Data Governance and Stewardship

School nurses collect, manage, and report on school health data, which is covered by student privacy laws. School nurses and other district employees who collect and manage sensitive data must understand their responsibilities throughout the data life cycle. Nurses must identify who is accountable for data governance in their school and the process for influencing data governance policies and procedures. Every school district is accountable for the integrity and the security of the data it collects about students, families, and staff. Data governance encompasses all decisions about data throughout the data life cycle from defining what data are needed, to collecting, storing, protecting, using, sharing, and retiring and destroying data and who is accountable for those decisions. The data governance in schools is prescribed by the U.S. Department of Education, state education departments, and local school districts. The Student Privacy Policy Office at the U.S. Department of Education publishes clear and precise guidance on the treatment of data collected in schools.