ED Receives Recommendations to Reform Institute of Education Sciences
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
As part of the Trump administration's effort to reform the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the Department of Education (ED) recently released a report outlining several recommendations to further “reimagine” the agency.
Since President Donald Trump took office, his administration’s broader effort to dissolve ED and “return education to the states” resulted in the gutting of IES. Last year, the Trump administration canceled nearly $900 million in research contracts for IES and conducted mass layoffs within the agency.
Now in a new report, titled Reimagining the Institute of Education Sciences, ED’s Senior Advisor Amber Northern, listed six recommendations for ED to reform IES, which is “in need of a significant overhaul.” The report touches on multiple branches within IES, including the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which houses the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), and includes findings from discussions with IES, ED, lawmakers and policymakers, researchers, and more.
“The need for an effective and independent IES is especially critical now, as the Department of Education streamlines its work with partner agencies and as discussions about its long-term future continue,” Northern wrote. “Program offices within the federal government are driven by policy priorities and compliance responsibilities. But IES's mission is fundamentally different: to conduct rigorous, objective research and statistics in service of the public good, not a particular administration.”
Northern’s six broad recommendations, dubbed “big shifts”, to reimagine IES are as follows:
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Rather than spreading resources across many disconnected projects, IES should focus on the most urgent education challenges that are informed by state and district leaders.
Northern wrote under this recommendation that it is “imperative” IES continues to collect national statistics, such as the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), since they serve the public good.
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Instead of funding multiple data collections and longitudinal surveys that may be redundant or outdated, IES should develop a streamlined and coordinated data strategy while preserving and strengthening its core functions.
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Rather than focusing on individual project-specific grants within a single state, institution, or jurisdiction, IES should prioritize multi-state awards to help scale the most promising interventions, resources, and policies.
Northern wrote in this recommendation that some NCES datasets, such as IPEDS, have become “integral components” of the education data infrastructure. However, she noted, that doesn’t mean these components “should escape a fresh eyes review.”
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IES should direct the focus of research toward practicality, innovation, and relevance.
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IES should build mechanisms by which the applied research and technical assistance work of its Regional Educational Labs (RELs) is responsive, timely, and coordinated, as well as shared across the country.
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Narrow the scope of the “What Works Clearinghouse” to the development of practice guides and tools to ensure that its evidence base is better utilized.
Northern also provided specific recommendations to NCES, focusing on data modernization and all NCES data collections, including IPEDS.
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Conduct a thorough review of current administrative and survey data collections to ensure they are relevant: identify gaps, streamline processes, and consider discontinuation as warranted.
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Develop standardized data-sharing agreements with state and local education agencies
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NCES should ensure that data are consistently structured and have standardized definitions.
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Utilize Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to improve data accessibility.
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Increase the speed at which data are collected, vetted, and shared.
In the report’s conclusion, Northern stressed the need for “thoughtful changes” within IES to better serve students, parents, and states.” Additionally, she touched on the mass layoffs at the agency, noting that states are being asked to shoulder more responsibility and IES needs to offer states opportunities to build their own research and technical assistance capacity.
“It is neither partisan nor ideological to say that decisions about children, teachers, and schools must be grounded in rigorous evidence,” Northern wrote. “This small statistics and research shop remains committed to that mission, even as it needs to undergo significant reforms to carry out that mission much faster and better.”
Publication Date: 3/11/2026
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