or both.
  - (3) **Temporary staff—** The [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9) may utilize temporary staff, including employees of Federal, [State](/usc/20/9501.md?p=22), or local agencies or instrumentalities (including [local educational agencies](/usc/20/9501.md?p=1-A)), and employees of private organizations to assist the [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9) in performing the [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9)’s responsibilities, but only if such temporary staff are sworn to observe the limitations imposed by this section.
  - (4) **Information requirements—** No collection of information or data acquisition activity undertaken by the [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9) shall be subject to any review, coordination, or approval procedure except as required by the [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9) of the Office of Management and Budget under the rules and regulations established pursuant to [chapter 35](/usc/44/chch35.md) of title 44, except such collection of information or data acquisition activity may be subject to review or coordination if the [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9) determines that such review or coordination is beneficial.
  - (5) **Definitions—** For the purposes of this section—
    - (A) the term “individually identifiable information” means any record, response form, completed survey, or aggregation thereof from which information about particular individuals may be revealed; and
    - (B) the term “report” means a response provided by or about an individual to an inquiry from the [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9) and does not include a statistical aggregation from which individually identifiable information cannot be revealed.
  - (6) **Violations—** Any person who uses any data provided by the [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9), in conjunction with any other information or technique, to identify any individual student, teacher, administrator, or other individual and who knowingly discloses, publishes, or uses such data for a purpose other than a statistical purpose, or who otherwise violates subparagraph [(A)](#c-2-A) or [(B)](#c-2-B) of subsection (c)(2), shall be found guilty of a class E felony and imprisoned for not more than five years, or fined as specified in [section 3571 of title 18](/usc/18/3571.md), or both.
  - (7) **Access to reports or records—** Nothing in this section shall restrict the right of the [Secretary](/usc/20/9501.md?p=21), the Comptroller General of the United States, the [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9) of the Congressional Budget Office, and the Librarian of Congress, to gain access to any reports or other records, including information identifying individuals, in the [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9)’s possession, except that the same restrictions on disclosure that apply under paragraphs [(1)](#d-1) and [(6)](#d-6) shall apply to such individuals.
- (e) **Investigation and prosecution of terrorism—**
  - (1) **In general—** Notwithstanding subsections [(a)](#a) and [(b)](#b), the Attorney General (or any Federal officer or employee, in a position not lower than an Assistant Attorney General, designated by the Attorney General) may submit a written application to a court of competent jurisdiction for an ex parte order requiring the [Secretary](/usc/20/9501.md?p=21) to permit the Attorney General (or his designee) to—
    - (A) collect reports, records, and information (including individually identifiable information) in the possession of the [Director](/usc/20/9501.md?p=9) that are relevant to an authorized investigation or prosecution of an offense listed in [section 2332b(g)(5)(B) of title 18](/usc/18/2332b.md?p=g-5-B) or an act of domestic or international terrorism as defined in [section 2331](/usc/18/2331.md) of that title; and
    - (B) for official purposes related to the investigation or prosecution of an offense described in [paragraph (1)(A)](#e-1-A), retain, disseminate, and use (including as evidence at trial or in other administrative or judicial proceedings) such information, consistent with such guidelines as the Attorney General, after consultation with the [Secretary](/usc/20/9501.md?p=21), shall issue to protect confidentiality.
  - (2) **Application and approval—**
    - (A) **In general.—** An application under [paragraph (1)](#e-1) shall certify that there are specific and articulable facts giving reason to believe that the information sought is described in [paragraph (1)(A)](#e-1-A).
    - (B) The court shall issue an order described in [paragraph (1)](#e-1) if the court finds that the application for the order includes the certification described in [subparagraph (A)](#e-2-A).
  - (3) **Protection—** An officer or employee of the [Department](/usc/20/9501.md?p=7) who, in good faith, produces information in accordance with an order issued under this subsection does not violate subsection (b)(2)[^1] and shall not be liable to any person for that production.

## Footnotes

[^1]: So in original. Probably means subsection (d)(2).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 107–279, title I, § 183, title IV, § 401(a)(6), Nov. 5, 2002, 116 Stat. 1972, 1983.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

Subsecs. (a) to (c) of section 9007 of this title, which were transferred to this section and redesignated subsecs. (c) to (e) by Pub. L. 107–279, § 401(a)(6), were based on Pub. L. 103–382, title IV, § 408(a) to (c), Oct. 20, 1994, 108 Stat. 4034; Pub. L. 107–56, title V, § 508, Oct. 26, 2001, 115 Stat. 368; Pub. L. 107–279, title IV, § 401(a)(1)–(5), Nov. 5, 2002, 116 Stat. 1983.

### Amendments

2002—Subsecs. (c) to (e). Pub. L. 107–279, § 401(a)(6), transferred subsecs. (a) to (c) of section 9007 of this title to this section and redesignated them as subsecs. (c) to (e), respectively. See Codification note above.