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The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the independent, non-partisan statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. IES' stated mission is to provide scientific evidence on which to ground education practice and policy and to share this information in formats that are useful and accessible to educators, parents, policymakers, researchers, and the public. It was created as part of the
Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 was an act passed by the Bush administration in November 2002. Among other motions, the act created the Institute of Education Sciences, a research arm of the United States Department of Education. There ...
. The first director of IES was
Grover Whitehurst Grover J. "Russ" Whitehurst is the Herman and George R. Brown Chair and director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution. His research primarily focuses on program evaluation, teacher quality, preschools, national and ...
, who was appointed in November 2002 and served for six years. Mark Schneider is currently the Director of IES.


Divisions

IES is divided into four major research and statistics centers: * National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE)—NCEE conducts large-scale evaluations and provides research-based technical assistance and information about high-quality research to educators and policymakers in a variety of different formats. NCEE's work includes evaluations of education programs and practices supported by federal funds; the Regional Educational Laboratory Program; the
Education Resources Information Center The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) is an online digital library of education research and information. ERIC is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences of the United States Department of Education. Description The missio ...
(ERIC); the What Works Clearinghouse; and the National Library of Education. Matthew Soldner is the Commissioner of NCEE. * National Center for Education Research (NCER)—NCER supports research to improve student outcomes and education quality in the United States and pursue workable solutions to the challenges faced by educators and the education community. NCER also supports training programs to prepare researchers to conduct high quality, scientific education research. Dr. Elizabeth Albro is the Commissioner of NCER. *
National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...
(NCES)—NCES is the primary federal entity that collects and analyzes data related to education in the United States and other nations. Among the programs and initiatives that NCES oversees is the
National Assessment of Educational Progress The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what U.S. students know and can do in various subjects. NAEP is a congressionally mandated project administered by the ...
. James Lynn Woodworth is the Commissioner of NCES. * National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER)—NCSER sponsors and supports comprehensive research that is designed to expand the knowledge and understanding of infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities, or those who are at risk of developing disabilities. NCSER also supports training programs to prepare researchers to conduct high quality, scientific special education research. Joan E. McLaughlin is the commissioner of NCSER.


National Board for Education Sciences

The National Board for Education Sciences serves as an advisory board for IES and has 15 voting members, who are appointed by the
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
. The Board also includes several ex-officio, non-voting members, including the director of IES, the commissioners of the four centers, and representatives of the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development The ''Eunice Kennedy Shriver'' National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) is one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It supports and conducts research aime ...
, the
U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the
U.S. Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the United States federal executive departments, executive departments of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of fede ...
, and the
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
. The Board advises and consults with the director and the commissioners to identify research and organizational priorities for IES. Dr. Larry Hedges, of Northwestern University, is currently the chairman of the National Board for Education Sciences.


Controversies

In the winter of 2020–2021, after the election of President Biden but before his inauguration in January, the Trump administration carried out numerous eleventh-hour appointments including filling out the board of the NBES, positions which had remained open for several years. Many of these appointment choices were harshly criticized by education organizations for a lack of academic or educational research credentials. In May 2021, two of the new NBES appointees,
Steve Hanke Steve H. Hanke () is a professor of applied economics at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He is also a senior fellow and director of the Troubled Currencies Project at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, DC, and co- ...
and
John Yoo John Choon Yoo (; born July 10, 1967) is a Korean-born American legal scholar and former government official who serves as the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Yoo became known for his legal opinions ...
, both professors, published a commentary in ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' (WSJ) claiming that their Board commission documents (as well as those of others) had been duly signed and certified during the Trump administration and sent to the office of the Secretary of Education, yet the new Secretary,
Miguel Cardona Miguel Angel Cardona (born July 11, 1975) is an American educator and is currently serving as the 12th United States Secretary of Education under President Joe Biden since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was confirmed by the U.S. S ...
refused to acknowledge the appointments, deliver the credentials, or facilitate statutorily required Board meetings. In the WSJ letter, the professors asserted that these circumstances mirror those of the landmark 1803 U.S. Supreme Court case of
Marbury v. Madison ''Marbury v. Madison'', 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of Judicial review in the Uni ...
. In July 2021, The
Pacific Legal Foundation Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) is a libertarian public interest law firm in the United States.Zumbrun, Ronald A. (2004). "Life, Liberty, and Property Rights," in ''Bringing Justice to the People: The Story of the Freedom-Based Public Interest La ...
(PLF) claimed that they had obtained emails from White House officials confirming that Department of Education officials were in possession of the credentials and that PLF had sent a demand letter on behalf of Hanke and Yoo. In August, the PLF, on behalf of Hanke and Yoo, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for The District of Columbia against Secretary Cardona and the Department of Education. The suit acknowledged that NBES Board members can be removed by the administration, but argued that it must do so transparently and cannot withhold credentials or obstruct the Board's statutorily required duties. On September 3, 2021, the Biden administration acknowledged the validity of the appointments and formally terminated them, leading to a withdrawal of the suit.


See also

*
Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations CFR Title 34 - Education is one of fifty titles comprising the United States Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Title 34 is the principal set of rules and regulations issued by federal agencies of the United States regarding education Educ ...


References


External links

*
National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance official website
{{Authority control United States Department of Education agencies Educational research Educational testing and assessment organizations Government agencies established in 2002 2002 establishments in the United States