House Republicans Should Improve K-12 Education Research and Transparency
Recent national test results make it undeniable that prolonged school closures during the pandemic were a terrible mistake, resulting in significant learning losses. Now, policymakers face the daunting task of climbing out of the hole we dug for ourselves nearly four years ago. As lawmakers return to Capitol Hill, a new bipartisan bill offers a chance to act on this urgent opportunity and modernize the way that the federal government funds education research and development.
In December, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee approved the Advancing Research in Education Act, which would authorize and reform the law governing the Department of Education’s R&D programs and data collection. The question now is whether the House Education and Workforce Committee will work on its own reauthorization bill to advance conservative priorities in reforming federal education R&D.
Passed in 2002, the Education Sciences Reform Act established the Institute of Education Sciences as the independent research arm of the Department of Education, in an attempt to improve the value of its R&D efforts. Among its projects has been overseeing national assessments and collecting data about American schools—including the “Nation’s Report Card” data that has revealed schools’ poor performance since the pandemic. Passed soon after the more famous No Child Left Behind Act, the law was intended to spur improvement by focusing more attention on evidence-based practices in American schools.
But the past two decades, especially during the pandemic, have revealed how detached public schools’ decisions can be from any credible research or evidence. As a 2022 National Academies of Sciences report understatedly put it, “decisions in school systems rely on a variety of factors, only one of which is evidence produced by research.” For example, the widespread use of ineffective reading instruction—even after a massive government-backed study identified superior methods—shows how public schools have ignored research evidence even in the most fundamental areas of instruction.
In a welcome reaction to this negligence, American education is now undergoing widespread change, including the passage of broad choice programs that give parents direct control over government-funded education resources. Growing parental demand for better learning options will allow for new schools and more personal tutoring, including through the emerging microschool sector. Teachers and school leaders working to give students the instruction they need have a new chance to employ the best methods, including those identified by federally funded research.
Building on these reforms, the Advancing Research in Education Act would make several improvements to existing law, improving the transparency and timeliness of the Institute of Education Sciences’ findings. Education data is often years out of date, For parents and teachers to make the best decisions for their kids, they need more relevant information on student outcomes. During the pandemic, the Institute’s School Pulse Panel was a vital source of information on public schools’ performance, and continuing to have such timely data will be essential for counteracting learning loss and developing new education options for children.
Since the Senate bill received broad bipartisan support in committee, the legislation has a good chance of passage during the 118th Congress. But updating the decades-old law, which expired in 2008, will depend on the House Education and Workforce Committee passing its own measure. Republican lawmakers should seize the opportunity to reform this often-overlooked area of federal education policy. It’s a chance to improve transparency in the American education system, eliminate duplicative or wasteful government programs, and ensure that federally funded R&D is directed towards the needs of parents and children.
In an election year, we’re unlikely to see much federal progress on bigger education goals, such as expanding school choice. But common-sense reforms to the way that the Department of Education supports education R&D and collects information about American schools could pave the way for broader state and federal reforms and should be a priority in the new year.
