December 2023

The National Board for Education Sciences (NBES) held its second meeting of 2023 on December 4 and 5. NBES serves as the advisory board for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The meeting agenda included conversation on two 2022 reports from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) on IES activities—The Future of Education Research at IES and A Vision and Roadmap for Education Statistics—along with discussion of NBES priorities for and concerns about aspects of the draft reauthorization of the Education Sciences Reform Act.

On the first day of the meeting, board members heard from Elizabeth Albro, commissioner of the National Center for Education Research, and Nathan Jones, commissioner of the National Center for Special Education Research, on how IES is responding to the recommendations in The Future of Education Research at IES. Albro highlighted IES activities in four cross-cutting areas: responsiveness and community engagement, expanding competitions, broadening participation, and equity.

Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), provided an update on how NCES is implementing the recommendations from A Vision and Roadmap for Education Statistics, including the strategic plan. She also highlighted the work that NCES could take on with additional funding and staff in four goal areas: aligning products to data needs, improving and innovating with NCES operations, fostering and leveraging mutually beneficial partnerships, and embedding and integrating DEIA principles across NCES.

The second day of the meeting centered on discussion of the Advancing Research in Education Act, which would reauthorize IES (see related story in this month’s AERA Highlights), with the board voting on recommended changes to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP). The board voted unanimously to recommend maintaining the current size of NBES at 15 members (rather than to the 9 in the bill). Also, the board voted to recommend maintaining presidential appointment of NBES members, with 10 yes votes and 2 abstentions. The third recommendation was to retain the presidential appointment of the NCES commissioner, approved with 11 yes votes and 1 abstention. The final unanimous recommendation was to encourage a broader definition of “evidence-based” in the bill.

In addition to these topics, the NBES agreed to form subcommittees on four topics: communications, policy, hiring an executive director, and activities related to the NASEM IES reports. These subcommittees, and the accomplishments at the second meeting of the NBES Board, very much reflect the commitment of Chair Carol D. Lee and the Board to get important work done.