I discover it helpful to think about IES’s conventional actions as falling into three broad buckets: statistical collections, evaluations of tailor-made (and, thus, replicable) interventions, and, effectively, every thing else. The “every thing else” constituted the lion’s share of IES exercise.
On condition that, listed here are 5 ideas on how greatest to reimagine IES’s position.
First, IES ought to prioritize amassing well timed, dependable information on the warp and woof of American training, which can be the mission most intently aligned with the Structure’s Article I Weights and Measures Clause. Which means bolstering the Nationwide Evaluation of Academic Progress, College and Staffing Survey, Built-in Postsecondary Schooling Information System, and the like. Proper now, post-DOGE, these information collections are being held collectively by duct tape and skeleton crews. That’s a travesty. That is the work that solely an appropriately funded and staffed IES can credibly do, and it gives the inspiration for knowledgeable public debate and policymaking.
Second, IES ought to seize the excuse to depart all its different legacy initiatives on the cutting-room flooring. Will that put a lot of training analysis outlets and professors out of luck? In all probability. So be it. Academe intent on dabbling within the acquainted ed-school fascinations can nonetheless hit up philanthropy, discover shoppers, or search institutional help. The vast majority of federal training analysis funding is prone to be wolfed up by the tiny share of researchers who do that work responsibly. That’s high quality. We regularly hear speak about needing a Flexner report to rework training analysis and coaching. Properly, Flexner was largely about culling the quacks and crackpots to reshape the medical ecosystem. Right here’s the prospect to do this for training.
Third, refocusing IES can’t simply be an excuse to place lipstick on the pig. There’ve been solutions, as an example, that IES might be able to set issues proper if it merely adopts new analysis “priorities.” Whereas there’s nothing overtly improper with this, it dangers changing into an escape hatch to keep away from bigger modifications to the company’s mission and course. There’s nothing simpler than for researchers to pay lip service to new priorities by tweaking any proposal to swimsuit them. The upshot is that clearer, extra tutorial priorities might assist, however solely as half of a bigger shift.
