Synopsis
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the premier statistical agency within the Department of Education (ED), responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating statistics at all levels of education. In addition, NCES supports ED in a variety of ways: strengthening privacy of education data; enhancing the quality and consistency of education data at local, state, and federal levels; and supporting the states as they develop their own longitudinal data systems.
NCES faces new challenges to improve, adapt, and expand their products and to meet new demands in light of broad changes to education in the United States, which include more diverse student bodies, more students enrolled in postsecondary and adult education, and a greatly expanded role of technology in learning. Education data and policy makers’ appetite for rigorous evidence have advanced rapidly as new data sources become available and the federal government pushes for more and better data through efforts such as the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (commonly called the Evidence Act) and the 2021 Presidential Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government (Executive Order 13985, 2021).
A panel of experts convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, at the request of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), was asked to recommend a portfolio of activities and products for NCES, review developments in the acquisition and use of data, consider current and future priorities, and suggest desirable changes.
The panel approached this task by asking what a national statistical agency for education would be and do if it were newly established today,
with the same level of resources. The panel reimagines NCES as a leader in education statistics, evidence building, and data governance, expanding its role as a data-access facilitator. The panel aspires for NCES to be in full control of how it meets its mission—operating strategically, anticipating environmental changes, and readily adapting to deliver high-value products and services. Finally, the panel envisions NCES as deeply engaged with stakeholders, strengthening data capacity at state and local education agencies, and as a strong partner with ED.
This report cannot take the place of strategic planning, which will require NCES to conduct an intensive self-examination and review of the educational environment. While understanding that NCES needs to decide for itself how to proceed, the panel presents its thoughts on strategic priorities, data products, services, and operations. This report provides a blueprint of key issues and ways that NCES may resolve them, including operational details and many examples to assist with implementation.
First and foremost, NCES is advised to develop a strategic plan that creates a culture of innovation, supports the collection of new types of data and new subject areas, and helps the Center make tough decisions about its data priorities and tradeoffs. This planning process will enable NCES to conduct a top-to-bottom review of its data-acquisition activities, to strengthen focus on topics most relevant to education decision makers, and to discontinue lower-value activities that are disproportionately costly and burdensome.
NCES’s strategic plan should embed diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) into all aspects of the Center’s work, to ensure its work is relevant and useful to an increasingly diverse set of stakeholders. It is critical that NCES’s data collections, methods, and products accurately measure contemporary diverse populations and their lived experiences. To do so, NCES will need to engage with members of diverse communities and instill a culture of DEIA throughout the Center’s staff, intentionally considering DEIA issues throughout the data life cycle, from data collection through analysis and publication.
Second, the panel suggests that NCES work to maximize its unique value for evidence building and work with ED and IES to expand its role in providing statistical leadership to ED and the U.S. government. The secretary of education, director of IES, and NCES commissioner should review and update departmental policies, divisions of responsibility, and processes to enable the NCES commissioner to most effectively carry out the responsibilities of the statistical official delineated in the Evidence Act and to support evidence-building needs across ED. NCES can also increase collaborations with other federal statistical agencies and build partnerships with external researchers and analysts.
Third, the panel suggests that NCES explore and develop new sources of data, including administrative and web-based data, to complement its survey-based and assessment data, lessening the burden on survey respondents and possibly increasing timeliness. Collaboration with other federal statistical agencies and IES is advised, to assist the process of testing and adopting new methods for harnessing alternative data.
Fourth, the panel advises NCES to expand its engagement and dissemination efforts to increase the Center’s impact. Strategies could include creating engagement feedback loops, expanding NCES’s role enabling data access, and improving dissemination with a focus on accessibility and usefulness. Increasing NCES’s impact will require a better understanding of the diverse needs of stakeholders and will necessitate strategic decisions about which audiences to serve. While NCES’s Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Grant Program is a strength, the panel encourages NCES to do even more to support state and local education agencies.
Finally, to successfully implement its strategic plan, NCES will need to transform its internal structure and operations. It may be desirable to shift from a structure based on data source type to one that promotes blending data sources and other innovations, insightful evidence building by education topic, and staff teamwork and cross-fertilization. NCES should address its current overreliance on contractors, including through staffing arrangements in which contractors collaborate with staff to build internal capacity.
