SDPBC Research Policy
Please familiarize yourself with School District Policy 2.142

Applicable Laws

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. §1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. Schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. To read the law in its entirety go to: FERPA

HB 1557 takes three key steps to protect students and put power back in the hands of parents:

1. This bill prohibits classroom instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity in K-3 classrooms, and after 3rd grade, these conversations need to be age-appropriate.
2. The bill ensures that at the beginning of every school year, parents will be notified about healthcare services offered at the school, with the right to decline any service offered.
3. The bill ensures that whenever a questionnaire or health screening is given to K-3 students, parents receive it first and provide permission for the school to administer the questionnaire or health screening to their child. All consent forms must include a checkbox for parents that states, "I have reviewed the materials to be used in this study."

HB 7 seeks to regulate classroom instruction and discussions on diversity related to race, gender, and racism. The bill creates a new provision in the law that specifies that certain behavior constitutes unlawful discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin. Further, it prohibits subjecting individuals to certain concepts and statements in workplace trainings and K-20 curriculum that could be deemed discriminatory.

Research priorities for SDPBC include:

• Studies aligned with the Strategic Plan and its long-term outcomes or initiatives-Teacher preparation, recruitment or retention
• Professional leadership development or advancement
• Innovative instruction that positively impacts student achievement
• Long-term impacts of rigorous coursework
• Student motivation or character development through social-emotional learning
• Achievement gaps reduction
• Predictive analytics

Only completed (and paid if fee required) applications will be reviewed. Please refer to your IRB or faculty advisor for additional support if needed.

Your request will be denied if any required items are missing or completed incorrectly.

Applicable Laws

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. §1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. Schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. To read the law in its entirety go to: FERPA

HB 1557 takes three key steps to protect students and put power back in the hands of parents:

1. This bill prohibits classroom instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity in K-3 classrooms, and after 3rd grade, these conversations need to be age-appropriate.
2. The bill ensures that at the beginning of every school year, parents will be notified about healthcare services offered at the school, with the right to decline any service offered.
3. The bill ensures that whenever a questionnaire or health screening is given to K-3 students, parents receive it first and provide permission for the school to administer the questionnaire or health screening to their child.

HB 7 seeks to regulate classroom instruction and discussions on diversity related to race, gender, and racism. The bill creates a new provision in the law that specifies that certain behavior constitutes unlawful discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin. Further, it prohibits subjecting individuals to certain concepts and statements in workplace trainings and K-20 curriculum that could be deemed discriminatory.

Affidavit of Good Moral Character must be downloaded, completed, and notarized for EVERY person who will be working on this research project (including your faculty advisor). Please click here to download and complete. Then you will submit this in your PDF along with your other files listed below.

Please combine ALL of your documents into a single PDF. (Instructions here.) This PDF packet must include:

1. A cover sheet that lists the page numbers where all the following items can be located. 
2. Letter of acceptance for your graduate dissertation proposal from corresponding university committee with a dated acceptance letter that includes official letterhead and faculty advisor (or committee chair) name and signature.
3. Affidavit(s) of Good Moral Character (for every researcher and your faculty advisor).
4. A one-page letter to principals and teachers describing the tasks requested of them.
5. All consent forms for parents MUST include a copy of all survey questions and/or interview questions and/or curriculum. Consent forms must also include a statement about confidentiality and data destruction. Note: We do not permit OPT-OUT consent forms. You may only use OPT-IN consent forms.
6. IRB approval on letterhead or IRB Exemption on letterhead. 

As stated in Board Policy 2.142, the Department of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment shall charge a one-time application fee for the review, processing, specification of research parameters and monitoring of research proposals. All fees shall be paid, or satisfactory arrangements made for the payment of fees, prior to the processing of the research application. This fee is non-refundable.

(In addition, the Department of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment may establish reasonable fees to charge Researchers for the production, the compilation, or extraction of data for research purposes. Such fees imposed by the Department of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment shall be consistent with Florida Public Records Laws.)

Unfortunately, we are not set up to take electronic payments (EFT) at this time. 

Please include in your PDF packet a photo or scan of your check so that we may begin your review. Without a photo of your check, your review will not begin until we receive your check. Additionally, if your check does not include the "Attn:" line (below), it will absolutely delay your review.

Mail check to:

School District of Palm Beach County
Attn: Director, Research and Evaluation
Suite B-246
3300 Forest Hill Blvd
West Palm Beach, FL 33406