May an educational agency or institution disclose personally identifiable information from students education records to third parties for the purpose of conducting a study on its behalf?

FERPA contains an exception to its general consent rule under which an educational agency or institution may disclose personally identifiable information from education records without consent to organizations conducting studies for, or on its behalf.  Studies must be only for the purpose of: developing, validating, or administering predictive tests; administering student aid programs; or improving instruction. A written agreement with the organization is required, specifying the purposes of the study and the use and destruction of the information. 34 CFR § 99.31(a)(6)