Department of Education Receives Recommendations to Reform IES

On February 27, Department of Education Senior Advisor Dr. Amber Northern delivered a report, Reimagining the Institute of Education Sciences, to Secretary Linda McMahon with recommendations on how to reform the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The report comes after Northern was appointed to the role in May in an effort to “modernize” the agency (see previous coverage). In September, the Department of Education also released a request for public comment on restructuring the agency, which reportedly influenced Northern’s recommendations (see previous coverage). About the report, she said:

“IES has set the standard for high-quality education research these last 25 years, but now is the time to look at its work with fresh eyes and renewed focus, so that we can drive real progress for student outcomes in these very challenging times.”

The report highlights several foundational building blocks of IES that Northern believes are key to the agency’s continued success, including the agency’s independence from partisan influence and racial, cultural, gender or regional bias; scientific integrity policy that produces high-quality data and research; statistical infrastructure that is essential for measuring the health of the U.S. education system; and diversity of research topics. Northern recommends any restructuring efforts build upon the already existing infrastructure and includes six “big shift” recommendations for the Secretary to consider, including:

• Award grants to research areas addressing the nation’s most pressing concerns rather than awarding “scattershot” grants;
• Develop an efficient and coordinated data strategy;
• Prioritize multi-state awards;
• Direct research goals towards “practicality, innovation, and relevance;”
• Build a uniform infrastructure for its Regional Education Labs (RELs); and
• Narrow the scope of the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC).

Also included in the report is an analysis of the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), which is housed within IES, and Northern’s recommendations for how to modernize the agency. The report raises concerns about the timeliness of the release of data as well as data sets not being integrated across research areas and surveys. To this end, Northern recommends the Department of Education support investments in the technology needed to collect data in a timely manner, and prioritize data integration across agencies, which Northern pointed out was a common theme among stakeholder responses to the agency’s request for public comment.

The full report can be found here.