April 2025
On April 14, AERA, in partnership with the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE), filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education over the unlawful dismantling of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and its consequent harms to association members and the educators, policy makers, and countless families and students who benefit from education research.
AERA and SREE are represented in the lawsuit by Democracy Forward, a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement.
Since February, the Trump administration has arbitrarily canceled foundational contracts that support the work of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and essential programs of the other IES centers, gutted IES staff, and created conditions that hinder researchers’ access to and use of essential federal education data. These actions are causing serious harm to the work of education researchers, impeding the academic progress of graduate students, and undermining the ability of practitioners and policymakers to make evidence-based decisions.
“Never before have there been such brazen attacks on education science, data, and research,” said AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine in a news release. “The decimation of the Institute of Education Sciences is nothing short of a fundamental harm to the education research community. Without an IES and the federal education statistical agency it houses, the studies and evidence-based findings produced by our members are gravely undermined.”
“Our graduate students are stalled in their work and upended in their progress toward a degree,” Levine said. “Practitioners and policymakers also suffer great harm as they are left to drive decisions without the benefit of empirical data and high-quality research. We simply cannot allow this unlawful attack to go unchallenged.”
Congress created IES within the Department of Education to conduct critical, high-quality education research, collect and analyze data, and disseminate important findings to ensure that children are getting the support they need and that the U.S. is getting returns on its educational investments.
“IES has been critical to fostering research on what works, and what does not work, and for providing this information to schools so they can best prepare students for their future,” said SREE Executive Director Ellen Weiss in the release. “The impacts of the administration’s actions are already having ripple effects across the research community and stand to devastate the ongoing research our members have invested years in fostering. We must defend IES and the crucial role it serves in improving the lives of students throughout the country.”
Related:
“AERA Partnering with 11 Other Education Research Associations Calls on Congress to Save Education Research and Data,” AERA Highlights, March 2025
“AERA Urges Action on Potential Cancellation of NCES Restricted-Use Data Licenses,” AERA Highlights, March 2025
“Department of Education Initiates Reduction in Force with Significant Impact on IES Staffing,” AERA Highlights, March 2025
“AERA Responds to the New Administration Efforts to Dismantle Scientific Research and Data—NCES and IES Take Big Hit,” AERA Highlights, February 2025
“NCES Commissioner Peggy Carr Placed on Administrative Leave,” AERA Highlights, February 2025