Key Updates:

• June 10, 2025 -- AERA urged all PIs and co-PIs of terminated grants from the National Science Foundation across fields of science and types of awards to provide information on the impact and consequences of these terminations. AERA asked members affected by the NSF cuts to  respond to a survey as soon as possible. AERA is undertaking this important survey in conjunction with other scientific societies and groups. 
• May 20, 2025 -- AERA provided an update on the lawsuit filed in April to challenge the Department of Education’ s unlawful dismantling of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).
• May 9, 2025 -- In appropriations testimony, AERA Executive Director Felice Levine registered “shock and concern” about DOGE’s “unbridled attacks on the NSF and its mission as an independent agency to advance all science.” She called on Congress to examine this assault—now directed to education science and other social, behavioral, and economic sciences.
• April 30, 2025 -- AERA and the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE) asked for an injuction to protect the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), by asking the court to pause the dismantling of the IES while the case is heard.
• April 14, 2025 -- AERA, in partnership with 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 members and the educators, policy makers, and countless families and students who benefit from education research.
• March 26, 2025 -- AERA and other education research leaders called on Congress to protect the nation’s education data, research infrastructure, and knowledge base, by safeguarding the IES and broader Education Department staff, leadership, and mission.

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Federal education research and data are under attack. The Trump administration has fired half the staff at the U.S. Department of Education. This includes axing the number of employees at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) from approximately 175 to about 20 and cutting the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) from 105 to 3. The administration is also canceling all restricted-use NCES data licenses, cutting off access to critical data sources and bringing research across the country to an abrupt halt. These actions follow the administration suddenly canceling IES contracts and placing the NCES commissioner on administrative leave. These deeply troubling steps are having an immediate and adverse impact on research across the country—and will hurt students, educators, and society. 

In addition, at the National Science Foundation, the Trump administration has stopped new awards, drastically cut existing grants and staff, and has called for gutting the agency's budget by more than half. While these actions have affected funding and staff across NSF, they have been concentrated in two directorates that support education research—the STEM Education Directorate and the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate.

If the administration succeeds in gutting federal education research, policymakers and educators nationwide will be forced to make decisions in the dark, without reliable evidence to guide them. These cuts would jeopardize student achievement, weaken workforce readiness, and erode America’s global competitiveness. 

AERA is speaking out, alerting association members, and coordinating with the scientific community to advocate for protecting the integrity of federal research and data. Follow the links below to learn more and get engaged.