Easton and Commissioners Brief National Board for Education Sciences


 
June 2014

On the heels of announcing his departure, IES Director John Easton urged the National Board for Education Sciences (NBES) to think about the qualifications and skills needed for the next IES director, fleshing out statutory language for the position. After the creation of a subcommittee and a discussion about process, Easton updated NBES on FY 2014 funding to date.

In the current fiscal year, IES awarded $41.1 million in new grants, while also providing $110 million for the continuation of awards, $30 million for dissemination efforts (ERIC and What Works Clearinghouse), and $7.5 million to small business innovation awards. Of the new awards, 49 were in education research and 8 in research training. In FY 2014, IES also supported two new R&D centers, 11 grants on statistics and research methods, and 18 awards in partnerships and collaborative research.

NBES members inquired about the tight funding levels facing federal programs. According to Easton, 32 grants that were deemed excellent could not be funded in FY 2014, and yet this year was an improvement over FY 2013, when sequestration (the massive across-the-board cuts in federal domestic programs) kicked in. In FY 2014, 73.3% of eligible grants were funded, compared to 60% in FY 2013. Although IES funding has not recovered from sequestration, several large programs are ending this year, which will free up funds for FY 2015. Regarding NCES, Easton stated that it is “a pivotal time” for the center. He described the many reports it produces and how quickly it must do so. There was no report on the status of the search for a new NCES Commissioner.

Tom Brock, National Center for Education Research (NCER) commissioner, reported that NCER expects to hold competitions in all major program areas in FY 2015. This year, NCER added a research competition on gifted and talented youth, and next year three new R&D centers will be funded, covering knowledge utilization, standards in schools, and virtual learning labs.

National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) Commissioner Joan McLaughlin reminded NBES members that there were no new research competitions in special education research in FY 2014, due to the low funding levels. However, NCSER hopes to fund two research competitions in FY 2015, which begins on October 1, 2014. As with other IES programs, what NCSER will be able to do depends on the final appropriation, which will likely not be known for months.