High Standards, Secure Data

EBI^® places the highest value on maintaining the security of your student data. We perform nightly, monthly and annual tape backups of all critical systems and provide 24-hour server monitoring to ensure seamless functionality. EBI web and database servers are located 85 feet underground in Springfield, MO, and are monitored by a guard 24 hours a day, with motion sensor cameras located throughout the facility.

FERPA and Confidentiality of Student Results.

For any “Personally Identifiable Information” that is subject to the requirements of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and any regulations promulgated thereunder (collectively, “FERPA”), EBI and Participant agree to keep such Personally Identifiable Information confidential and to handle such information in accordance with the requirements of FERPA, including, where applicable:

1. To use such information only for the purposes set forth herein
2. To refrain from disclosure of such information to any party who does not have a legitimate interest in such information
3. To “destroy” the name and e-mail address in the response data base, of any student of the Participant by October 31st of the following academic year hereof

EBI does not intend to and does not desire to collect any social security number, driver’s license number, credit card number, or other highly sensitive information of any individual student participating in any of EBI’s services. EBI highly recommends that Participants refrain from using any such information as an identifier for any of its students or for any survey data collected by any students. Participant acknowledges that EBI shall not be responsible for any use of such sensitive information in violation of this recommendation. Security features are in place to protect the confidentiality of collected information, and a copy of EBI’s statement regarding security measures is available upon request.

Confidentiality

EBI has established the following policy regarding the disclosure and use of the results from its benchmarking assessments. Individuals or groups who gain access to the results are subject to this confidentiality policy. EBI results fall into two categories: Restricted Results and Unrestricted Results.

Restricted Results include the following:

1. Factor and question means reported for Participant’s “Select 6” comparison group, Carnegie classification, “All Institutions” or any other grouping in the study.
2. Names of comparison institutions and question or factor ranking or comparison with “Select 6” comparison institutions, Carnegie classification, “All Institutions” or any other grouping in the study.
3. All other information contained in or related to the assessment survey, the results of the survey, or any reports generated regarding the assessment, except as expressly designated as “Unrestricted Results” herein.

Unrestricted Results shall include general comments about Participant’s institutional data as well as differences in factor or question means over time. For example, Participant may indicate qualitative descriptions of the form "we have seen a 15% improvement in overall satisfaction since 1998" or indicate a quantitative description such as "we have improved from a 4.65 to a 5.31 in overall satisfaction".

Participant is permitted to disclose Restricted Results to the following parties only, subject further to the condition that this confidentiality policy is included with all shared results:

1. Offices or staff internal to Participant, including executive offices and offices of assessment and/or institutional research
2. Any external consultant hired to assist Participant, provided that any such consultant does not share the results with external organizations, third parties, or members of their consulting organization not engaged in the consulting project for Participant
3. Regional/national/discipline-specific accrediting organizations or legislative review processes, if applicable
4. Participant’s institutional advisory boards/committees

Participant is thereby not permitted to disclose Restricted Results in any other manner, including but not limited to, disclosing Restricted Results to the following parties: prospective students, organizations external to the institution, or any other third parties, including release to such parties through external newsletters, news releases, websites, marketing materials, or publications viewed by external populations.

Participant is permitted to disclose Unrestricted Results to any party mentioned in Section 5.C above, as well as prospective students, students, alumni or organizations external to Participant. This includes release of results through publications viewed by external populations (e.g. external newsletters, news releases, websites or marketing materials).

Workshop and Professional Publications Confidentiality Statement.

For the limited purpose of sharing their experiences of using results of EBI studies for continuous improvement, including the sharing of results analysis techniques, presenters at conferences designed to facilitate the effective use of project results and authors of professional publications may disclose the following with fellow professionals:

1. Their own results analysis
2. The aggregate results of “all institutions”
3. The aggregate results of the Carnegie Class Analysis
4. The aggregate results of their “Select 6” comparison group, so long as the “Select 6” institutions are not individually identified