All applications for research to be conducted in Everett Public Schools must be submitted to the Assessment & Research Department to initiate the review and approval process. This shall include research by district staff, as well as out-of-district agencies. Everett School District students who are conducting research as part of an assignment in an Everett School District course or school-sponsored activity in which they are currently enrolled shall not be governed by Board Policy 2105. 

Staff, student and parent participation in approved research shall be voluntary. In the event that a child attending the Everett School District is to participate in a test or other activity incidental to the regular educational program, the individual child's participation shall be based upon prior parental information and approval. In the cases in which individual student results are issued, parents shall be notified and afforded an opportunity to decline his/her child from participation in studies when the purpose of participation is not to secure results to be used in evaluating the child's educational status or progress.

 

In no case shall information gathered through a research study become part of a student's permanent school record or disseminated with the participants' name. Results and publications of all approved research shall be archived in the Assessment & Research Department.

 

Research proposals which show promise of direct benefit and little inconvenience to Everett Public Schools and its students have a greater chance of being approved. Studies which impact instructional time will receive great scrutiny.

 

In compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, adequate safeguards must be taken to ensure that no personal rights of students will be violated in any way as a result of research or the publication of its findings. Access to personal information regarding students shall only occur with the consent of students' families; access to directory information shall only occur consistent with federally mandated and Everett Public Schools procedures. Similar precautions will protect the rights of Everett Public Schools staff. Data collected may only be used for the purposes of the approved study.

 

To avoid undue inconvenience to building personnel and students, no research activities by agencies outside the Everett school district will be allowed in schools:

The findings of any research conducted within Everett Public Schools will be available for district-wide use.