75. Department of Education (DoEd) Regulations for Human Research

Updated June 23, 2021

DoEd adopted the Common Rule (at 34 CFR 97), and Subpart D with additional directives to protect the privacy of educational records (see IRB policies for FERPA and exceptions to FERPA) and the rights of families and students (see IRB policy for PPRA).

For research that purposefully requires inclusion of children with disabilities or individuals with mental disabilities as research participants, DoEd regulations require the reviewing IRB to include at least one person primarily concerned with the welfare of these research participants. The University IRB complies with this additional regulation.

DoEd regulations include the following definitions:

• Research or experimentation program or project means any program or project in any research that is designed to explore or develop new or unproven teaching methods or techniques.
• Children are persons enrolled in research not above the elementary or secondary education level, who have not reached the age or majority as determined under state law.

The IRB requires an additional researcher form and review worksheet for DoEd research to verify that investigators address IRB-relevant elements of the additional DoEd regulations. FERPA and PPRA regulations apply to Exempt, Expedited and Full Committee review types.

For Full Committee Review, the primary reviewer will address the additional DoEd regulatory requirements when presenting the protocol to the IRB.