December 2018

This month, AERA took action on two federal policy issues of importance to education researchers and to the broader scientific community.

On December 10, AERA submitted comments in response to a request for information from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on proposed provisions for a data management and sharing policy. The proposed provisions included a definition of scientific data, a description of the scope of NIH-funded projects that would be covered under the policy, and the required materials for a data management plan.

AERA recommended adding metadata in the scientific data definition, allowing flexibility for NIH’s institutes and centers to develop policies that supplement the NIH-wide policy to account for the sciences they support, and including data documentation as part of a data management plan.

On December 14, AERA joined 28 organizations on a Census Project letter endorsing the nomination of Steve Dillingham to be the next director of the Census Bureau and urging the Senate to confirm him. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs advanced the nomination in November, but the full Senate has yet to vote. If Dillingham is confirmed, he would take leadership of the Census Bureau before the launch of the 2020 Decennial Census, which has been challenged for the inclusion of a citizenship question.

Along with Dillingham, Kelvin Droegemeier, nominated as director of the White House Office on Science and Technology Policy, awaits a full Senate vote. The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee voted to advance his nomination on September 5.