IES
Dr. Adam Gamoran Nominated by Biden as Next IES Director
On September 9, President Biden nominated Dr. Adam Gamoran as the next Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). If confirmed, Gamoran would replace the current Acting Director, Dr. Matthew Soldner, who has been serving since the departure of Dr. Mark Schneider in April 2024. Gamoran is a sociologist with a PhD from the University of Wisconsin who currently serves as the President of the William T. Grant Foundation, a charity organization dedicated to research that improves the lives of young people. Before his role at the William T. Grant Foundation, Gamoran held the John D. MacArthur Chair in Sociology and…
NCER Opens Applications for Two Competitions
The National Center for Education Research (NCER), a center within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in the Department of Education, announced they are seeking applications for two competitions: “From Seedlings to Scale” and “Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Education Policy and Practice” (see previous COSSA coverage). Through the “From Seedlings to Scale” program, IES plans to invest in innovative products, policies, and processes within a particular focus area. Their three-phase plan will allow ideas to grow from seedlings to scalable solutions. Applications are now available for Phase One where teams will define a problem, refine a solution, and build…
IES Requests Comments on Topics for New Program “From Seedlings to Scale”
The National Center for Education Research (NCER), a center within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), released a request for information (RFI) seeking potential topics for the agency’s new program “From Seedlings to Scale” (S2S) within the recently developed Accelerate, Transform, and Scale (ATS) initiative. ATS is intended to produce high-risk, high-reward education research in response to FY 2023 appropriation language. S2S is intended to support research, product development, and sustainability and scaling in the education marketplace. The RFI’s list of questions can be found here. Comments are due November 13 and should be submitted here.
National Board of Education Sciences Meets for the First Time in Six Years
On September 11, the Institute of Education Sciences’ (IES) National Board of Education Sciences (NBES) met for the first time in six years. As previously reported, the Biden Administration appointed members to NBES in November 2022, allowing the board to resume it’s work with the institute to ensure their priorities are consistent with its mission. NBES is also responsible for strengthening procedures for technical and scientific peer review, presenting recommendations to improve education research, soliciting advice and information from the field, and ensuring IES is compliant with the Education Sciences Reform Act. The meeting was attended by Mark Schneider, director of IES, who…
National Board for Education Sciences Appointments Announced
President Biden has announced 15 appointments to the National Board for Education Sciences (NBES) within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). NBES is responsible for advising the Director of IES to ensure that the institutes priorities are consistent with it’s mission. NBES is also responsible for strengthening procedures for technical and scientific peer review, presenting recommendations to strengthen education research, soliciting advice and information from the field, and ensuring IES is compliant with the Education Sciences Reform Act. NBES has not held a meeting since the end of the Obama Administration in 2016. For more information on appointments, please refer…
House Committee Holds Hearing on Academic, Social, and Emotional Needs of Students
On September 20, the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee within the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing to discuss how to best meet students’ academic, social, and economic needs in the upcoming school year, especially after the disruption of online learning during the pandemic. The witnesses were Phyllis Jordan, Associate Director of FutureEd, Dr. Aaliyah Samuel, President and CEO of Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, Dr. Penny Schwinn, Tennessee Commissioner of Education in the Tennessee Department of Education, and Dr. Matthew Blomstedt, Commissioner of Education in the Nebraska Department of Education. Committee Chair Gregorio…
National Academies to Host Seminar on The Future of Education Research at IES
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) will be hosting a symposium, The Future is Now: Advancing and Sustaining an Equity-Oriented Science, on September 20. The event will discuss innovative ways to improve equity in education through research and feature highlights from the recent NASEM report, The Future of Education Research at IES: Advancing an Equity-Oriented Science (see previous COSSA coverage). This symposium will take place at the NASEM’s Keck Center in Washington, D.C. and will be available virtually.
National Academies Release Reports on Education Research and Statistics
Recently, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) have released prepublications of reports evaluating education research and statistics activities within the Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences (IES). The first of which, titled The Future of Education Research at IES: Advancing an Equity-Oriented Science, analyzes the National Center for Education Research (NCER) and the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) within IES to identify pressing issues facing the centers and developing approaches for future education research programs. The report identifies several areas for future focus, including: Adopting new categories for types of research that reflect the…
September Headlines to Feature Deep Dive with IES Director
COSSA members can sign up for the monthly Headlines webchat to catch up on the most important social and behavioral science news from the past month and answer your questions. Stick around for our deep dive discussion on the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), with IES Director Mark Schneider. Individuals employed by or affiliated with a COSSA member organization or university can register for the webchat here.
National Academies Holds Meetings on the Future of Education Research at IES
On July 7 and 8, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) convened the second and third meetings of the panel on the Future of Education Research at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in the U.S. Department of Education (see previous COSSA coverage for more background). While much of these meetings consisted of closed-door sessions, there were three open, public sessions discussing a variety of topics related to the methods and measures used in education research, on the impact of investments in education research, and on training and retaining future talent in the education research enterprise. The…
Department of Education Solicits Comments on New School Pulse Survey
The Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has requested emergency Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clearance to conduct a School Pulse Survey that will produce information on how schools, students, and educators are responding in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The survey, which COSSA and other stakeholders have advocated for, is intended to comply with President Biden’s day-one executive order on school reopening, which requires the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), NCES’s home agency, to facilitate “the collection of data necessary to fully understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students and educators, including…
National Academies Convenes Activities Exploring the Future of Education Research and Statistics
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) has launched several activities in partnership with the Department of Education to identify areas for growth in the fields of education research and education statistics in the federal government, especially programs within the Department’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES). On May 10, the National Academies panel on A Vision and Roadmap for Education Statistics in 2030 and Beyond held its first public meeting to develop a plan for modernizing education statistics at IES’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) by the year 2030. The panel will produce a report that prioritizes…
Biden Signs American Rescue Plan, with Funding for NSF, IES, Universities
On March 11, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (H.R. 1319). As previously reported, the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill includes $600 million in funding to support research related to the pandemic at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and $100 million to support research related to K-12 learning loss at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The bill also includes $39.9 billion in funding to support colleges and universities. Now that this major piece of legislation has been enacted, lawmakers’ attention will turn to appropriations for the coming fiscal year. In addition, discussions will…
House Passes Funding for NSF, Higher Ed, and IES in $1.9 trillion COVID-19 Relief Bill
The House of Representatives passed a massive relief bill on February 27 that aims to bring financial support to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (H.R. 1319, committee report) includes direct payments to individuals, expansion of unemployment assistance, and an increase to the national minimum wage, among many other provisions. It also includes several notable provisions of interest to the science community, including $39.9 billion in funding for colleges and universities, with half to be used for student aid, as laid out in the CARES Act (see COSSA’s previous coverage). The bill also…
IES Announces Changes, Requests Applications for Several of its Largest Grant Programs
On May 27, Mark Schneider, the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) within the Department of Education, issued an announcement of new Requests for Applications (RFA) for several of the Institute’s largest grant programs for fiscal year (FY) 2021 as well as updates to some of the Institute’s programs. The Requests for Applications are mainly in the Education Research and Training Grant Programs and in Special Education Research and Training Grant Programs. A full list of the RFAs are available on the IES website. Some of the programmatic changes mentioned in the announcement include higher funding limits to…
IES Director Seeks Input on Topic Areas, Announces Possible Request for Applications
Mark Schneider, the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the research, evaluation, and statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Education, announced in a blog post on August 13 that he is considering three new topic-specific requests for applications (RFAs) and seeking comment on the topics around which IES research is structured. The three proposed off-cycle RFAs are “using state longitudinal data systems to measure long-term outcomes,” “using NAEP [National Assessment of Educational Progress] process data,” and “systematic evaluation of widely used math and reading programs.” The blog post includes more details about the proposed RFAs and a request…
COSSA Submits Testimony to Senate in Support of Funding for NIH, CDC, ED, BLS
As it does each year, COSSA submitted outside witness testimony to the Congressional Appropriations subcommittees responsible for funding federal agencies important to the social sciences. On June 3, COSSA submitted testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies calling for increased fiscal year (FY) 2020 funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Institute for Education Sciences (IES), and International Education and Foreign Language Programs (Title VI and…
IES Requests Comment on Proposed Priorities
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the Department of Education, has released a request for comment on proposed priorities for IES. The Federal Register Notice explains that the request is part of the process required by the agency’s authorizing legislation to receive public comment on priorities the Director of IES recommends to the National Board for Education Sciences. Proposed priorities fall into two categories: A Focus on Outcomes and Increasing Dissemination and Use. The Outcomes priority includes specific outcomes at the preschool, K-12, and postsecondary levels of education. The Dissemination and Use priority…
Trump Signs Labor-HHS Bill/CR, Pushing Remaining FY19 Spending to Dec 7
On September 28, President Trump signed into law a fiscal year (FY) 2019 funding package containing two of twelve appropriations bills, the Defense Appropriations bill and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Appropriations bill. The bill had been passed earlier in the week by the House of Representatives. Of particular interest to the social science community, the Labor-HHS bill contains next year’s final appropriation for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Education (ED), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), among other federal departments…
House Committee Approves FY 2019 Labor-HHS-Education Funding
On July 11, the full House Appropriations Committee approved its fiscal year (FY) 2019 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Bill; the Labor-HHS Subcommittee advanced the bill on June 15. This bill contains annual funding proposals for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Education (ED), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), among other federal departments and agencies. The Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version of the bill on June 28 (more here). At a Glance… The House bill includes…