Student Personal Analysis, Evaluation, or Survey (third-party vendor surveys)
IN Student Survey Privacy
Students
When Indiana public schools use outside vendors for surveys or evaluations of students' attitudes, beliefs, or feelings, neither the vendor nor the school may keep results in a form that identifies individual students. Schools must also get written parental consent (or the adult student's) before giving such surveys. Academic tests, career surveys, crisis screenings, and satisfaction surveys are exempt.
- Where
- Indiana
- Citation
- Ind. Code ch. 20-26-21 (IC 20-26-21-1 to 20-26-21-9)
- Status
- In force
- In force since
- 2023-07-01
- Last amended
- 2025-07-01
- Enforced by
- School grievance procedures; contract enforcement by schools
- People can sue
- No
- Penalties
- Parents or adult students may file grievances with the school (IC 20-26-21-5, 20-26-21-6); vendor contracts after June 30, 2023 must make noncompliance a breach of contract (IC 20-26-21-9).
- Applies to
- School corporations, charter schools, laboratory schools, and the state schools for the blind and deaf (IC 20-26-21-1)
- Third-party vendors that provide personal analyses, evaluations, or surveys about students' attitudes, habits, traits, opinions, beliefs, or feelings (IC 20-26-21-3)
What a privacy notice must say
- Before administering such a survey, give parents (or adult students) a written consent request summarizing its content and the right to inspect materials; provide alternative instruction to non-participants.IC 20-26-21-4
Practices it requires
- Vendors and schools may not record, collect, or maintain survey responses or results in a way that identifies an individual student.IC 20-26-21-3
Other duties
- Vendor contracts must state that noncompliance with the de-identification rule is a breach of contract.IC 20-26-21-9 · Only if: Contracts entered after June 30, 2023
Sources
- Official text
- Indiana Code 2026, Title 20, Chapter 26-21 (Indiana General Assembly)
- SEA 442 (2025), P.L.204-2025, SECTION 1 amending IC 20-26-21-4, effective July 1, 2025
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: The 2023-07-01 effective date is inferred from IC 20-26-21-9 and P.L.234-2023; the enacting bill was not identified.
Research reference, not legal advice.