Department of Education

INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request

CONTENTS

Page

Appropriations Language.............................................................................................................. 1

Analysis of Language Provisions and Changes............................................................................ 2

Obligations by Object Classification.............................................................................................. 3

Appropriation, Adjustments, and Transfers................................................................................... 4

Summary of Changes ................................................................................................................... 5

Authorizing Legislation.................................................................................................................. 6

Appropriations History................................................................................................................... 7

Significant Items in FY 2023 Appropriations Reports ................................................................... 8

Summary of Request ..................................................................................................................11

Activities

Research, development, and dissemination...........................................................................13

Statistics ................................................................................................................................. 25

Regional educational laboratories ..........................................................................................39

Assessment............................................................................................................................45

Research in special education................................................................................................58

Statewide longitudinal data systems ......................................................................................65

Special education studies and evaluations.............................................................................70

IES Program Administration ...................................................................................................74

Account Summary Table.............................................................................................................76

Appropriations Language
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

1 

Appropriations Language

For necessary expenses for the Institute of Education Sciences as authorized by section 

208 of the Department of Education Organization Act and carrying out activities authorized by 

the National Assessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act, section 208 of the 

Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002, and section 664 of the Individuals with 

Disabilities Education Act, [807,605,000] $870,868,000, which shall remain available through 

September 30, [2024] 2025: 1 Provided, That funds available to carry out section 208 of the 

Educational Technical Assistance Act may be used to link Statewide elementary and secondary 

data systems with early childhood, postsecondary, and workforce data systems, or to further 

develop such systems:2 Provided further, That up to $6,000,000 of the funds available to carry 

out section 208 of the Educational Technical Assistance Act may be used for awards to public 

or private organizations or agencies to support activities to improve data coordination, quality, 

and use at the local, State, and national levels.3

(Department of Education Appropriations Act, 2023.)

NOTES 

Each language provision that is followed by a footnote reference is explained in the Analysis of Language 

Provisions and Changes document that follows the appropriations language.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

2 

Analysis of Language Provisions and Changes

Language Provision Explanation

1 ..., $870,868,000, which shall remain 

available through September 30, 2025. 

This language provides 2-year availability of 

funds for the account. This language is 

needed to facilitate the planning of long-term 

programs of research and to accommodate 

cyclical surveys and assessments.

2...Provided, That funds available to carry out 

section 208 of the Educational Technical 

Assistance Act may be used to link Statewide 

elementary and secondary data systems with 

early childhood, postsecondary, and 

workforce data systems, or to further develop 

such systems:

This language provides the authority to use 

funds to expand Statewide longitudinal data 

systems to include postsecondary and 

workforce information and information on 

early childhood.

3...Provided further, That up to $6,000,000 of 

the funds available to carry out section 208 of 

the Educational Technical Assistance Act 

may be used for awards to public or private 

organizations or agencies to support 

activities to improve data coordination, 

quality, and use at the local, State, and 

national levels.

This language provides the authority to make 

Statewide longitudinal data systems awards 

to agencies and organizations, in addition to 

State educational agencies, to further the 

purposes of the program.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

3

Obligations by Object Classification

(dollars in thousands)

Object class number Object Class

2022

Actual 

2023

Base

2024

Request

Change from 

2023 to 2024

11.10 Full-time permanent $26,256 $33,048 $34,913 $1,865

11.31 Full-time temporary 2,799 0 0 0

11.32 Part-time 258 145 152 7

11.33 Consultants 51 0 0 0

11.51 Overtime 1 0 0 0

11.52 Awards 384 477 395 -82

11.8 Other Compensation 0 0 0 0

Subtotal Row

 Compensation subtotal 29,749 33,670 35,460 1,790

12.00 Benefits 8,663 12,361 13,034 673

13.1 Benefits for former personnel 0 0 0 0

Subtotal Ro

 Comp/benefits subtotal 38,412 46,031 48,494 2,463

21.00 Travel 126 294 200 -94

23.10 Rental payments to GSA 0 3,025 3,129 104

23.31 Communications 3,975 7 7 0

23.32 Postage/fees 0 2 2 0

Subtotal Row

 Subtotal 23 3,975 3,034 3,138 104

24.00 Printing & reproduction 0 5 5 0

25.1 Advisory and assistance services 0 0 0 0

25.21 Other services 637 652 557 -95

25.22 Training/tuition/contracts 15 143 181 38

25.30 

Goods/services from Federal 

sources 1,797 709 659 -50

25.40 Operations/maint of facilities 0 0 0 0

25.71 Operations/maint of equipment 0 0 0 0

25.72 IT services/contracts 17,923 22,596 23,617 1.021

Subtotal Row

 Subtotal 25 20,372 24,100 25,014 914

26.00 Supplies 0 14 15 1

31.10 IT equipment/software 1 17 14 -3

31.30 Other Equipment 0 5 5 0

Subtotal Row

 Subtotal 31 1 22 19 -3

32.00 Building Alterations 0 0 0 0

Total Row

Total, Obligations 62,886 73,500 76,885 +3,385
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

4

Appropriation, Adjustments, and Transfers

(dollars in thousands)

Appropriation/Adjustments/Transfers 2022 2023 2024

Discretionary:

Discretionary Appropriation $737,021 $807,605 $870,868

Total, discretionary appropriation 737,021 807,605 870,868
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

5

Summary of Changes

(dollars in thousands)

2023 $807,605

2024 870,868

Net change +63,263

Increases: 2023 base

Change 

from base

Increase for Research, development, and dissemination for the 

establishment of a National Center for Advanced Development in 

Education within the National Center for Education Research.

$245,000 +$46,877

Increase for Statistics to support expansion of the School Pulse 

Panel, in addition to, a new Geospatial Data Initiative that would 

enable NCES to grow its capacity to develop, manage, provide, 

and apply geospatial data and geospatial technologies across 

education research and program administration.

121,500 +5,500

Increase for Regional educational laboratories to design and 

administer a program of research that fosters innovation in the 

implementation of evidence-based practices

58,733 +2,000

Increase for National Assessment of Educational Progress to 

support research and development on innovations to advance 

NAEP and reduce future program costs.

185,000 +4,000

Increase for National Assessment Governing Board to fund the 

development of the NAEP writing assessment framework and 

cost of living adjustments for staff salaries and expenses. 

7,799 +1,501

Increase for Program Administration to support staff levels and 

provide resources necessary for IES to deliver on its statutory 

and regulatory mandates.

73,500 +3,385

Subtotal, increases +63,263
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

6

Authorizing Legislation

(dollars in thousands)Activity

2023

Authorized

2023

Appropriation

2024

Authorized

2024

Request

Research and Statistics:

 Research, development, and dissemination (ESRA, Title I, parts 

A, B, and D, except section 174) 01,2 $245,000 01,2 $291,877

 : Statistics (ESRA, Title I, part C) 01,2 121,500 01,2 127,000

Regional educational laboratories (ESRA, section 174) 02 58,733 02 60,733

Assessment:

Assessment: National assessment (NAEPAA, section 303) 02 185,000 02 189,000

Assessment: National Assessment Governing Board (NAEPAA, 

section 302) 02 7,799 02 9,300

Research in special education (ESRA, part E) 03 64,255 0 64,255

Statewide longitudinal data systems (ETAA, section 208) 02 38,500 02 38,500

Special education studies and evaluations (IDEA, section 664) 03 13,318 03 13,318

Program Administration 02 73,500 02 76,885

Total appropriation 807,605 870,868

Portion of request subject to reauthorization 807,605 870,868

1 Section 194(a) of the Education Sciences Reform Act provides that not more than the lesser of 2 percent of the amount appropriated to carry out the Act 

(excluding amount appropriated for the Regional Educational Laboratories) or $1,000 thousand shall be made available for the National Board of Education 

Sciences and that the National Center for Education Statistics shall be provided not less than its fiscal year 2002 amount ($85,000 thousand). 2 The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2009. Reauthorization for FY 2024 is expected through appropriations language. 3 The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2011. Reauthorization for FY 2024 is expected through appropriations language.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

7

Appropriations History

(dollars in thousands)

Year

Budget 

Estimate 

to Congress

House 

Allowance

Senate 

Allowance Appropriation

20151 $637,180 N/A $579,021 $573,935

20162 675,883 $409,956 562,978 618,015

20173 693,818 536,049 612,525 605,267

20184 616,839 605,267 600,267 613,462

20195 521,563 613,462 615,462 615,462

20206 521,563 650,000 615,462 623,462

20217 565,440 630,462 635,462 642,462

2021 Supplemental, CRRSA Act 

(P.L. 116-260) 8 0 0 0 28,000

2021 Mandatory Supplemental,

ARP Act (P.L. 117-02) 9 0 0 0 100,000

202210 642,462 762,465 814,492 737,021

202311 662,516 844,075 831,395 807,605

2024 870,868

1 The House allowance is shown as N/A because there was no Subcommittee action; Senate allowance reflects 

Senate Subcommittee action only.

2 The levels for House and Senate allowances reflect action on the regular annual 2016 appropriations bill, which 

proceeded in the 114th Congress only through the House Committee and Senate Committee. 3 The levels for the House and Senate allowances reflect Committee action on the regular annual 2017 

appropriations bill; the Appropriation reflects the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017. 4 The level for the House allowance reflects floor action on the Omnibus appropriation bill; the Senate allowance 

reflects Committee action on the regular annual 2018 appropriations bill; the Appropriation reflects the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141). 5 The levels for the House and Senate Allowance reflect Committee action on the regular annual 2019 appropriations 

bill; the Appropriation reflects enactment of the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and 

Education Appropriations Act, 2019 (P.L. 115-245). 6 The Senate Allowance reflects the Chairman’s mark; the Appropriation reflects the Further Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-94). 7 The level for the Senate Allowance reflects the Chairman’s mark; the Appropriation reflects Division H of the 

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260).

8 The Appropriation reflects supplemental funds from Division M of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 

(P.L. 116-260).

9 The Appropriation reflects the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-02).

10 The House allowance reflects floor action on the FY 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act; the Senate allowance 

reflects the Chairman’s mark; and the Appropriation reflects H.R. 2471 / Public Law 117-103 Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2022.

11 The House allowance reflects floor action on the FY 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act; the Senate allowance 

reflects the Chairman’s mark; and the Appropriation reflects H.R. 2617 / Public Law 117-328 Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2023.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

8 

Significant Items in FY 2023 Appropriations Reports

Institute for Education Sciences (IES) Operating Plan

House 

Report: The agreement directs the Director to submit an operating plan within 90 days of 

enactment of this Act to the Committees detailing how IES plans to allocate 

funding available to the Institute for research, evaluation, statistics, 

administration, and other activities.

Explanatory 

Statement: IES and NCES are directed to also describe in the operating plan directed in 

House Report 117-403 implementation plans and associated timelines for 

recommendations of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and 

Medicine in the "Future of Education Research at IES" and "A Vision and 

Roadmap for Education Statistics."

Response: The Department will comply as directed. 

Governing Boards of Institutions of Higher Education

House 

Report: The Committee is interested in the disclosure of the gender, racial, and ethnic 

composition of governing boards of institutions of higher education in an ongoing 

effort to increase transparency and promote inclusive and equitable educational 

institutions. The Committee encourages the Department to ensure governing 

body composition, including the gender, racial, and ethnic composition of 

members, is included as a data component in surveys administered by the 

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) or other Federal 

postsecondary institution data collection effort. The Committee directs the 

Department to assess the feasibility of including such data in the fiscal year 2024 

Congressional Budget Justification.

Response: An assessment of the feasibility of including these requested data in future 

Congressional Justification documents entails an assessment of (a) limitations 

related to collection authority and public reporting capabilities and (b) the 

technical feasibility of collecting these new data. Current limitations include: (1) 

OMB has repeatedly recognized that IPEDS, including its defined survey 

components, is a mandatory collection. As such there are limitations as to what 

data ED or NCES may choose to propose be added to IPEDS (e.g., collecting 

data on non-credit student enrollment can’t be mandated because there is no 

immediate link between this information and Title IV implementation). Without a 

clear, defined mandate connected to an existing federal statute or program, any 

proposal to collect new information on the composition of IHE governing boards 

would likely face similar issues. (2) Governing boards, in general, are not large 

so there are potential privacy and disclosure issues to address that may require 

the masking of these data before they could be shared outside NCES. All 

information collected within IPEDS is currently public information. NCES will 

need to reassess and likely change the way data are reported outside of IPEDS 

to include data with privacy requirements.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

9 

If mitigations for those collection and reporting limitations can be found, for 

IPEDS to add new questions about the composition of postsecondary institutions 

governing boards, NCES would follow the standard practice for adding new 

questions, which entails (1) asking the field to weigh in on the new questions 

(usually through technical review panels); and (2) proceeding through the 

process of collecting public feedback and getting OMB approval. As this process 

usually takes two years, the soonest new questions could be fielded (assuming

they do not run into opposition) would be the 2025-26 school year. 

Civics and U.S. History Assessment

House 

Report: The Committee’s recommendation will support the current assessment schedule 

for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, including administration in 

2022 of the Civics and U.S. History assessment in 8th grade at the national level; 

necessary research and development needed to maintain assessment quality, 

integrity, and continuity, and achieve efficiencies; and maintain plans for the 

administration of a State-level Civics assessment in future years. The Committee 

directs NAGB and IES to consult with the Committee as it considers strategies in 

achieving cost efficiencies in and upgrades of its assessment program. Further, 

the Committee directs the Department to describe implemented and planned 

strategies for cost efficiencies and necessary research and development projects 

in the fiscal year 2024 Congressional Budget Justification.

Response: Implemented and planned strategies for cost efficiencies and necessary research 

and development projects are described in the Assessment Activity.

Research, Development, and Dissemination

Explanatory 

Statement: IES is further directed to describe actions and plans to support high-reward 

research on transformative solutions needed to significantly improve outcomes 

for all students in its current Operating Plan and in future Congressional 

Justifications, Operating Plans, and Biennial Reports

Response: Please see page 14 of the Research, Development, and Dissemination section. 

National Board for Education Sciences

Explanatory 

Statement: The agreement notes that National Board for Education Sciences (NBES) has 

been without members for an extended timeframe; therefore, NBES has been 

unable to fulfill key statutory duties such as providing recommendations to the 

Director of IES on strengthening education research, relevance, and use, and 

regularly evaluating the work of the Institute. The agreement requests the 

Department provide information in future Congressional Justifications regarding 

its plans for NBES.

Response: On October 27, 2022, President Biden announced his intent to appoint 14 

individuals to serve as members of the National Board for Education 

Sciences. The Department is working with each nominee to complete required 

ethics review tasks prior to the start of terms of service. In addition, IES staff are 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

10

working to convene an inaugural meeting of the Board as soon as possible. IES 

Director Mark Schneider, along with the Deputy Directors and Commissioners, 

look forward to working with the NBES members to advance the mission of IES.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

11

Summary of Request

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) supports research, data collection and analysis 

activities as well as assessments of student academic achievement and progress. IES serves 

as a national leader in developing standards for education research, improving the use of 

evidence in grant competitions, and reducing burden and improving the quality of evaluation and 

research using administrative data. The Administration requests $870.9 million for this account 

for fiscal year 2024, $63.3 million more than the fiscal year 2023 appropriation.

The Administration requests $291.9 million for Research, Development, and Dissemination,

$46.9 million more than the fiscal year 2023 appropriation. The investment in research is 

important because high-quality information about effective practices can help improve both 

student outcomes and the return on the public investment in education at the Federal, State, 

and local levels. These funds would support building a high-quality evidence base for what 

works in education, dissemination efforts, and the establishment of a research program 

dedicated specifically to developing and disseminating innovative, cutting-edge practices and 

tools

For Statistics, which provides funds to support the collection, analysis, and reporting of data 

related to education at all levels, the Administration requests $127.0 million, $5.5 million more 

than the fiscal year 2023 appropriation. The National Center for Education Statistics collects, 

analyzes, and disseminates education statistics at all levels, from preschool through 

postsecondary and adult education, including statistics on international education activities.

The request includes $60.7 million for the Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs), $2.0 

million more than the fiscal year 2023 appropriation. These funds would support a network of 

10 regional laboratories that provide expert advice, including training and technical assistance, 

to help States and school districts apply proven research findings in their school improvement 

efforts.

A total of $198.3 million is requested for Assessment, including $189.0 million for the National 

Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), $4.0 million more than the fiscal year 2023 

appropriation, and $9.3 million for the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), $1.5 

million more than the fiscal year 2023 appropriation. The request would support the schedule of 

assessments approved on by NAGB on November 22, 2021, as well as research and 

development investments to improve assessment quality while reducing future program costs, 

and updates to the NAEP writing assessment framework.

The request provides $64.3 million for Research in Special Education, level with the fiscal 

2023 appropriation. These funds would support research intended to improve the 

developmental outcomes and school readiness of infants, toddlers, and young children with 

disabilities; improve education outcomes in core subject areas for children with disabilities; 

improve social and behavioral outcomes; and help adolescents with disabilities attain collegeand career-readiness.

The $38.5 million requested for Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems, level with the fiscal 

year 2023 appropriation, would support continuation costs of competitive grant awards to States 

to foster the design, development, implementation, and use of longitudinal data systems. 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

12

The request provides a $13.3 million for Special Education Studies and Evaluations, to 

support a range of evaluations that are designed to provide information on effective programs 

and practices to inform guidance for educators and parents. 

Finally, the request provides a $76.9 million for IES Program Administration, $3.4 million more 

than the fiscal year 2023 appropriation, to support a range of evaluations that are designed to 

provide information on effective programs and practices to inform guidance for educators and 

parents. 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

13

Research, development, and dissemination

(Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Parts A, B, and D, except section 174)

(dollars in thousands)

FY 2024 Authorization: To be determined 1

Budget Authority: 

Period of fund availability: 

2023 Appropriation 2024 Request Change

$245,000 $291,877 +$46,877

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Research, Development, and Dissemination (RDD) program funds core activities of the 

Institute of Education Sciences (IES), which is authorized by the Education Sciences Reform 

Act of 2002 (ESRA). IES activities help expand knowledge and understanding of education from 

early childhood through the postsecondary education level, as well as career and technical and 

adult education. IES’s programs and products provide parents, caregivers, educators, students, 

researchers, policymakers, and communities with reliable information about the condition and 

performance of our education system, educational practices that support learning, increase 

educational opportunities, and improve academic achievement, and the effectiveness of Federal 

education programs and related interventions.

IES includes four national centers: the National Center for Education Research (NCER), the 

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the National Center for Education Evaluation 

and Regional Assistance (NCEE), and the National Center for Special Education Research 

(NCSER). The RDD program funds NCER and NCEE, as well as the National Board for 

Education Sciences, which is composed of private sector leaders as well as researchers and 

educators who are charged with approving priorities and peer review procedures and generally 

providing guidance to IES. 

NCER conducts sustained programs of scientifically rigorous research that build an evidence 

base in education to drive better decisions and lead to more effective practice. Some activities 

within NCER are organized around research topic areas, such as early learning, reading and 

writing, teacher effectiveness and pedagogy, education systems and policies; and mathematics 

and science education. Others are focused on addressing critical problems of practice identified 

by education stakeholders, such as our Using Longitudinal Data to Support State Policymaking 

program. Since its authorization in 2002, IES has built a diverse NCER research portfolio that 

includes field-initiated research projects, education research training projects, field- initiated 

evaluations of State and local programs and policies, and advancements in statistical and 

research methodology. NCER also funds research training programs to help develop a steady 

supply of researchers dedicated to finding solutions to problems in education. Since 2002, 

1 The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2009. Reauthorization for FY 2024 is expected through appropriations 

action.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research, development, and dissemination

14

NCER has supported more than 2,200 individuals in acquiring relevant and rigorous skills 

across our training investments, many of whom are currently engaged in research in education.

NCEE supports a wide range of activities in the areas of evaluation, technical assistance, and 

dissemination. The Center conducts evaluations of the implementation and impact of key 

Federal education programs through both traditional and quick-turnaround studies and serves 

as a standards and validation body for education evaluations. A portion of funding used to 

support NCEE program evaluations comes from other programs (e.g., the Special Education 

Studies and Evaluations program) and is not part of the RDD request. 

NCEE is also responsible for translating research findings into information that is accessible to 

education practitioners and for enhancing the use of evidence by policymakers and practitioners 

through the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), the Education Resources Information Center 

(ERIC), and the National Library of Education (NLE). These programs work with NCES, NCER, 

and NCSER to promote and make accessible the results of their work. Funding for the WWC, 

ERIC, and NLE is part of the RDD request.

Funding levels for the past 5 fiscal years were:

Fiscal Year (dollars in thousands)

2019 $192,695

2020 195,877

2021 197,877

2022 204,877

2023 245,000

FY 2024 BUDGET REQUEST

For fiscal year 2024, the Administration requests $291.9 million for the RDD program, 

$46.9 million more than the fiscal year 2023 appropriation, to support ongoing research and 

evaluation activities. The RDD program identifies effective strategies for improving student 

learning in early childhood, K−12, postsecondary, and adult education, and it disseminates this 

information to policymakers and practitioners. RDD funds support key activities in IES, including 

those administered by NCER and NCEE.

National Center for Advanced Development in Education (NCADE):

Over the past 5 years, IES has worked to bring new tools to the challenges the nation faces and 

has supported rapid turnaround research using digital learning platforms. IES has encouraged 

high risk, high reward transformational research while also experimenting with new partnerships 

to help ensure that research is grounded in the problems of practice facing SEAs and LEAs. 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research, development, and dissemination

15

Of the funds made available in fiscal year 2024, the Administration proposes to allocate 

$75 million1 ($30 million carried over from the FY 23 appropriation and $45 million from the FY 

24 requested increase) for the establishment of a research program dedicated specifically to 

developing and disseminating innovative, cutting-edge practices and tools. The goal of this 

program will be to encourage dramatic advances in teaching and learning. 

The Administration is committed to ensuring that NCADE supports innovative or unconventional 

research that has the potential to lead to new scientific paradigms, novel and more effective 

approaches to education practice or policy, or transformative technologies that substantially 

increase learner outcomes. As a result, NCER is working towards a reimagined fiscal year 2024

competition under the Transformative Research in the Education Sciences program 

(Transformative Research) that builds upon past successes while prioritizing high-reward, 

scalable solutions that address longstanding deficits and inequities in the education system. In 

addition to new investments in the Transformative Research program, NCER expects to support 

high-reward, innovative, and scalable activities modeled after the Learning Acceleration 

Challenges and IES/NSF AI Institute. 

Research Grants

Funds requested for fiscal year 2024 would be used to support grant competitions in the 

following areas:

• Education Research Grants: This program supports field-initiated research projects 

and accounts for the largest share of NCER grants

(https://ies.ed.gov/funding/ncer_progs.asp). For each competition, IES invites 

applications on specific but wide-ranging topic areas. Applicants may propose 

exploratory research projects, development and innovation projects, initial efficacy and 

follow-up projects, or measurement projects.

• Research Training: Research Training prepares individuals to conduct rigorous and 

relevant education research, including training and mentoring students and researchers

from diverse backgrounds who can improve the quality of education research by 

encouraging different and new ideas, approaches, and perspectives 

(https://ies.ed.gov/ncer/research/researchTraining.asp). 

• National Research and Development (R&D) Centers: The R&D Centers program 

(https://ies.ed.gov/ncer/research/randdCenters.asp) supports research, development,

evaluation, and national leadership activities aimed at improving our education system. 

Each R&D Center conducts research in under-investigated topics that are of interest to 

education policymakers and practitioners. ESRA requires IES to support at least eight

R&D Centers on specified topics. 

• Using Longitudinal Data to Support State Education Policymaking: This program seeks to 

meet the current research needs of states agencies as they seek to improve outcomes for 

learners affected by opportunity and achievement gaps 

https://ies.ed.gov/ncer/projects/program.asp?ProgID=112). 

1 The actual amount awarded in fiscal year 2024 is dependent on the quality of applications received. 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research, development, and dissemination

16

• A new competition focused on knowledge synthesis: This program will be designed to help 

the field to both identify areas where there is a strong body of knowledge that can drive 

practice and to identify areas where there is a strong need for new knowledge.

IES will publish notices inviting applications for fiscal year 2024 awards in the Federal 

Register by summer 2023. In preparing these notices, IES is planning to update language 

across competitions that build in recommendations aligned with the IES Standards for 

Excellence in Education Research (SEER) principles and NASEM recommendations focused 

on equity, heterogeneity, and implementation.

IES also makes a small number of unsolicited grant awards. These unsolicited awards are 

grants that are not eligible for funding under current grant competitions or that address

time-sensitive questions, but that are reviewed using the same rigorous selection process 

as other grants. Additional information is available at 

https://ies.ed.gov/funding/unsolicited.asp.

In addition to these areas where NCER is planning to make new awards, funds requested for 

fiscal year 2024 provide continued support to research underway in the following areas:

• Statistical and Research Methodology in Education: This program helps give education 

scientists the tools they need to conduct rigorous applied research by supporting the 

development of products that will help education researchers at all levels improve their

study designs, perform complex data analyses, and rigorously interpret findings. 

• Systematic Replication: A systematic replication study alters one or more variables of 

a rigorous causal-impact study of an intervention that produced beneficial effects,

whether it was initially developed and/or tested with IES funding. The goal is to verify 

what interventions improve education outcomes and better understand the conditions 

under which they will likely work.

• Using Longitudinal Data to Support State Education Policymaking. Under this 

competition, NCER will only consider applications that address State agencies' use of 

their State's education longitudinal data systems as they and local educational

agencies reengage their students after the disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic.

• Partnerships and Collaborations Focused on Problems of Practice or Policy: This

program supports research that is carried out by research institutions and State or local

educational agencies working collaboratively on problems or issues that are a high 

priority for the education agencies 

(https://ies.ed.gov/ncer/research/collaborations.asp), including improving outcomes for 

students who are struggling academically and students with or at risk for disabilities.

• Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Policy or Practice: This program 

focuses on high-priority education problems or issues by helping researchers share

ideas, build knowledge, and strengthen their research and dissemination capacity 

(https://ies.ed.gov/ncer/research/researchNetworks.asp).

Dissemination Activities

The fiscal year 2024 request includes $21.4 million for dissemination activities designed to 

ensure that practitioners and policymakers have access to high-quality research information in 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research, development, and dissemination

17

usable forms. These activities provide tools to help practitioners and policymakers easily locate 

current information on the effectiveness of various strategies and interventions, thereby 

amplifying the impact of the Department’s investments in rigorous research and evaluation. 

The request for fiscal year 2024 will support the following dissemination activities:

• What Works Clearinghouse (WWC). The WWC (https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/) reviews 

research to determine which studies meet rigorous, consistent, and transparent 

standards and produces single study reviews, intervention reports, and practice guides 

that present findings on what works in education. In fiscal year 2022 and 2023 to date, 

the WWC released intervention reports related to English learners, reading, career and 

technical education, and social and emotional learning. The WWC also released a 

practice guide on providing reading interventions for students in grades 4-9. Beginning in 

2023, the WWC will undertake systematic reviews of focal domains to inform evidencebuilding activities. Priority for the first two reviews will be given to areas that both IES 

scientists and the Department’s program and policy offices believe have the greatest 

potential to identify effective practices to improve learner outcomes and eliminate 

inequities in student achievement. If this pilot is successful, NCEE will expand it to 

support three focal domain reviews per year. 

• Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). ERIC provides a comprehensive, 

searchable, Internet-based bibliographic and full-text database of education research 

and information for educators, researchers, and the general public 

(https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/projects/eric.asp). It covers journal and non-journal literature 

from 1966 to the present. More than half a million users search the ERIC website each 

week, with many more searching through ERIC data using vendor sites.

• National Library of Education (NLE). Operating as a depository library under the Federal 

Depository Library Program of the U.S. Government Publishing Office, the NLE serves 

as the Federal Government's primary education information resource to the public, 

education community, and other Government agencies 

(https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/projects/nle/). The NLE's current collection, in print and 

electronic formats, focuses on education and includes subject matter such as 

economics, law, psychology, and sociology, as they relate to education.

Dissemination activity funding is also used for logistical and technical support, as well as 

technical assistance to support building and using evidence.

Other activities:

• Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR): The SBIR program (https://ies.ed.gov/sbir/) 

awards contracts to qualified small businesses to conduct innovative research and 

development projects focused on education technology. Funding is provided through an 

annual set-aside of 3.2 percent of total estimated agency research and development 

(R&D) obligations each fiscal year. The Department is exploring options for sharing 

SBIR costs with the programs that generate those costs and intends to consult with 

Congress on those options, which may include, for example, seeking appropriations

language giving the Secretary authority to reserve a portion of a program’s funds for 

SBIR purposes when the amount generated by that program for SBIR awards exceeds a 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research, development, and dissemination

18

certain threshold. In fiscal year 2024, the Department estimates that SBIR funding would 

total $14 million, based on total R&D estimated obligations.

• IES/NSF AI Institute on Intelligent Tutoring: The fiscal year 2024 request includes $2.0 

million for joint work with the National Science Foundation (NSF) on a new AI Institute, 

which will conduct research on AI-driven innovations designed to reduce achievement 

gaps, improve access, and address the needs of all learners. This institute will build 

upon the FY 21 IES Digital Learning Platforms Research Network. 

• Digital Modernization: The IES Digital Modernization project will rebuild the IES website 

and digital infrastructure to prioritize customers and products with a customer-centric 

design, content and data management tools, and agile technologies. At the end of fiscal 

year 2022, IES awarded a contract to begin phase 1 of the Digital Modernization 

implementation work. This phase includes those elements of the website and data 

infrastructure work that will serve as the foundation for more efficient, cost effective, and 

customer-focused digital offerings in later phases of the modernization effort. In fiscal 

year 2024 IES will support this effort in part with $7.5 million from RDD funds because 

this work includes both website and data elements that are critical to RDD programs and 

activities.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research, development, and dissemination

19

PROGRAM OUTPUT MEASURES

(dollars in thousands)

Available funds 2022 2023 2024

Prior year carryover $42,755 $34,308 $30,000

Appropriation 204,877 245,000 291,877

Total available 247,632 279,308 321,877

Output Measures1 2022 2023 2024

NCER Grants

Grant awards (new) $31,858 $35,708 $107,095

Grant award (continuations) 129,563 166,936 155,630

Education research: Subtotal 161,421 202,544 262,725

Small Business Innovation Research Contracts 13,080 13,100 14,000

IES/NSF AI Institute on Intelligent Tutoring 0 2,910 2,000

Dissemination Activities

What Works Clearinghouse 10,305 9,966 10,300

Educational Resources Information Center 4,030 5,792 5,199

National Library of Education 2,559 2,896 2,896

Technical assistance, logistical support, 

and other 4,516 3,187 3,018

Dissemination Activities: Subtotal 21,410 21,841 21,413

Peer review of new award applications 2,173 3,013 4,013

Digital Modernization 15,239 5,500 7,5002

National Board for Education Sciences 0 300 300

Carryover into next budget fiscal year 34,309 30,000 9,926

Total 247,632 279,308 321,877

1 Funds from any single fiscal year’s appropriation may be used for 2 years. The table provides estimates of the 

amounts from each year’s appropriation that will be used for each area, not the amount obligated in each of those 

years.

2 The contract to support Phase II of our digital modernization project has not been awarded yet. The scope and cost 

of this work will depend on the successful completion of Phase I.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research, development, and dissemination

20

FY 2023 OPERATING PLAN

Grant Activities

Competitions for New FY 2023 Awards 

(Underway as of February 28, 2023 Applicants Notified Estimated Range

Maximum 

Project Period

Research Training Programs in the Education 

Sciences (84.305B)

By July 1, 2023 $100,000 to 

$312,000

5 years

Research Networks Focused on Critical 

Problems of Education Policy and Practice 

(305N)

By September 1, 

2023

$1,000,000 

to 

$3,800,000

5 years

Using Longitudinal Data to Support State 

Education Policymaking (84.305S)

By July 1, 2023 $500,000 to 

$1,000,000

3 years

FY 2023 Continuation Awards Number of 

Awards

FY 2022 

Carryover

FY 2023 

Funds

Education Research (84.305A) 180 $20,323,081 $80,074,525

Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences 

(84.305B)

25 0 17,072,303

Education Research and Development Centers 

(84.305C)

8 0 12,363,232

Statistical and Research Methodology in Education 

(84.305D)

21 0 6,205,202

Research Practitioner Partnerships (84.305H) 3 0 2,957,984

Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of 

Education Policy and Practice (305N)

17 0 7,245,862

Research Grants Focused on Systematic Replication 

(84.305R)

7 0 7,401,714

Using Longitudinal Data to Support State Education 

Policymaking (84.305S)

8 0 1,786,860

Transformative Research in the Education Sciences 

(84.305T)

4 0 3,783,717
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research, development, and dissemination

21

Contract Activities

Research Activities FY 2022 

Carryover

FY 2023 

Funds

Small Business Innovation Research 0 $13,100,000

Dissemination/Knowledge Utilization Activities FY 2022 

Carryover

FY 2023 

Funds

National Library of Education $128 $2,895,526

Educational Resources Information Center 4,233,405 0

What Works Clearinghouse 4,037,778 $5,928,852

Technical Assistance Supporting Evidence-Building and Use 0 0

IAA with HHS 0 $108,000

Operational Activities FY 2022 

Carryover

FY 2023 

Funds

Peer review of new award applications 0 $3,013,306

Support for compliance with contractor security requirements $88,686 0

IES Cloud Hosting and Support 0 $1,974,342

Digital Modernization $2,646,945 2,853,055

Administrative, Logistical and Technical Assistance Support 0 346,460

Printing 0 10,000

National Board for Education Sciences 0 300,000

Information Sharing Support Services 0 0

Post Award Support and Professional Services 0 0

ORCID Consortium Fees 0 $7,800

NCER/NCSER Education Research Training Program Support $21,775 278,225

NCER/NCSER DEIA in the Education Sciences 0 300,000

NCER Technical Working Group Meeting 0 60,000

Research Evaluation and Statistics Task Orders (PRESTO) 0 12,750
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research, development, and dissemination

22

NCER Institute $2,909,600 0

NAEP Data Work 46,998 0

Estimates of American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 Obligations

Activity

FY 2021 

Obligated

FY 2022 

Obligated

FY 2023 

Obligated

FY 2023 

Planned

NSF National Artificial 

Intelligence Institute 

Competition 0 0

 

$10,000,000 0

School Pulse Survey

 

$12,013,751 0

 

1,180,760 

 

$1,805,489 

Improving Pandemic Recovery 

Efforts 0

 

$7,645,004 

 

660,026 

 

16,088,424 

Using Longitudinal Data 0

 

872,187 332,105

 

1,649,804 

LEARN Network 0

 

3,115,329 0

 

4,255,822 

Research to Accelerate 

Recovery in Special Education 0

 

7,538,772 

 

4,378,255 

 

19,865,718 

Knowledge 

Utilization/Dissemination 0 0

 

2,000,000 

 

2,000,000 

IES Learning Acceleration 

Challenges 0

0 

3,277,612 

 

320,863 0

IES Scientific Peer Review 0

 

1,000,000 0 0 

Total 12,013,751 23,448,984 18,872,009 45,665,256 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research, development, and dissemination

23

PROGRAM PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

Performance Measures

This section presents selected program performance information, including, for example, goals, 

objectives, measures, and performance targets and data. Achievement of results is based on 

the cumulative effect of the Federal resources provided for this program as well as the 

resources and efforts invested by those served by the program. 

Goal: Transform education into an evidence-based field.

Objective: Raise the quality of research funded or conducted by the Department.

Measure: The minimum percentage of projects that result in peer-reviewed publications.

Year Target Actual

2019 87% 82%

2020 89 81

2021 90 82

2022 85 82

2023 85

2024 85

Additional information: Peer-reviewed publications are an expected product of all research 

projects (i.e., grants). Given the lag from time of award to completion of a study and its 

publication, the denominator for each reporting year will be the cumulative number of research 

grants that had been funded through the end of the fiscal year 3 years prior to the reporting 

year. IES had set a long-range goal of 90 percent for this measure, a figure that proved to be 

overly ambitious, particularly since project lengths were increased to 4 years for development 

projects and 5 years for efficacy projects. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a halt in all 

in-person data collection, which means that many studies that were scheduled to end in 2020 

have not been completed. While there has been a slight uptick in the actual percentage of 

projects resulting in peer-reviewed publications, RDD has not yet hit the established targets. 

Therefore, the target for 2024 remains at 85 percent.

Measure: The minimum number of IES-supported interventions with evidence of efficacy in 

improving student outcomes.

Year Target Actual

2019 130 124

2020 137 135

2021 144 142

2022 150 154

2023 156

2024 156
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research, development, and dissemination

24

Additional information: IES-supported interventions include those developed or evaluated 

by IES. Results of intervention evaluations typically are not available until the end of a grant 

award period. The reported data are the cumulative numbers of interventions since 2002 with 

evidence of meeting WWC standards and having positive effects on student outcomes as 

determined by the WWC reviewers. IES did not meet the target for 2021. As discussed in the 

previous measure, studies and publications have been disrupted and slowed by COVID-19 

pandemic, contributing to a lower than anticipated number of publications to submit for review 

by the WWC. 

Efficiency Measures

Measure: The average number of research grants administered per program officer employed 

in the National Center for Education Research.

Year Target Actual

2019 40 41

2020 40 51

2021 40 51

2022 35 48

2023 35

2024 35

Additional information: The principal efficiency measure for IES is the ratio of research staff to 

research grants. The targets established for 2022 through 2024 reflect IES’s commitment to 

significantly reducing the grants to staff member ratio.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

25

Statistics

(Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part C)

(dollars in thousands)

FY 2024 Authorization: To be determined1,2

Budget Authority:

Period of fund availability: 

2023 Appropriation 2024 Request Change

$121,500 $127,000 +$5,500

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is one of four Centers in the Institute of 

Education Sciences (IES) established by the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) of 2002. 

NCES is also the Department’s Recognized Statistical Agency, with responsibilities specified in 

44 U.S.C. 3563(a)(1), including the following four fundamental responsibilities:

• Produce and disseminate relevant and timely statistical information;

• Conduct credible and accurate statistical activities;

• Conduct objective statistical activities; and

• Protect the trust of information providers by ensuring the confidentiality and exclusive 

statistical use of their responses.

To fulfill these responsibilities, NCES is authorized to:

• Collect, acquire, compile, and disseminate full and complete statistics on the condition 

and progress of education in the U.S.;

• Conduct and publish reports on the meaning and significance of such statistics;

• Collect, analyze, cross-tabulate, and report data, where feasible, by demographic 

characteristics, including gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, language status, 

mobility, disability, and urbanicity;

1 The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2009. Reauthorization for FY 2024 is expected through appropriations 

action.

2 The statute authorizes such sums as may be necessary for all of Title I of ESRA, of which not less than the amount 

provided to the National Center for Education Statistics for FY 2002 shall be available for Part C, which is $85,000 

thousand.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statistics

26

• Help public and private educational agencies and organizations improve their statistical 

systems;

• Acquire and disseminate data on U.S. education activities and student achievement 

compared with foreign nations; and

• Conduct longitudinal and special data collections necessary to report on the condition 

and progress of education.

NCES is also authorized to establish a program to train employees of public and private 

educational agencies, organizations, and institutions in the use of statistical procedures and 

concepts and may establish a fellowship program to allow such employees to work as 

temporary fellows at NCES.

Under the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, the NCES Commissioner 

is the Department of Education’s Chief Statistical Officer, responsible for directing and 

coordinating statistical policy for the agency.

The NCES Commissioner also serves as the Department’s Senior Agency Official for 

Geographic Information under the Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (GDA) and required to address 

the statutory requirements for geospatial data under the that Act on behalf of the Department. 

NCES is required to allocate program budget to meet these data responsibilities, and NCES is 

obligated to regularly report compliance to the Office of the Inspector General and to other 

federal entities. The GDA specifically requires that NCES will:

• Include geospatial data in preparing its budget submission.

• Apply geospatial data and geospatial IT to improve operations, support decision-making, 

and provide information to the public. 

• Collect, maintain, disseminate, and preserve geospatial data so that resulting data and 

information is easily accessible and shareable. 

• Use appropriate geospatial data and metadata standards and make the resulting 

metadata available through the GeoPlatform1. 

• Submit an annual report to the Federal Geographic Data Committee (who provides it to 

Congress) that documents compliance with GDA requirements and progress toward its 

geospatial data strategy. 

Statistical information collected by NCES contributes to the identification of needs in education 

and informs the development of policy priorities. The authorizing statute requires the 

Commissioner of NCES to issue regular reports on education topics, particularly in the core 

academic areas of reading, mathematics, and science, and to produce an annual statistical 

1 https://www.geoplatform.gov/
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statistics

27

report on the condition and progress of education in the United States. NCES studies provide 

information on a wide range of issues that are critical to understanding the U.S. education 

system, including such topics as teacher shortages, mobility, and attrition; education equity; 

school safety; high school completion; preparation for higher education; college costs; student 

financial aid; and the achievement of students in the U.S. compared with that of other countries. 

NCES coordinates with other Federal agencies when carrying out surveys to maximize the 

value of the information collected and to minimize response burdens on stakeholders. For 

example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has contributed to the Early 

Childhood Longitudinal Survey, Kindergarten Class of 2010−11 (ECLS-K:2011); the National 

Science Foundation participated in the High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS:2009); NCES 

collaborates with the National Science Foundation on the National Training, Education, and 

Workforce Study; and NCES collaborates with the Bureau of Justice Statistics to administer the 

School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. NCES also collaborates 

with the Bureau of Justice Statistics on the production of the Indicators of School Crime and 

Safety report. Because of NCES’s lean staffing, almost all programmatic work is conducted 

through competitively awarded contracts.

Five areas, each with a set of specific activities, make up the Statistics budget:

• Administrative Data Collections and Support includes basic descriptive data collections 

from public schools at the elementary and secondary levels and from public and private 

postsecondary institutions, activities that support the proper management and development 

of geospatial data related to education, as well as activities that improve the data 

management capabilities of state agencies, promote the development and adoption of 

voluntary data standards, and provide technical assistance.

• Longitudinal Studies collect information on the same students over time. Studies 

undertaken by NCES include studies of students from elementary school through 

postsecondary education and training. Such studies provide insight into how students and 

educational systems influence one another and ultimately provide educators and 

policymakers with information to examine student development and factors associated with 

change over time to improve the quality of education. These studies often include direct 

assessments of student academic knowledge to measure academic growth.

• International Studies provide insights into the educational practices and outcomes in the 

U.S. by enabling comparisons with other countries. These studies reflect the longstanding 

concern—dating back at least to the landmark 1983 report “A Nation at Risk”—over the role 

of education in maintaining the Nation’s global competitiveness and ensuring continued 

economic growth and prosperity. They also provide data on adult skills (including literacy 

and numeracy), lifelong learning, and skills training programs, as well as support studies of 

factors associated with a range of educational and work outcomes.

• Cross Sectional Studies provide data needed to understand trends in education and 

provide flexibility to collect and release data rapidly on pressing issues. Current NCES cross 

sectional studies regularly collect and report extensive information about school staffing, 

school safety, homeschooling, parent involvement in education, private school 

characteristics, extensive pulse studies on issues affecting elementary and secondary 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statistics

28

school operations, and other issue-specific data from public and private schools, their staff, 

and households.

• Crosscutting Activities include activities designed to enhance the effectiveness and 

usefulness of statistical data collections and publications; programs to review and improve 

the quality of NCES studies and to safeguard privacy and confidentiality; initiatives to train 

the public on accessing and using NCES data; production of the congressionally mandated 

Condition of Education report and other topical special reports; and the development of 

equity data resources.

Funding levels for the past 5 fiscal years were:

Fiscal Year (dollars in thousands)

2019 $103,0001

2020 117,5002

2021 111,500

2022 111,500

2023 121,500

FY 2024 BUDGET REQUEST

For fiscal year 2024, the Administration requests $127.0 million for Statistics, $5.5 million more 

than a fiscal year 2023 appropriation. The Statistics request includes funds for a broad range of 

surveys and activities that provide information on education at all levels. The requested increase 

includes $4 million to support expansion of the School Pulse Panel, for which the Statistics 

program received $10 million increase in the fiscal year 2023 appropriation. 

In order to provide the flexibility NCES needs to support program activities, the request would 

continue to make funding available for 2 years.

Activities in the Statistics request include:

Administrative Data Collections and Support

The Administrative Data Collections and Support category includes basic descriptive data 

collections from public schools at the elementary and secondary levels and from public and 

private postsecondary institutions, as well as activities that support improvement of data 

standards and technical assistance. The fiscal year 2024 request includes approximately 

$25.1 million to continue existing administrative data collections and to support a new 

Geospatial Data Initiative. Key activities include:

1 Reflects a reprogramming of $6,500 thousand in fiscal year 2019 funds from Statistics to the Assessment program 

in the IES account that was “repaid” by reprogramming $6,500 thousand of fiscal year 2020 Assessment funds to 

Statistics.

2 Reflects a reprogramming of $6,500 thousand in fiscal year 2020 funds from the Assessment program to Statistics 

to “repay” the funds transferred to Assessment in fiscal year 2019.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statistics

29

• The Common Core of Data (CCD) (http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/), the Department’s primary 

database on public elementary and secondary education in the U.S., provides annual 

information on all school districts and public elementary and secondary schools, including 

public charter schools. Examples of such information include basic descriptive information 

such as student enrollment, demographic, and high school completion data; numbers of 

teachers and other staff; and fiscal data, including revenues and expenditures.

• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) (http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/) is 

a comprehensive data collection system for postsecondary institutions, including all Higher 

Education Act Title IV institutions. Components of the survey include: institutional 

characteristics, admissions, fall enrollment, completions, salaries, finance (including current 

revenues by source; current expenditures by function, assets, and indebtedness; and 

endowment investments), student financial aid, staff, graduation rates, outcome measures, 

and academic libraries.

• The Common Education Data Standards (https://ceds.ed.gov/) project is a national 

collaborative effort to develop voluntary, common data standards for a key set of education 

data elements to streamline the exchange, comparison, and understanding of data within 

and across P-20W (Preschool, Grade 20 or Higher Education, Workforce) institutions and 

sectors.

• The Surveys and Cooperative Systems program provides support for efforts to improve the 

quality, timeliness, and comparability of statistics used for education policymaking at all 

levels of government, including the National Forum on Education Statistics 

(http://nces.ed.gov/forum/about.asp) and two National Postsecondary Education 

Cooperatives (http://nces.ed.gov/npec/): one focused on IPEDS and one on the 

postsecondary longitudinal and sample surveys.

• The Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (EDGE) program 

(http://nces.ed.gov/programs/edge/) provides the Department’s primary source of annually 

updated school district data on social, economic, and housing conditions, including poverty 

data needed for program administration. The EDGE program also oversees geospatial data 

activities required to support statistical and statutory grant programs and to address 

statutory requirements under the GDA. The Request includes $1.5 million for a new 

Geospatial Data Initiative that would enable NCES to grow its capacity to develop, manage, 

provide, and apply geospatial data and geospatial technologies across education research 

and program administration (in compliance with NCES’s responsibilities under the 

Geospatial Data Act 2018). This will increase the value of NCES/IES’s existing investments 

and create long-term cost savings by enabling NCES to integrate other federal and nonfederal data sources with location-based information to create new value and new policyrelevant data products using existing data investments. The Geospatial Data Initiative would 

create capacity to develop new estimates and indicators, including poverty levels of students 

enrolled in schools. Developing such indicators requires testing, validation, and significant 

communication with partners across the field of education. The value of products and 

resources that can be developed through the Geospatial Data Initiative cannot be 

understated, as they will improve the Department’s understanding of educational outcomes, 

inform equitable allocation of resources, and enable better application of existing education 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statistics

30

program efforts at all levels. The initiative would also improve capacity for mapping, 

visualizing, and analyzing geospatial data across the enterprise to support the Department’s 

strategic initiative for data-based decision-making.

Longitudinal Studies

Longitudinal Studies are designed to collect information on the same students over time. The 

fiscal year 2024 request includes approximately $38.1 million to support the following 

longitudinal studies:

• The Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies (ECLS) (http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/) are a series of 

longitudinal studies that follow children from birth or from kindergarten entry to examine child 

development, school readiness, and early school experiences. The first study was the ECLS 

Kindergarten Class of 1998-99; the second was the ECLS Birth Cohort of 2001. The latest

completed study in the series, the ECLS Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:11), 

concluded data collection in the spring of 2016 and has enabled researchers to study how a 

wide range of family, school, community, and individual factors are associated with 

performance in school over time. The newest ECLS program study, the ECLS-K:2024, will

follow the kindergarten class of 2023-24 through the fifth grade. The study had been 

scheduled to follow the kindergarten class of 2022-23 but was delayed due to the pandemic.

• The High School Longitudinal Studies (HSLS) (most recent cohort with available data is at 

https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/hsb/) collect data on a cohort of students from ninth grade 

through their postsecondary education years. The first study began in 1972. The fifth study, 

the HSLS:09 (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/hsls09/), collected data in the fall of 2009 from a 

sample of students in the ninth grade; follow-ups were conducted in 2012, 2013, and 2016. 

Subsequent waves of data collection will follow the sample members through postsecondary 

education and beyond, providing information on transitions from high school to 

postsecondary education and/or the workforce. The sixth study in the series started in the 

fall of 2022 with a sample of 9th grade students. Like ECLS-K:2024, the study’s start was 

delayed due to the pandemic.

• The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) 

(http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/npsas/) is a comprehensive, cross-sectional study of 

undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional degree-seeking students that examines how 

students and their families pay for postsecondary education. NPSAS serves as the baseyear sample for two longitudinal studies, the Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) 

longitudinal study and the Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) longitudinal study. NCES is 

revising the NPSAS data collection schedule. More recently, NPSAS was conducted every 2 

years with a student interview included every 4 years (e.g. NPSAS:20 and NPSAS:24). An 

administrative data collection, which uses only administrative data from the Department’s 

data systems and institutional student records, had occurred in the other years. However, to 

reduce burden on institutions and address resource needs, the every-other-year collection 

model was not pursued and NPSAS:22 will not be conducted. NPSAS:24 will be a full 

collection, which includes a student survey and administrative data collection; and NCES is 

considering whether an administrative-data-only NPSAS:26 can be successfully conducted.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statistics

31

• The Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/bps/) 

follows a cohort of beginning postsecondary students and provides data on a variety of 

topics, including student demographics, school and work experiences, persistence, transfer, 

and degree attainment. The most recent fully completed BPS study, BPS 12/17 cohort, 

began their postsecondary education in 2012. Follow-up data collections occurred in 2014 

and 2017. A new BPS cohort, BPS 20/22, was initiated for the 2019-20 academic year.

• The Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/b&b/) follows 

students who complete their baccalaureate degrees. Initially, students in the NPSAS 

surveys who are identified as being in their last year of undergraduate studies are asked 

questions about their future employment and education expectations, as well as about their 

undergraduate education. In later follow-ups, students are asked questions about their job 

search activities, education, and employment experiences after graduation. The first B&B 

cohort was drawn from the 1993 NPSAS sample; the latest B&B cohort was drawn from the 

2016 NPSAS. Given current resource limitations, the study has been discontinued.

International Studies

International Studies (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/international/) provide insights into U.S. 

educational practices and outcomes by allowing comparisons with other countries. Funding for 

the International Studies program is estimated at $20.1 million in fiscal year 2024 and supports 

the following activities:

• International Analysis supports many activities, including the Indicators of National 

Education Systems Project, a cooperative effort among member countries of the 

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to develop an education 

indicator reporting system. The primary vehicle for reporting on these indicators is an annual 

OECD report entitled “Education at a Glance” (http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/). 

• The International Computer and Information Literacy Study, organized by the International 

Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) 

(https://www.iea.nl/studies/iea/icils), is a comparative study to evaluate students’ computer 

and information literacy (i.e., their ability to use computers to investigate, create, and 

communicate in order to participate effectively at home, at school, in the workplace, and in 

the community). The next survey is scheduled for spring 2023.

• The International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study

(http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/international-early-learning-and-child-well-being-study.htm), 

organized by the OECD, collects comparative data that will allow policymakers to better 

understand what outcomes are possible for children in early childhood education and will 

enable insights on the relative effectiveness, equity, and efficiency of early childhood 

education systems across the world. Three nations—the United States, England, and 

Estonia—participated in this study in 2018; the study was released in March 2020.

• The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies

(http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/piaac/), which is sponsored by the OECD, is a household study 

assessing the basic skills and the broad range of competencies of adults around the world
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statistics

32

and includes detailed information that links skills with educational achievement, work 

experience, training, demographic and health information, and civic involvement. The next 

data collection in the U.S., which had been scheduled for 2021, began in fall 2022 and will 

be conducted through late spring 2023. 

• The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 

(http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/), also sponsored by OECD, is designed to monitor, on a 

regular 3-year cycle, the achievement of 15-year-old students in three subject areas: 

reading literacy, mathematical literacy, and scientific literacy. An online International Data 

Explorer (IDE) is available that allows users to create their own tables and charts from 

available data (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/international/ide/). Because of the COVID-19 

pandemic, the next assessment was rescheduled from 2021 to fall 2022. Results will be 

released in late spring 2023. 

• The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 

(http://nces.ed.gov/TIMSS/), also sponsored by the IEA, is a study conducted every 4 years 

of fourth and eighth graders’ mathematics and science achievement in the U.S. and other 

participating nations. The TIMSS IDE allows users to create their own tables and charts 

using TIMSS data (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/international/ide/). The latest TIMSS was 

administered in 2019 and marked the beginning of a transition to a computer-based 

assessment; the next TIMSS is scheduled to be conducted in spring 2023 and will complete 

the transition to a fully digital assessment.

• The Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) (https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/talis/) 

is a survey about teachers, teaching, and learning environments in the U.S. and other 

participating nations, sponsored by the OECD. TALIS is composed of two questionnaires—

one for teachers and one for their principals—that ask questions about their backgrounds, 

work environments, professional development, and beliefs and attitudes about teaching. 

TALIS is unique because it is the only comparative international education study that 

collects data on nationally representative samples of teachers. For the United States, TALIS 

provides key information on teachers and principals and how they and their working and 

learning environments compare internationally. The most recent round of data collection 

was in 2018, and the next data collection is scheduled for 2024.

Cross Sectional Studies

Cross Sectional Studies, which include a set of sample surveys that provide extensive data 

about public and private schools, staff, and households throughout the U.S., would receive 

nearly $31.1 million in fiscal year 2024 for the following surveys and activities:

• The School Pulse Panel (SPP) (https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/spp/) was initiated to provide 

real-time data about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on public K-12 education. Data are 

collected from a representative sample of public K-12 schools monthly. Content focuses on 

how COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the delivery of education and how schools are 

navigating recovery efforts from the pandemic. From identification of a data need to 

publication of results takes just a few weeks. This is a much faster process than full 

statistical data collection and reporting systems used for most official statistics that involve 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statistics

33

survey components. The model is specifically designed to focus on content amenable to 

short design and evaluation schedules. An additional $4 million is requested to further 

expand the SPP in a rigorous way, deepen the scope and representation of the survey 

across districts nationally, and integrate more external data into SPP results. This expansion 

would support development of real-time information about conditions, activities, and policies 

in schools across the nation.

• The National Teacher and Principal Survey (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/) is the 

Department’s primary source of information on teacher and principal preparation, classes 

taught in public schools, and demographics of the teacher and principal labor force. Topics 

include professional development, working conditions, and teacher and principal evaluation. 

The survey also supports trend analyses in areas such as the average salary of a beginning 

principal, the average student-teacher ratio in the U.S., and teachers’ views of their 

autonomy in the classroom. Public-school information is available at the state level and 

private-school information by affiliation. The next collection starts in fall 2023.

• The School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ssocs/) and 

the School Crime Supplement (SCS) (http://nces.ed.gov/programs/crime/) provide many of 

the statistics used to provide context when behavioral challenges, crises and tragedies 

occur in our Nation’s schools. SSOCS provides information on school incidents, discipline 

rates, and school safety programs and policies from a nationally representative sample of 

public elementary and secondary schools, while the SCS collects information about schoolrelated victimization, crime, and safety in public and private schools as part of a national 

survey of students ages 12 through 18 conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). 

• The Survey of Earned Doctorates in the United States

(http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctorates/) annually collects basic statistics from the 

universe of doctoral recipients in the U.S. NCES coordinates with NSF to support the study 

and integrate the study information needed by the Department of Education.

• The National Household Education Surveys (https://nces.ed.gov/nhes/) is a suite of data 

collections designed to provide descriptive data on a wide range of education-related issues, 

including early childhood care and education, children’s readiness for school, before- and 

after-school activities of school-age children, adult participation in education and training for 

work, parent involvement in education, school choice, and homeschooling. The most recent 

study began in January 2023 with a focus on school choice, parent involvement in education 

more generally, and early childhood care and education. To improve data quality and utility 

and reduce potential redundancies between NCES and NSF, NCES is building on its strong 

working relationships with NSF to support its new National Training, Education, and 

Workforce Study (NTEWS) (https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvyntews/). As a result, NCES is 

not currently planning to field new adult education modules in NHES for the foreseeable 

future.

• The Private School Survey (PSS) (https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/), conducted every 

2 years, provides information on the number of private schools, teachers, and students in 

the U.S. while providing a sampling frame for other federal surveys including NAEP. The 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statistics

34

survey includes private schools in the 50 States and the District of Columbia. The next 

collection will be for the 2023-24 school year.

Crosscutting Activities

Crosscutting Activities would receive approximately $12.6 million in fiscal year 2024 to support 

the following:

• Annual Reports and Indicators include three major annual statistical compilations of critical 

education indicators: the “Condition of Education” (http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/), the 

“Digest of Education Statistics” (http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/), and “Projections of 

Education Statistics” (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/pes/). NCES also produces short-format 

statistical briefs on emerging issues in education.

• The Current Population Survey (http://www.census.gov/cps/) is a monthly household survey 

conducted by the Bureau of the Census. Since the late 1960s, NCES has provided funding 

for a supplement that gathers data on enrollment in elementary, secondary, and 

postsecondary education and on educational attainment. NCES funds additional items on 

education-related topics such as timing of credential award, timing of last enrollment, and 

preschool enrollment. 

• Funding for Data Development and Statistical Standards provides methodological and 

statistical support to NCES, as well as to Federal and non-Federal organizations that 

engage in statistical work in support of NCES mission. Activities include developing 

standards that ensure the quality of statistical surveys, analyses, and products; coordinating 

the review of NCES products; coordinating revisions to the NCES Statistical Standards; 

funding the National Forum on Education Statistics (https://nces.ed.gov/forum/); managing 

the distribution of confidential data, including implementation of the Standard Application 

Process (SAP); and improving the Department’s Data Inventory 

(http://datainventory.ed.gov/). 

• The IES Digital Modernization project will rebuild the IES website and digital infrastructure to 

prioritize customers and products with a customer-centric design, content and data 

management tools, and agile technologies. This work will advance IES' mission as an 

applied science agency by leveraging the website to address the interests of core audiences 

– including parents, teachers, and administrators – in practical, accessible data and 

research on education. At the end of fiscal year 2022, IES awarded a contract to begin 

phase 1 of the Digital Modernization implementation work. This phase includes those 

elements of the website and data infrastructure work that will serve as the foundation for 

more efficient, cost effective, and customer-focused digital offerings in later phases of the 

modernization effort. IES also has a separate contract to support the Digital Modernization 

program management office that will support the implementation vendor as they build these 

foundational elements. Because this work includes both website and data elements, the 

Research, Development and Dissemination and Statistics lines are supporting this work.

The contract to support Phase II of the digital modernization project has not been awarded 

yet. The scope and cost of this work will depend on the successful completion of Phase I.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statistics

35

PROGRAM OUTPUT MEASURES

(dollars in thousands)

Output Measures1 2022 2023 2024

Administrative Data Collections and Support $23,631 $23,631 $25,131

Longitudinal Studies 38,100 38,100 38,100

International Studies 20,073 21,005 20,073

Cross-Sectional Studies 17,051 27,051 31,051

Crosscutting Activities 12,645 11,713 12,645

Total 111,500 121,500 127,000

PROGRAM PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

This section presents selected program performance information, including, for example, 

program goals, objectives, measures, and performance targets and data; and an assessment of 

the progress made toward achieving program results. Achievement of program results is based 

on the cumulative effect of the Federal resources provided for the program as well as the 

resources and efforts invested by those served by the program.

Performance Measures

Goal: To collect, analyze, and disseminate information on the condition of education in 

the United States and to provide comparative international statistics.

Objective: Provide timely and useful data that are relevant to policy and educational 

improvement.

1 Funds from any single fiscal year’s appropriation may be used for 2 years. The table provides estimates of the 

amounts from each year’s appropriation that will be used for each area, not the amount obligated in each of those 

years.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statistics

36

Measure: The extent to which customers would recommend NCES to others and would rely on 

NCES in the future as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

Year Target Actual

2016 74% 72%

2018 74 73

2020 74 73

2022 74 N/A

2024 N/A

Additional information: NCES collects customer satisfaction information through the ACSI 

(http://www.theacsi.org/), which provides satisfaction scores based on samples of customers. 

The baseline for this measure, 74 percent, was established using 2008 data. NCES barely 

missed the target in 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have depressed the survey response rate. Customer surveys 

typically get a response rate of 2 to 5 percent, but efforts to reach respondents over the years 

resulted in a response rate of 22 percent in 2018, up from 8 percent in 2014. In 2020, the survey 

began just as the pandemic was declared, and the response rate was 17 percent. ACSI is 

undergoing a redesign and has not released any new report since 2020.

Measure: The percent of data collections in which the response rate was below 85 percent.

Year

Number of 

Reports

Number of 

Survey 

Components

Number of Survey 

Components with 

Response Rates 

Below 85%

Percent of Survey 

Components with 

Response Rates 

Below 85%

2019 16 30 13 43%

2020 34 59 13 22

2021 42 81 45 56

2022 40 88 52 59

2023

2024

Additional information: One way in which NCES attempts to ensure the quality of its work is 

by maintaining high survey response rates. High response rates help ensure that survey data 

are representative of the target populations. When a survey response rate is lower than 

85 percent, the NCES statistical standards require a bias analysis to help determine the effect of 

the low rate on the survey results. All NCES surveys in 2009 through 2022 either had an 

85 percent response rate or higher or had nonresponse bias analyses conducted and weight 

adjustments made, as needed.

Efficiency Measures

NCES adopted an efficiency measure in 2016 that tracks survey data release timeliness by 

measuring if the reports for certain periodic data collections are released by a predetermined 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statistics

37

date. The efficiency measure addresses customers’ concerns about data timeliness and helps 

assess whether NCES completes work in a timely manner.

NCES’ goal is to release reports for certain periodic data collections to the public by a 

predetermined release date, ensuring that the public can expect NCES reports for annual or 

biennial data collections at an anticipated date during a reporting year. Specifically, the data 

collections that are tracked for this measure are IPEDS (annual), CCD (annual), PSS (biennial), 

and the Condition of Education (annual). 

Measure: The percentage of reports for certain periodic data collections meeting their annual or 

biennial release dates.

IPEDS Data Collection

Year Number of Reports Target Actual

2019 3 100% 67%

2020 3 100 67

2021 3 100 100

2022 3 100 100

2023 100

2024 100

Additional information: This measure tracks the release dates of the Fall, Winter, and Spring 

IPEDS surveys. Each of these collection cycles includes important information that is used by 

policymakers and researchers, as well as by students and their parents. The goal is to release 

preliminary data first to make the data available, followed by an edited and imputed data file and 

report about three months after the initial release. 

Common Core of Data (CCD) Data Collection

Year Target Actual

2019 100% 75%

2020 100 60

2021 100 100

2022 100 100

2023 100

2024 100

Additional information: The CCD is the primary source of key information about public 

elementary and secondary schools and their students and staff. The goal is to release data 

within 1 year from the end of data collection. In 2022, the CCD nonfiscal data were released

within the 1-year limit and also included an extra release that made preliminary data on K-12 

student membership counts for States and school districts available significantly earlier than 

ever before. CCD fiscal data released in 2022 addressed State figures for fiscal year 

2020. District level information on fiscal year 2020 was released in early fiscal year 2023 which 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statistics

38

is within the 1-year limit. The data file with complete fiscal year 2020 information for all districts 

is currently being reviewed for an early calendar year 2023 release.

Private School Survey (PSS) Data Collection

Year Number of Reports Target Actual

2017 1 100% 0

2019 1 100 100%

2021 1 100 0

2023 100

Additional information: The PSS is the primary source of data about private schools and their 

students and staff. The data also serve as the sampling frame for sample surveys that include 

private schools. The goal is to release survey data within 1 year of the end of data collection. 

Data from the 2019-20 Private School Survey were released in a First Look Report in

September 2021. The next collection will be for the 2023-24 school year.

Condition of Education Data Collection

Year Number of Reports Target Actual

2019 1 100% 100%

2020 1 100 100

2021 1 100 100

2022 1 100 100

2023 100

2024 100

Additional information: The “Condition of Education” is a congressionally mandated report 

that is updated using data from every NCES data collection released in the prior year and 

external data from the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 

and international education consortia.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

39

Regional educational laboratories

(Education Sciences Reform Act, section 174)

(dollars in thousands)

FY 2024 Authorization: To be determined1

Budget Authority: 

Period of fund availability: 

2023 Appropriation 2024 Request Change

$58,733 $60,733 +$2,000

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) program (https://ies.ed.gov/rels/), which is 

administered by the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE)

within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), supports a network of 10 laboratories that work 

in partnership with State educational agencies (SEAs), school districts, and other entities to use 

data and research to improve academic outcomes for students. Each of the RELs serves a 

specific region of the country.

RELs conduct and disseminate information about applied research and evaluations; develop 

and disseminate research-based reports and guidance on best practice; and provide training, 

coaching, and technical support to SEAs, local educational agencies (LEAs), school boards, 

and State boards of education. Through these activities, the RELs build local and State capacity 

to use data and evidence, access high-quality research to inform decisions, conduct their own

research, and track progress over time using high-quality data and methods. REL resources are 

allocated based on several variables, including the number of LEAs and school-age children 

served and the cost of providing services within the region. RELs are funded through 5-year 

contracts with research organizations and institutions of higher education.

The current REL contracts, awarded in fiscal years 2022 (all regions except the Southwest) 

and 2023 (the Southwest region), include an explicit focus on supporting sustained, ongoing

partnerships with stakeholders at the State and district levels. Under the direction of their

regional governing boards, RELs identify priority topic areas on which to focus their activities.

Although the research partners in the regions are the primary stakeholders of each REL, the 

Department also requires that RELs develop materials for national distribution through the IES

website. In addition to reports and studies, these materials include resources for classroom 

teachers, building administrators, and local and State education agency staff (e.g., professional 

development activities, tools to support evidence-based practice) that can be used by others 

not directly served by the RELs.

1 The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2009. Reauthorization for FY 2024 is expected through appropriations 

language.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Regional educational laboratories

40

Funding levels for the past 5 fiscal years were:

Fiscal Year (dollars in thousands)

2019 $55,423

2020 56,022

2021 57,022

2022 58,733

2023 58,733

FY 2024 BUDGET REQUEST

For fiscal year 2024, the Administration requests $60.7 million for the RELs, $2 million more 

than the fiscal year 2023 appropriation. The Administration requests an increase of $2 million to 

design and administer a program of research that fosters innovation in the implementation of 

evidence-based practices. In addition, the fiscal year 2024 request would support the more than 

70 partnerships the REL program has established with States, districts, and institutions of higher 

education since the start of the 2022-2027 REL cycle. Partnerships have been established in 

every State and jurisdiction served by the program, and each is working to solve locally-defined 

problems of policy and practice across a wide range of issues, from early literacy and numeracy 

in REL Appalachia to adult college completion in REL West. 

The RELs prioritize student learning and development, including academic recovery, as a part 

of all their work, including through their partnerships with State and local education agencies. 

RELs train educators and education agencies on ways to accelerate learning and address

pandemic-related learning loss, have developed applied research to better understand areas

where needs related to learning loss may be most acute, and disseminate evidence-based

practices.

Several REL partnerships across the 10 REL regions have taken a specific focus on academic

recovery. For example, REL Northeast and Islands partners with several school districts in the

New York Partnership to Strengthen Personalized Learning for Equity to provide training and 

coaching aimed at improving partner districts’ data systems and processes for monitoring the 

progress of the lowest performing students who were most affected by pandemic-related 

learning loss. Additionally, several RELs have recently published or are in the process of 

completing applied research that will directly inform academic recovery. For example, REL 

Southwest recently published a study focused on COVID learning loss for English Learner 

students in Texas. Each RELs has worked over the last two years to develop dissemination 

products for the specific purpose of academic recovery. For example, REL West provided a 

series of three webinars on high-quality tutoring as a promising strategy to accelerate learning.

To achieve the program’s goals and meet the needs of its partners, the RELs would:

• conduct applied research in partnership with States and districts to address their most 

high-leverage problems of policy and practice, including academic recovery; 

• continue collaborations with local partners to co-design, implement, and evaluate a 

series of 10 toolkits that support classroom educators’ application of recommendations 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Regional educational laboratories

41

from IES’ What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guides to strengthen instruction including 

in the areas of foundational literacy, numeracy, and English language arts instruction; 

• design and implement training, coaching, and technical support activities that emphasize 

the use of data and evidence-based practice to drive improvement; and 

• disseminate scientifically valid research, such as that produced by IES’ National Centers 

for Education and Special Education Research, and develop supporting materials that 

allow stakeholders to apply this knowledge to their own practice. 

Funds requested for fiscal year 2024 would continue support for (1) the independent peer 

review of REL products and publications, ensuring their technical quality and relevance to 

education practitioners and policymakers; and (2) REL dissemination activities, including the 

REL website.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), in its report titled 

“The Future of Education Research at IES,” recommended that IES increase its support for 

research that encourages the use of evidence in education practice and policymaking. The 

requested $2.0 million increase for 2024 would allow IES to design and administer a program of 

research that uses the REL program as a “test bed” for innovation in the implementation of 

evidence-based practices. When complete, IES would actively share its findings with technical 

assistance providers across the Department and with other stakeholders with an interest in 

enhancing the use of evidence in education.

PROGRAM OUTPUT MEASURES

(dollars in thousands)

Output Measures1 2022 2023 2024

Regional Educational Laboratory contracts $56,210 $54,444 $53,346

Other, including shared web development, evaluation, 

and peer review of REL plans and products 2,523 4,289 5,387

Innovative evidence-based practices 0 0 2,000

Total $58,733 $58,733 $60,733

1 Funds from any single fiscal year’s appropriation may be used for 2 years; amounts for specific activities may vary 

from estimates based on changing needs.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Regional educational laboratories

42

States Served and Annual Level of Support for Each REL, FY 2023 Award Cycle

Region States

Annual 

Budget in 

Millions

Percent of

Annual 

Budget

Appalachia Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia $4.7 9.0%

Central

Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North 

Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming $4.7 9.0%

Mid-Atlantic

Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New 

Jersey, Pennsylvania $4.8 9.2%

Midwest

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, 

Wisconsin $5.8 11.1%

Northeast and 

Islands

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New 

Hampshire, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, 

Vermont, the U.S. Virgin Islands $5.4 10.3%

Northwest Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington $4.9 9.4%

Pacific

American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 

Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of 

Micronesia (Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap), 

Guam, Hawaii, the Republic of the Marshall 

Islands, the Republic of Palau

$4.6 8.8%

Southeast

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North 

Carolina, South Carolina $6.3 12.0%

Southwest

Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, 

Texas $5.5 10.5%

West Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah $5.7 10.9%

Total $52.4 100.0%
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Regional educational laboratories

43

PROGRAM PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

This section presents selected program performance information, including, for example, 

program goals, objectives, measures, and performance targets and data; and an assessment of 

the progress made toward achieving program results. Achievement of results is based on the 

cumulative effect of the Federal resources provided for this program as well as the resources 

and efforts invested by those served by the program. 

Goal: Increase effective use of data and research, and capacity for use, among State and 

local education agencies.

Objective: Increase participants’ capacity to use data and research to inform decision-making.

Measure: The degree to which participants report that REL training increased their capacity to 

use research and data to inform decisions in their organization.

Year Target Actual

2019 Baseline 3.4

2020 Baseline 3.4

2021 3.5 3.4

2022 3.6 3.5

2023 3.6

2024 3.6

Additional information: The RELs are required to survey participants and report the data to 

IES. Ratings use a 4-point scale where 1 equates to “Strongly Disagree” and 4 equates to 

“Strongly Agree". For this measure, participants were asked to report on the extent to which 

training increased their capacity to use research or effectively incorporate data into decision 

making for their agency or organization. 

Measure: The degree to which REL partnership members report that they plan to use, are in 

the process of using, or have used research or data to inform decisions in their agency, 

organization, or school.

Year Target Actual

2019 Baseline 96%

2020 Baseline 98

2021 100% 97

2022 100 100

2023 100

2024 100

Additional information: RELs have the option to ask one or both of two questions depending 

on the focus of the partnership: (1) “I have used research presented by the REL to inform 

decisions in my agency/organization/school,” and (2) “I have used data in new ways to inform 

decisions in my agency/organization/ school.” 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Regional educational laboratories

44

In 2022, IES intended to have all RELs administer the two questions to all the partnership 

members. However, there was an error in the survey instructions that led RELs to believe that 

instead of posing those two questions, they could pose a question that states: “I expect to apply 

information from the [activity/coaching/support] in my work.” The response options are on a 4-

point scale where 1 equates to “Strongly Disagree” and 4 equates to “Strongly Agree.” For 

2023, IES will revise instructions and provide additional technical assistance to ensure proper 

administration of the questions. 

Objective: Increase the capacity of REL partnership members to use data and research to 

inform decision-making.

Measure: The degree to which participants report that their participation in a REL partnership 

has increased their capacity to use research and/or data to inform decisions about policies or 

practices in their organization.

Year Target Actual

2019 Baseline 3.3

2020 Baseline 3.4

2021 3.5 3.3

2022 3.6 3.2

2023 3.4

2024 3.4

Additional information: The RELs are required to survey participants and report the data to 

IES. Ratings use a 4-point scale where 1 equates to “Strongly Disagree” and 4 equates to 

“Strongly Agree”. For this measure, REL partnership members provided information on two 

questions, one on whether participation in a REL partnership increased their capacity to use 

research, and one on whether it increased their capacity to use data. 

The initial targets set for this measure were too high. The small decline in the average rating for 

this measure may be due to the fact that 2022 was the first year of the new five-year contract 

cycle for nine of the 10 REL contracts. IES expects this measure to increase as participants 

continue to engage with the newly awarded RELs. After reviewing the past four years results the 

Department determined it is necessary to lower the target for this measure to 3.4 for 2023 and 

2024.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

45

Assessment

(National Assessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act)

(dollars in thousands)

FY 2024 Authorization: To be determined1

Budget Authority:

Period of fund availability: 

2023 Appropriation 2024 Request Change

National Assessment of Educational 

Progress

$185,000 $189,000 +$4,000

National Assessment Governing 

Board

7,799 9,300 +1,501

Total 192,799 198,300 +5,501

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as “The Nation’s Report 

Card,” is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what our Nation’s 

students know and can do in various subject areas. NAEP is designed to measure and provide 

objective information on the status of and trends in student learning over time in a wide range of 

subject areas. Assessment frequency is specified in the authorizing statute. The Commissioner 

for Education Statistics must conduct:

• National fourth and eighth grade reading and mathematics assessments in public and 

private schools at least once every 2 years;

• National grade 12 reading and mathematics assessments in public and private schools on a 

regular schedule; and

• Biennial fourth and eighth grade State assessments of student achievement in reading and 

mathematics.

If time and resources allow, the Commissioner may conduct national and State assessments in 

additional subjects at the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades in public and private schools at regularly 

scheduled intervals, including writing, science, U.S. history, geography, civics, economics, 

foreign languages, and arts; 12th grade State reading and mathematics assessments; and longterm trend assessments of academic achievement at ages 9, 13, and 17 in reading and 

mathematics. Whenever feasible, information must be collected and reported by race, ethnicity, 

1 The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2009. Reauthorization for FY 2024 is expected through appropriations 

action.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Assessment

46

socioeconomic status, gender, disability, and limited English proficiency. The NAEP schedule is 

publicly available at https://www.nagb.org/about-naep/assessment-schedule.html. 

The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) is responsible for formulating policy for 

NAEP. NAGB is composed of 25 voting members including Governors, State legislators, chief 

State school officers, a superintendent, State and local board of education members, testing 

and measurement experts, a representative of business or industry, curriculum specialists, 

principals, classroom teachers, and parents. The Director of the Institute of Education Sciences 

(IES) serves as an ex officio, nonvoting member of the Board. Using a national consensus 

approach, NAGB develops appropriate assessment objectives and achievement levels for each 

grade in each subject area to be assessed.

The Assessment budget supports the following major program components:

• National NAEP: The main NAEP assessments report results for the Nation and are 

designed to follow the curriculum frameworks developed by NAGB. They periodically 

measure student achievement in reading, mathematics, science, writing, U.S. history, civics, 

geography, and other subjects.

• State NAEP: State assessments address the needs of State-level policymakers for reliable 

data concerning student achievement in their States in reading, mathematics, science,

civics, and writing.

• The Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA): Begun in 2002, the TUDA provides 

information on fourth and eighth grade student achievement in reading and mathematics in 

a small number of urban school districts. Although participation is voluntary, demand from 

districts to be included in TUDA has significantly increased in recent years, with 27 districts 

slated to participate in the fiscal year 2024 NAEP assessments.

• Long-term trend NAEP: In its long-term trend program, NAEP administers identical 

instruments from one assessment year to the next, measuring student achievement in 

reading and mathematics. These assessments do not evolve based on changes in curricular 

or educational practices.

• Evaluation and validation studies: Congress mandates that the Secretary provide for 

continuing review of the national and State assessments and student performance levels by 

one or more nationally recognized evaluation organizations. NAEP funds also support 

studies to examine critical validity issues involving NAEP design, interpretation, and 

operations.

• Research and development. Research and development (R&D) investments are critical 

both to maintain NAEP as the gold standard of large-scale assessments and to identify and 

produce cost savings and other efficiencies in program administration costs over time.

In order to inform the American public about the performance of the Nation's students, NAEP 

produces a series of public audience and technical materials that are available online 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Assessment

47

(http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/). In addition, a data tool allows users to create their own 

data tables with national and State data.

In 2021, IES began collecting data on schools’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic as part of 

their response to the Executive Order on Supporting and Reporting and Continuing Operation of 

Schools and Early Childhood Education Providers. The 2021 NAEP Monthly School Survey 

(https://ies.ed.gov/schoolsurvey/mss-report/) collected data 5 times from February through June 

of 2021 from nationally representative samples of public and private schools with a grade 4 or a 

grade 8 to provide insight into the learning opportunities for students during the COVID-19 

pandemic. Results from this new pilot survey are available for analyzing the 2022 NAEP data, 

contributing to additional contextual factors for understanding educational outcomes of the 

nation’s fourth- and eighth-grade students. Building on the Spring 2021 NAEP Monthly School 

Survey, new dashboards with information about schools’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic 

during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years are also available online 

(https://ies.ed.gov/schoolsurvey/). 

The Federal Government is specifically prohibited from using NAEP to influence standards, 

assessments, curriculum, or instructional practices at the State and local levels, or from using 

NAEP to evaluate individual students or teachers or provide rewards or sanctions for individual 

students, teachers, schools, or school districts. In addition, the use of NAEP data for student 

promotion or graduation purposes is prohibited, and NAEP should not affect home schools. 

Maintenance of a system of records containing personally identifiable information on students is 

also barred, and assessments must not evaluate or assess personal or family beliefs and 

attitudes.

Test integrity is further ensured by the Commissioner for Education Statistics’ ability to decline 

to release cognitive test items that will be used in future assessments for 10 years—longer if 

important to protect long-term trend data—while continuing to provide for public access to 

assessment materials in secure settings. The NAEP statute requires that the public be notified 

about such access; requires that access be provided within 45 days in a mutually convenient 

setting; establishes procedures for receiving, reviewing, and reporting complaints; and provides 

criminal penalties for unauthorized release of assessment instruments.

Finally, participation in NAEP is voluntary for students and schools, as well as for local 

educational agencies, and each participating State must give permission for the release of the 

results of its State assessment. However, each State receiving funds through the Title I Grants 

to Local Educational Agencies program (i.e., all States, D.C., and Puerto Rico) must participate 

in NAEP’s biennial fourth and eighth grade reading and mathematics assessments, provided 

that the Secretary of Education pays for the costs of participation.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Assessment

48

Funding levels for both NAEP and NAGB for the past 5 fiscal years were:

Fiscal Year (dollars in thousands)

2019 165,2451

2020 154,2452

2021 172,745

2021, CRRSA Act 28,000

2022 187,745

2023 192,799

FY 2024 BUDGET REQUEST

For fiscal year 2024, the Administration requests $198.3 million for Assessment, $5.5 million 

more than the fiscal year 2023 appropriation. The request includes $189.0 million for NCES to 

administer NAEP and $9.3 million for NAGB to provide policy oversight of the assessments. The 

requested increase would support research and development (R&D) on innovations to advance 

NAEP and reduce future program costs, as described in more detail below. The increase for 

NAGB would primarily fund the development of the NAEP writing assessment framework and 

cost of living adjustments for staff salaries and expenses.

Modernization for Cost Savings

Modernization efforts include transitioning to online assessments to support Device-Agnostic 

and Reduced-Contact administration of NAEP using less expensive assessment devices and 

reducing the number of field staff needed to conduct the assessments, as well as introducing 

the use of artificial intelligence to expand automated scoring in NAEP. Each effort must be 

carefully studied to explore feasibility and examine effects, if any, on the measurement of 

student performance. 

In fiscal year 2023, NCES is investing $9.7 million3 in research into these cost saving 

modernizations. Activities include: 

• Field test of Device-Agnostic and Reduced-Contact NAEP using NAEP-provided devices:

The field test will study the use of new, less-expensive NAEP-provided testing devices to 

administer NAEP in place of the current, more powerful and more expensive devices, as 

well as the first stage of a planned reduction in the number of field staff sent to schools to 

administer NAEP. This Reduced-Contact administration is enabled by improvements in 

NAEP’s digital assessment platform and administration management system, which reduce 

the amount of work required of field staff on the day of assessment. 

1 Reflects a reprogramming of $6,500 thousand in fiscal year 2019 funds from Statistics to the Assessment program 

in the IES account that was “repaid” by reprogramming $6,500 thousand of fiscal year 2020 Assessment funds to 

Statistics.

2 Reflects reprogramming of $6,500 thousand in fiscal year 2020 funds from Assessment to Statistics.

3 These funds include fiscal year 2022 carryover and a portion of fiscal year 2023 appropriations, as described in the 

Operating Plan.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Assessment

49

• Automated scoring challenge: This automated scoring challenge is designed to test the 

feasibility of the use of artificial intelligence in automated scoring for mathematics items. The 

mathematics challenge follows a previously successful reading challenge. 

Upon successful fiscal year 2023 field testing of Device-Agnostic and Reduced-Contact NAEP 

administration using NAEP-provided devices, the new, less expensive devices and a reducedcontact assessment administration model will be operationalized in the 2024 assessments. If 

the field test succeeds, NCES expects to save at least $4 million per administration via 

Reduced-Contact modernizations beginning with the operational administration of NAEP in 

2024. Automated scoring is expected to save $2 million per administration by 2028. In addition, 

NCES projects that the cost savings from the Device-Agnostic modernizations will total $27 

million over the period between 2024 and 2028 as NCES phases out more expensive NAEP 

devices in favor of less expensive devices and sends fewer NAEP-provided devices into the 

field.

In fiscal year 2024, NCES plans to invest at least $10 million1 in research and development to 

further the cost saving modernization efforts. Planned activities include:

• Bridge study of Device-Agnostic and Reduced-Contact NAEP using NAEP-provided 

devices. 

• Usability studies to support the next stage of Device-Agnostic and Reduced-Contact NAEP:

The next stage of Device-Agnostic and Reduced-Contact NAEP is the use of school-based 

equipment and school staff in the place of NAEP-provided equipment and some field staff. 

The use of school-based equipment (where the equipment meets NAEP minimum 

requirements and schools are able to make the equipment available for NAEP 

assessments) will reduce NAEP costs by reducing the number of NAEP-provided devices 

needed. The use of school staff (where schools are able to provide staff to aid the 

administration of NAEP) will reduce NAEP costs by reducing the number of field staff to 

schools to one person in most cases. The usability studies will support digital platform and 

administration management systems enhancements in support of these transitions and the 

development of training resources for school staff. 

• Proof-of-concept study of the use of schools’ equipment and staff to administer NAEP: This 

is a small-scale study to explore the use of school equipment and staff in administration of 

NAEP.

• Study of use of artificial intelligence in automated scoring of operational NAEP assessment 

items: This study will be conducted to confirm that artificial intelligence can be used in 

automated scoring, on NAEP’s aggressive timeline for administration, scoring and reporting, 

and can produce scores that are consistent with human scoring that has been used to 

establish NAEP trends. 

1 These funds include fiscal year 2023 carryover and a portion of the requested fiscal year 2024 appropriation.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Assessment

50

Innovations to Advance NAEP

In addition to ongoing activities to support cost-saving modernizations for NAEP, support for 

R&D is needed to make advances in NAEP’s utility to policymakers, educators, and 

researchers, including dramatically improved measurement of high-interest metrics of student 

achievement and learning contexts (e.g., improved measurement of skills at the low end of 

achievement, new measures of socioeconomic status) and more powerful tools for analyzing 

and disseminating NAEP data. In fiscal year 2024, NCES would invest at least $4 million of the 

funds requested to support research and development in his area. Specific efforts would be 

planned with NAGB, but examples of activities of high priority for NCES and NAGB and ready to 

be undertaken when funding becomes available include: 

• Geospatial Socioeconomic Indicators: Funds would be used to develop geospatial methods 

for a new generation of student and school socioeconomic indicators to replace National 

School Lunch Program (NSLP) eligibility, which has become unreliable as a measure of 

socioeconomic status. NAEP R&D work would complement the NCES Education 

Demographic & Geographic Estimates (EDGE) program, which is developing the geospatial 

statistical models and database infrastructure to develop these tools. NAEP would conduct 

comprehensive validation studies and scale the effort using the NAEP sample, which 

includes all the states, as well as large urban districts in the TUDA, which together represent 

more than half of the country’s low-income students of color;

• Adaptive Testing and Improved Assessment of Students at the Lowest Proficiency Levels:

Funds would support adaptive testing and other efforts to improve measurement of the skills 

and knowledge of the growing proportion of students at the lowest proficiency levels. In 

fiscal year 2024, this would include developing additional cognitive items in NAEP reading 

targeted to improve measurement at the lower end of the scale and adding functionality to 

NAEP’s test assembly tools to serve fully (or nearly fully) automatic test assembly, which is 

required to deliver adaptive assessments; and

• Advanced Analytics and Tools: Funds would support advanced analytics and tools to 

provide researchers greater access to data, improve measures of equity in achievement and 

learning resources, and to provide educators and policymakers more diagnostic information 

for using NAEP to improve instruction. This would include an effort to leverage NAEP data 

with state assessment data to obtain district-level estimates of achievement for students 

overall and by various breakdowns, including race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

National Assessment of Educational Progress

The schedule on the next page reflects the NAEP schedule as approved by NAGB on 

November 22, 2021. 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Assessment

51

NAEP Schedule, 2020-2030

Year Subject

National

Grades 

Assessed

State

Grades 

Assessed

Urban District

Grades 

Assessed

2020 Long-term Trend, ages 9 and 131

2022 Reading 4, 8 4, 8 4, 8

2022 Mathematics 4, 8 4, 8 4, 8

2022 Civics 8

2022 U.S. History 8

2022 Long-term Trend, age 91

2023 Long-term Trend, age 131

2024 Reading 4, 8, 12 4, 8 4, 8

2024 Mathematics 4, 8, 12 4, 8 4, 8

2024 Science 8

2024 Transcript Studies

2025 Long-term Trend, ages 9, 13, and 17

2026 Reading2 4, 8 4, 8 4, 8

2026 Mathematics2 4, 8 4, 8 4, 8

2026 Civics 8

2026 U.S. History 8

2028 Reading 4, 8, 12 4, 8, 12 4, 8

2028 Mathematics 4, 8, 12 4, 8, 12 4, 8

2028 Science2 4, 8 4, 8 4, 8

2028 Technology and Engineering Literacy 8 8

2028 Transcript Studies

2029 Long-term Trend, ages 9, 13, and 17

2030 Reading 4, 8 4, 8 4, 8

2030 Mathematics 4, 8 4, 8 4, 8

2030 Civics2 4, 8, 12 8

2030 U.S. History2 4, 8, 12

2030 Writing2 4, 8, 12 4, 8, 12 4, 8

The ability of the NAEP program to support the planned assessment schedule depends on its

ability to undertake the R&D needed to innovate and modernize the NAEP assessment

platform. For example, NAEP currently brings its own powerful and relatively expensive devices

to schools, which entails costs for both the hardware (i.e., purchasing the devices) and the field

staff needed to deliver the devices to schools. These inefficiencies are compounded by

mandatory biennial fourth and eighth grade reading and mathematics assessments. Based on 

current trends, the cost of administering these assessments alone would eventually supplant

assessment in all other subjects over time. The costs for any given assessment are spread out

1 Long-term Trend assessment not administered by computer until 2024. All other assessments will be digitally 

based.

2 A new or updated framework will be implemented in the assessment year.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Assessment

52

over 4 years, and vary depending on factors such as scope, subject, grade levels, and whether 

the assessment is conducted alone or in combination with another assessment.

The 2024 request would help ensure that NAEP can implement the planned assessments, 

prepare for future assessments, such as a State-level assessment in civics in 2030 and others 

listed on the NAEP schedule, while also continuing to invest in the R&D needed to upgrade the

assessment platform and make the improvements that will decrease future assessment costs.

National Assessment Governing Board

The $9.3 million request for NAGB, an independent, bipartisan organization that formulates 

policy guidelines for NAEP, would be used to fund operational areas of NAGB’s work and cover 

cost of living adjustments for salaries and expenses. The funding request includes $1.6 million 

for developing an updated NAEP writing assessment framework and funding for improved 

awareness and understanding of NAEP results and expanded outreach to key stakeholders and 

the public. In fiscal year 2025, the Board would need additional funding to update the NAEP 

civics and U.S. history assessment frameworks. NAGB’s legislatively mandated duties includes 

work in operational areas to support the development of achievement levels and frameworks 

required for the administration and scoring of assessments, outreach for initial public release 

efforts, and dissemination of assessment results. Despite level funding and staffing for the past 

6 years, NAGB has seen costs increase annually for staff salaries and benefits as well as for 

Department-wide IT and common support services, resulting in fewer funds available to support 

legislatively mandated activities.

NAEP State-level assessments are held every other year, meaning that costs are considerably 

higher in some years and lower in others. Consequently, the Department requests that NAEP 

funds continue to remain available for 2 years to provide flexibility to meet these varying year-toyear cost requirements.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Assessment

53

PROGRAM OUTPUT MEASURES

(dollars in thousands)

Output Measures1 2022 2023 2024 

NAEP operational costs $176,859 $175,000 $175,000

NAEP research and development 3,141 10,000 14,000

NAGB 7,745 7,799 9,300

Total $187,745 $192,799 $198,300

Number of full-time equivalent permanent 

personnel associated with NAGB 13 14 14

1 Funds from any single fiscal year’s appropriation may be used for 2 years. The table provides estimates of the 

amounts from each year’s appropriation that will be used for each area, not the amount obligated in each of those 

years.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Assessment

54

FY 2023 OPERATING PLAN1

Operational Activity

2022

Carryover

2023

Appropriation

Research and Development $3,140,747 $6,660,748

Item Development 3,693,421 12,489,035

Design, Analysis, and Reporting 2,846,495 16,668,338

Sampling and Data

Collection

5,928,732 26,425,769

Materials, Distribution, Processing, and Scoring 1,128,154 1,668,818

Web/Technology Development, Operations

and Maintenance

2,201,534 9,815,736

Program Support and Quality Control, Service 

Center, Logistics Contracts

7,484,037 23,100,049

Program Support and Management 311,568 925,602

Publications and

Dissemination

4,982,774 0

State Coordinators 0 9,459,154

Alliance Planning and Coordination 1,083,240 4,987,878

Platform Development 3,814,028 16,481,252

Planned carryover to fiscal year 20242 0 56,317,621

Total, Assessment 36,614,730 185,000,000

PROGRAM PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

This section presents selected program performance information, including, for example, 

program goals, objectives, measures, and performance targets and data; and an assessment of 

1 Funding for the National Indian Education Studies comes from the appropriation for Indian Education National 

Activities; funding for the fiscal year 2023 appropriation is $970,000.

2 Additional fiscal year 2023 carryover funds will be used in fiscal year 2024 to meet the Congressional directive to 

spend $10 million on R&D.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Assessment

55

the progress made toward achieving program results. Achievement of program results is based 

on the cumulative effect of the Federal resources provided for the program as well as the 

resources and efforts invested by those served by the program. The following information was 

included in the fiscal year 2023 President’s Budget Request. This section will be updated in its 

entirety for the fiscal year 2024 President’s Budget Request.

Performance Measures

Measure: The number of website page views: NAEP page views, excluding views of the NAEP 

Data Explorer (NDE).

Year Target Actual

2019 1,050,000 1,260,483

2020 750,000 955,599

2021 800,000 865,566

2022 800,000 1,133,005

2023 1,000,000

2024 1,000,000

Additional information: The NAEP page view measure provides an indication of the number of 

sessions during which a page in the entire NAEP website (nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/) was 

viewed at least once, excluding visits to NDE. It includes information about the NAEP program, 

including information geared toward participants, researchers, and educators. The revised 

targets beginning in 2020 reflect decreased views following the move of the NDE and other 

results-oriented tools to the nationsreportcard.gov web site. The 2019 and 2020 actuals were 

reported incorrectly in the previous congressional justification due to an incorrect filter applied in 

Google Analytics, and figures shown here have been updated to correct the mistake.

The decrease in pageview numbers from 2020 to 2021 may be explained by it being a nonassessment year (due to the pandemic); a decrease in usual recruitment activity among 

participating teachers, parents, administrators, and students; and no national release of 

mathematics and reading results. However, even with the pandemic, the increased target for 

fiscal year 2023 to 1 million reflects an expected increase in pageviews based on the recent 

redesign of the menu and home page to drive users more effectively to targeted information, as 

well as the launch of metadata to improve the website’s appearance in Google Search rankings.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Assessment

56

Measure: The number of website page views: Nation’s Report Card page views (all Nation’s 

Report Card web site data).

Year Target Actual

2019 550,000 920,179

2020 600,000 738,211

2021 600,000 911,963

2022 600,000 1,217,556

2023 750,000

2024 1,000,000

Additional information: The Nation’s Report Card measure provides an indication of the 

number of sessions during which a page in the entire Nation’s Report Card site was viewed at 

least once, which includes information from all the of the Report Cards, special reports, and 

data dashboards. 

Measure: The number of website page views: NDE page1 views. 

Year Target Actual

2019 82,750 74,843

2020 83,000 55,878

2021 50,000 57,717

2022 50,200 59,604

2023 75,000

2024 60,000

Additional information: The NDE measure provides an indication of the number of sessions 

during which a page in the Data Explorer was viewed at least once. Targets were reset to reflect 

the implementation of a new version of the Data Explorer in February 2018 and the delay of the 

2021 NAEP assessment.

Efficiency Measures

NCES measures efficiency by reporting on the time to release of NAEP reports. These 

measures examine the actual time from the end of data collection to release to NAGB and are 

an indication of how efficiently the Department analyzes and reports NAEP results.

Because any year with new frameworks requires additional work to analyze the results (e.g., 

conducting trend studies and setting achievement levels) and produce the final reports, NCES 

believes it is appropriate to exempt assessments with new frameworks from the efficiency 

measure calculations. This provides more comparable measurements from year to year, since 

different percentages of assessments may have new frameworks each year.

1 https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ndecore/xplore/nde
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Assessment

57

Measure: The percentage of NAEP reports on State-level 4th, 8th, and 12th (if implemented) 

grade reading and mathematics assessments ready for release by NAGB within 6 months of the 

end of data collection.

Year Target Actual

2017 N/A N/A

2019 100% 100%

2022 100 100

2024 N/A

Additional information: In 2017, due to the transition from a paper-based to digital 

assessment, the State results were released more than 12 months after the end of data 

collection, therefore targets and actual are reported as N/A. The assessments are conducted 

every other year, so data are reported for odd numbered years only for 2019 and prior years. 

Due to the pandemic, the 2021 assessments were postponed to 2022. The 2024 assessment 

will include a transition of the assessment devices and, as such, state results will be released 

more than 6 months after the end of data collection; therefore, the target is reported as N/A.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

58

Research in special education

(Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Part E)

(dollars in thousands)

FY 2024 Authorization: To be determined1

Budget Authority: 

Period of fund availability: 

2023 Appropriation 2024 Request Change

$64,255 $64,255 0

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Research in Special Education (RiSE) program, which is administered by the Institute of 

Education Science’s (IES) National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER), supports 

rigorous research that aims to expand knowledge and understanding of the needs of infants, 

toddlers, and children with disabilities and improve services provided under the Individuals with 

Disabilities Act (IDEA). Research topics include developmental outcomes for infants and 

toddlers with disabilities; school readiness; achievement in core academic content areas 

(reading, writing, mathematics, science); behaviors that support learning in academic contexts; 

and functional skills that improve education outcomes and transitions to employment, 

independent living, and postsecondary education. 

IES assesses current special education research needs when determining activities to support. 

Recent competitions included the following:

• Special Education Research Grants. In fiscal year 2022 NCSER awarded four grants from 

the prior fiscal year 2021 Special Education Research Grants Program. Under this program, 

NCSER supports research to address the pressing problems faced by students with or at 

risk for disabilities, their families, and education systems.

• Research to Accelerate Pandemic Recovery in Special Education. In fiscal year 2022, 

NCSER awarded seven grants under the Research to Accelerate Pandemic Recovery in 

Special Education Grants Program (84.324X) using American Rescue Plan funds. Under 

this program, NCSER supports research to address the urgent challenges districts and 

schools face in supporting students with or at risk for disabilities, their teachers, and their 

families in the aftermath of the pandemic.

• Research Training Programs in Special Education Competition. In fiscal year 2022, NCSER 

awarded one grant from the prior fiscal year 2021 Research Training Programs in Special 

Education. Under this program, NCSER aims to prepare individuals to conduct rigorous and 

1 The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2011. Reauthorization for FY 2024 is expected through appropriations 

action.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research in special education

59

relevant special education and early intervention research that advances knowledge within 

the field and addresses issues important to education policymakers and practitioners.

IES is holding three RiSE competition for new awards in fiscal year 2023 in the areas of Special 

Education Research, Research Training Programs in Special Education, and Special Education 

Research and Development. Additional information on these competitions is available on the 

IES funding opportunities website: Institute of Education Sciences: Funding Opportunities. 

Examples of past projects supported with RiSE funding include:

• Development of Effective Paraprofessional Training. Students with disabilities are often 

supported in the classroom by paraprofessionals, yet these educators typically receive little 

to no formal training in implementing evidence-based practices. NCSER researchers 

developed training for paraprofessionals to improve their instructional practices for students 

with severe disabilities in preschool through high school using a tiered intervention model 

that includes effective coaching strategies in a group context and one-to-one follow-up 

coaching for paraprofessionals who need additional support. In a small randomized 

controlled trial (RCT), researchers found that the intervention led to improvements in 

paraprofessional implementation, fidelity of evidence-based practices, and student progress 

on individual goals.

• Replication Evaluation of “First Step Next” (FSN). FSN is an intervention for improving

behavior and social skills outcomes, as well as overall school readiness, of preschool 

children who are at high risk for the development of oppositional and conduct disorders. A 

replication evaluation showed that FSN improved prosocial behavior and reduced 

challenging behavior of students, findings that persisted when assessed one year later. The 

research team is currently completing a longer-term follow-up study to determine if the 

positive results are maintained through third grade, and to examine the trajectory of 

behavioral and academic outcomes over time.

• Evaluation of “Early Literacy Skills Builder”. “Early Literacy Skills Builder” is a literacy 

program that is delivered in general education classrooms via a “buddy” reading program 

that pairs students with severe disabilities with peers without disabilities. The evaluation

showed significant improvement on reading outcomes for students with severe intellectual 

disabilities. Results challenged the longstanding belief that the needs of students with 

severe disabilities are too complex for general education classroom instruction. Results from 

qualitative research also showed that the general education teachers and children without 

disabilities who participated in the program demonstrated more positive interactions and 

attitudes towards the students with disabilities.

• Evaluation of a Literacy Program for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children. The Center for 

Literacy and Deafness completed the first RCT aimed at testing the impact of an emergent 

literacy intervention on young children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH). 

“Foundations for Literacy” teaches a variety of early literacy skills to DHH children in 

prekindergarten and kindergarten who use spoken language. Children receiving this 

intervention showed stronger gains in spoken phonological awareness, alphabetic 

knowledge, and word reading compared to those receiving typical instruction. Findings also 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research in special education

60

indicated that intervention effects were larger for those children who started the school year 

with the weakest early literacy skills.

Funding levels for the past 5 fiscal years were as follows:

Fiscal Year (dollars in thousands)

2019 $56,000

2020 56,500

2021 58,500

2022 60,255

2023 64,255

FY 2024 BUDGET REQUEST

For fiscal year 2024, the Administration requests $64.3 million for Research in Special 

Education, level with the fiscal year 2023 appropriation. RiSE funding supports a 

comprehensive program of special education research designed to expand knowledge and 

understanding of the developmental and educational needs of infants, toddlers, and children 

with disabilities or at risk for disabilities. Continued investment in RiSE is essential to build the 

body of research for evidence-based practices and policies that will result in improved outcomes 

for students with disabilities. These include developmental outcomes and school readiness, 

academic achievement, transition from high school to independent living, progress through and 

completion of postsecondary education, and employment.

At the fiscal year 2024 request level, IES would support approximately $16 million in new 

awards, $46.8 million in grant continuations and $1.4 million in contracts for peer review and 

logistical support. Any funds not used for peer review are used for grant awards. To provide the 

flexibility IES needs to plan and administer a regular cycle of research competitions, the 

Department requests that funding continue to be available for 2 years.

PROGRAM OUTPUT MEASURES

(dollars in thousands)

Output Measures1 2022 2023 2024

NCSER Research Grants

Special Education Research Grants: Grant awards (new) 0 $19,052 $15,999

Special Education Research Grants: Grant awards (continuations) $51,625 43,769 46,822

Special Education Research Grants: Subtotal 51,625 62,821 62,821

Logistical support and Other 249 315 315

Peer review of new award applications 598 1,119 1,119

1 Funds from any single fiscal year’s appropriation may be used for 2 years.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research in special education

61

Output Measures1 2022 2023 2024

Carryover $7,783 0 0

Total $60,255 $64,255 $64,255

FY 2023 OPERATING PLAN

Grant Activities1

FY 2023 Continuation Awards Number of 

Awards

FY 2022

Carryover

FY 2023

Funds

Special Education Research Grants (CFDA 

84.324A) 60 $12,819,900 $30,237,348

Research Training Program in Special Education 

(CFDA 84.324B) 16 0 2,792,570

Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Policy 

and Practice in Special Education (84.324N) 4 0 2,559,788

Research Grants Focused on Systematic 

Replication in Special Education (84.324R) 8 0 345,207

NAEP Process Data for Learners with Disabilities 

(84.324P) 2 0 7,834,100

Unsolicited Proposals (84.324U) 1 $335,820 0

Contract Activities

Activity FY 2022

Carryover

FY 2023

Funds

Administrative, Logistical and Technical Support 0 $115,487

Peer review of new award applications 0 1,119,228

NCER/NCSER Education Research Training Program Support $2,419 97,581

NCER/NCSER DEIA in the Education Sciences 0 100,000

1 Some competitions in the FY 2023 Operating Plan may be funded with funds made available under the American 

Rescue Plan Act of 2021 which are available until September 30, 2023. 
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research in special education

62

PROGRAM PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

This section presents selected program performance information, including, for example, 

program goals, objectives, measures, and performance targets and data; and an assessment of 

the progress made toward achieving program results. Achievement of results is based on the 

cumulative effect of the Federal resources provided for this program as well as the resources 

and efforts invested by those served by the program. 

Performance Measures

Goal: Transform education into an evidence-based field.

Objective: Raise the quality of research funded or conducted by the Department.

Measure: The percentage of projects that result in peer-reviewed publications.

Year Target Actual

2019 91% 87%

2020 91 86

2021 88 86

2022 88 84

2023 86

2024 86

Additional information: Peer-reviewed publications are an expected product of all research 

projects. NCSER has been funding research projects since 2006. Given the lag from time of 

award to completion of a study and the publication of results, the denominator for each reporting 

year is the cumulative number of grants that have been funded through the end of the fiscal 

year 3 years prior to the reporting year. For example, the percentage for fiscal year 2022

reflects all projects funded from fiscal year 2006 to fiscal year 2019 (the total of which is 415).

Many projects funded during this timeframe were disrupted and subsequently delayed due to 

the COVID-19 pandemic. The targets for 2023 and 2024 have been lowered to account for the 

continued impact of the pandemic on project timelines and publication rates.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research in special education

63

Measure: The number of NCSER-supported interventions with evidence of efficacy in improving 

education outcomes for students with or at risk for disabilities.

Year Target Actual

2019 53 56

2020 55 57

2021 60 62

2022 63 65

2023 64

2024 64

Additional information: Since 2006, NCSER has supported efficacy evaluations of fully 

developed interventions to determine whether they produce a beneficial impact on student 

education outcomes. This measure reflects the cumulative number of interventions NCSER has 

funded that have demonstrated efficacy in improving student outcomes. 

Measure: The number of newly developed or modified interventions with evidence of promise 

for improving education outcomes for students with or at risk for disabilities.

Year Target Actual

2019 64 64

2020 66 68

2021 70 75

2022 77 80

2023 79

2024 79

Additional information: NCSER also examines whether new interventions have promise to 

produce beneficial impacts on student education outcomes. This measure reflects the 

cumulative number of interventions NCSER has funded through Development and Innovation 

projects that show promise for improving student outcomes, which is defined as showing a 

statistically significant or substantively important positive association (0.25 standard deviation or

larger) for at least one student outcome.

The reported data are the cumulative numbers of newly developed or modified interventions 

since 2006 with evidence of promise meeting Education Department General Education 

Regulations standards as determined by NCSER based on grantee final performance reports 

and peer-reviewed publications, if available.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Research in special education

64

Efficiency Measures

Measure: The average number of research grants administered per each program officer 

employed in the National Center for Special Education Research.

Year Target Actual

2019 37 56

2020 40 50

2021 40 43

2022 35 38

2023 35

2024 35

Additional information: The principal efficiency measure for IES is the ratio of research staff to 

research grants. These data are collected from the official grant files for NCSER. IES had kept 

the target at 40 for several years, believing that it represented an appropriate level of oversight 

and capacity. Upon further examination, including an analysis of program officer responsibilities 

besides grant monitoring, the target for 2022 has been reduced to 35 and will remain at 35 

through 2024.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

65

Statewide longitudinal data systems

(Educational Technical Assistance Act, Section 208)

(dollars in thousands)

FY 2024 Authorization: To be determined1

Budget Authority: 

Period of fund availability: 

2023 Appropriation 2024 Request Change

$38,500 $38,500 0

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Section 208 of the Educational Technical Assistance Act authorizes the Secretary to make 

competitive grants to State educational agencies (SEAs) to enable them to design, develop, and 

implement Statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDS) to manage, analyze, disaggregate, and 

use individual student data, efficiently and accurately, consistent with the Elementary and 

Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The goals of the program are to improve data quality, 

promote data linkages, encourage the accurate and timely generation of data for reporting and 

improving student educational opportunity and achievement, and facilitate research to close 

gaps in educational opportunity and improve student achievement and other outcomes.

The grants help SEAs develop, expand, or improve data systems, and may support necessary 

training, technical assistance, and other activities to promote the effective use of data. Funds 

must supplement, not supplant, other State or local funds used for developing State data 

systems and may not be used to support ongoing implementation and maintenance of such 

systems. The SLDS program is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics 

(NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES); grants are awarded competitively 

based on the technical quality of the proposals.

The first round of grants was awarded in November 2005 and the seventh round in 2020. An 

eighth round is currently being planned for award during the second half of Fiscal Year 2023. 

The activities supported have changed over time: early competitions focused on the 

infrastructure required for SEAs to develop their longitudinal data systems and to link K-12 data 

to early childhood education, postsecondary education, and workforce data, while the more 

recent competitions focused on States using their SLDS data to address high-priority policy 

issues. 

Beginning in fiscal year 2008, the Department of Education Appropriations Act authorized the 

program to use a portion of the appropriation for activities to improve data coordination and use; 

in recent years, the limit has been $6.0 million. In addition, the fiscal year 2009 Appropriations 

Act authorized the use of funds for SLDS that include postsecondary education and workforce 

1 The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2009. Reauthorization for FY 2024 is expected through appropriations 

action.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statewide longitudinal data systems

66

information, and the fiscal year 2010 Appropriations Act added inclusion of information on 

children of all ages, including early childhood education, as an authorized activity. Since 2012, 

the Department has had the authority to use funds to link Statewide elementary and secondary 

data systems with early childhood education, postsecondary education, and workforce data 

systems, or to further develop such systems.

To date, 49 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 

Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands have received awards to 

develop and implement longitudinal data systems.

Funding levels for the past 5 fiscal years were:

Fiscal Year (dollars in thousands)

2019 $32,281

2020 33,000

2021 33,500

2022 33,500

2023 38,500

FY 2024 BUDGET REQUEST

For fiscal year 2024, the Administration requests $38.5 million for Statewide Longitudinal Data 

Systems, level with the fiscal year 2023 appropriation. Approximately $32 million would support 

the cohort of grants to be awarded in 2023. Longitudinal data systems serve as a vital source of 

information for educators, parents, policymakers, researchers, and the public on the 

performance of schools and effective practices in education. The Department’s investment in 

the SLDS program supports States in answering key questions about education, such as 

whether students are ready for kindergarten, whether students are adequately prepared for 

postsecondary education, or whether students can earn a living after completing their degrees. 

NCES is specifically interested in helping states develop their capabilities to safely and 

productively link data to support additional uses. This focus was suggested by the National 

Academies of Science, Engineering and Mathematics (NASEM) in Recommendation 4.4 of their 

2022 report on “A Vision and Roadmap for Education Statistics.” 

Approximately $6 million would support national activities to improve data coordination, quality, 

and use. Since 2009 the national activities funding has been used to provide a broad array of 

technical assistance services to SEAs, including the ability to share nonproprietary products and 

best practices. Funds also support multi-state meetings, webinars, listservs, membership in 

technical communities, enabling states to learn from each other, and additional State-specific 

technical assistance1.

National activities funds would support the Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), which 

would continue to serve as a valuable resource to State and local educational agencies, the 

postsecondary education community, and other parties engaged in building and using education 

1 http://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/index.asp
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statewide longitudinal data systems

67

data systems on issues related to the privacy, security, and confidentiality of student records. 

Protecting the privacy of individuals essential for data systems that rely on individual student 

data to assess the performance of education systems and improve educational opportunities 

and outcomes, including across student subgroups.1

In addition, approximately $32 thousand would support NCES participation in the Access 4 

Learning Community (A4L). A4L is a nonprofit, membership group consisting of more than 

3,000 schools, districts, local authorities, states, other stakeholders in education information 

management. Membership provides access, for all ED staff, to information and learning 

resources on topics related to education data standards, implementing technical interoperability,

and data privacy.

SLDS Modernization

On April 29, 2022, IES published a Request for Information on the Existence and Use of Large 

Datasets to Address Education Research Questions. IES received 38 unique responses;

respondents were mostly from nonprofit education organizations, academic institutions, and 

education technology companies. Several responses to the RFI discussed the value of the data 

systems created by SLDS Federal funds while also noting challenges associated with accessing 

or utilizing SLDS data. The Department will continue to engage with grantees and stakeholders 

to determine national data needs and challenges. 

The Department appreciates past opportunities to provide technical assistance to Congress on 

potential investments to modernize the SLDS program. Based on IES’ work with grantees we 

know that potential areas of modernization for SLDS include:

• Using a modern, often cloud-based, architecture;

• Emphasizing interoperability;

• Aligning coding schema and data definitions across States;

• Making data more widely available while remaining consistent with existing and future 

privacy laws at the state and federal level; and

• Integrating data from early childhood through postsecondary and labor market 

outcomes.

1 https://tech.ed.gov/privacy/
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statewide longitudinal data systems

68

PROGRAM OUTPUT MEASURES

(dollars in thousands)

Output Measures1 2022 2023 2024

Funding for new grant awards 0 $32,345 0

Funding for continuation grant awards $27,465 0 $32,345

Privacy Technical Assistance Center 1,782 1,782 1,850

SLDS Technical Assistance 4,218 4,186 4,273

Access 4 Learning Community Membership 0 32 32

Peer review of new award applications 35 155 0

Total for Statewide longitudinal data systems 33,500 38,500 38,500

Number of new grant awards 0 TBD 0

Number of continuation grant awards 28 0 TBD

PROGRAM PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

Performance Measures

This section presents selected program performance information, including, for example, 

program goals, objectives, measures, and performance targets and data; and an assessment of 

the progress made toward achieving program results. Achievement of results is based on the 

cumulative effect of the Federal resources provided for this program as well as the resources 

and efforts invested by those served by the program. 

The Department established three performance measures that assess progress of all States, 

not just the SLDS grantees. The Department believes that assessing the progress of all States 

is appropriate because the goal of the program is to ensure that critical information needed to 

improve student opportunities and outcomes is available across the Nation.

Goal: To help States successfully implement longitudinal data systems to make informed 

decisions and improve instruction using data.

Objective: Increase the number of States implementing P-Workforce data systems.

1 Funds from any single fiscal year’s appropriation may be used for 2 years. Grants are primarily funded using prior 

year funds.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Statewide longitudinal data systems

69

Measure: Number of States linking K-12 with early childhood data.

Year Target Actual

2019 37 33

2020 38 40

2021 40 36

2022 42 36

2023 40

2024 40

Additional information: States meet this measure if they can track all public pre-K students 

into public kindergarten and include at least one additional source of early childhood data (e.g., 

Head Start or private pre-K) in the State longitudinal data system. 

Measure: Number of States linking K-12 with postsecondary data.

Year Target Actual

2019 46 34

2020 46 37

2021 38 39

2022 40 40

2023 42

2024 42

Additional information: States meet this measure if they can link State K-12 student data to 

State data from public 2- and 4-year institutions of higher education. 

Measure: Number of States linking K-12 and postsecondary data with workforce data.

Year Target Actual

2019 31 19

2020 31 25

2021 25 24

2022 27 28

2023 28

2024 28

Additional information: States meet this measure if they can track all public 2- and 4-year 

postsecondary education students to, at a minimum, State employment records (e.g., State 

unemployment insurance systems).
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

70

Special education studies and evaluations

(Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 664)

(dollars in thousands)

FY 2024 Authorization: To be determined1

Budget Authority:

Period of fund availability: 

2023 Appropriation 2024 Request Change

$13,318 $13,318 0

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Special Education Studies and Evaluations program awards competitive grants, contracts, 

and cooperative agreements to assess the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities 

Education Act (IDEA) and the effectiveness of State and local efforts to provide special 

education and early intervention programs and services to infants, toddlers, children, and youth

with disabilities.

The statute authorizes the Department to support studies, evaluations, and assessments that:

• analyze the results achieved by State and local educational agencies to improve services for 

children and youth with disabilities;

• analyze State and local needs for professional development, parent training, and other 

activities that can reduce disciplinary actions involving children and youth with disabilities;

• measure educational and transitional services and outcomes for children and youth with 

disabilities, including children and youth of color with disabilities; and

• identify and report on the placement of children and youth with disabilities by disability 

category.

In addition, the Department is required to submit an annual report to Congress summarizing the 

studies and evaluations conducted under this authority; the research conducted under part E of 

the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (which authorizes research on special education); 

and the data on children and youth with disabilities required by section 618 of the IDEA.

The IDEA requires the Secretary to delegate responsibility for most studies and evaluations in 

special education to the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). IES supports a 

range of evaluations that are designed to provide information about which programs and 

practices are effective for improving outcomes for children and youth with disabilities, thereby 

providing clear guidance to educators, parents, and caregivers. Within IES, the National Center 

1 The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2011. Reauthorization for FY 2024 is expected through appropriations 

action.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Special education studies and evaluations

71

for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE) has primary responsibility for 

managing the studies and evaluations under Section 664 of IDEA, except for longitudinal 

studies with special education components, such as the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, 

which are conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. NCEE consults with staff 

from the other IES research centers, including the National Center for Special Education 

Research, the Office of Special Education Programs, and other Administration policymakers to 

identify needs for new studies and the research questions that those studies would address. In 

some cases, NCEE has funded separate design contracts to identify options for new studies in 

particular areas.

Funding levels for the past 5 fiscal years were:

Fiscal Year (dollars in thousands)

2019 10,818

2020 10,818

2021 11,318

2022 13,318

2023 13,318

FY 2024 BUDGET REQUEST

For fiscal year 2024, the Administration requests $13.3 million for Special Education Studies 

and Evaluations, level with the fiscal year 2023 appropriation. The request would support the 

following activities:

• Impact Evaluation of Transition Supports for Youth with Disabilities: This study, which 

began in September 2019, is a random-assignment evaluation focused on the effectiveness 

of two promising strategies to support the transition of students with disabilities beyond high 

school, a national priority emphasized by the IDEA. Both strategies have been promoted by 

the Department’s Office of Special Education Programs and focus on strengthening 

students’ goal setting, planning, and self-advocacy skills and helping them apply these selfdetermination skills. The first strategy is a systematic and coordinated version of an 

approach schools indicate they commonly use to teach these skills to students. The second 

strategy, which is more costly, adds tailored mentoring to help students apply these skills to 

enact their plans and take steps toward their goals.

• Impact Evaluation of Professional Development for General and Special Education 

Teachers to Improve Instruction and Academic Outcomes for Students with 

Disabilities: Though students with disabilities (SWDs) are increasingly taught in general 

education classrooms, most general educators report needing more professional 

development on how to best teach SWDs and to draw on special educator expertise. This 

study, which began in 2022, is a random-assignment evaluation of professional 

development and technical assistance to help general and special educators to work 

together more effectively to improve instruction for all students, but particularly for those with 

an Individualized Education Program.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Special education studies and evaluations

72

• What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Reports: The WWC reviews existing research on 

different programs, products, practices, and policies in education to provide educators with 

the information they need to make evidence-based decisions. Data on the use of information 

on the WWC website shows that there is extensive demand for WWC products focused on 

students with disabilities. Two examples are the Practice Guides on “Assisting Students 

Struggling with Mathematics: Intervention in the Elementary Grades” released in March 

2021 (https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/26) and on “Providing Reading 

Interventions for Students in Grades 4-9” (https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/29). 

Possible topics for future guides include providing English language and literacy 

interventions to students in Kindergarten through Grade 3.

• Study of Special Education Expenditures: Drawing on exploratory work currently 

underway, in late 2023 the Department is commencing a Study of Special Education 

Expenditures. This study, the first national comprehensive study of special education 

expenditures in over two decades, will examine how much and how funds support the 

education of students with disabilities including, for example, the number of school 

personnel funded with federal special education appropriations. It will provide up-to-date 

estimates of special education investments such as instructional support services, other 

special education support services and activities, and transportation. The study will also 

examine emerging topics such as how districts identified for significant disproportionality are 

spending coordinating early intervening services (CEIS) funds, and funding gaps that will 

help inform policy decisions at the Federal, State, and local levels.

• IDEA Implementation Study Products: The IDEA State and Local Implementation Study 

2019 surveyed states, districts, and schools about their special education and early 

intervention policies and practices. This study will take advantage of the data, collected in 

the earlier study, to develop focused, policy-relevant products including snapshots and short 

reports.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Special education studies and evaluations

73

PROGRAM OUTPUT MEASURES

(dollars in thousands)

Output Measures1 2022 2023 2024

Impact Evaluation of Transition Supports for Youth 

with Disabilities $9,067 $1,256 $6,318

Impact Evaluation of Professional Development for 

General and Special Education Teachers to 

Improve Instruction and Academic Outcomes for 

Students with Disabilities

1,251 6,000 3,000

What Works Clearinghouse Special Education Reports 0 1,000 1,000

National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012, Phase 2 0 2,062 0

Multi-tiered Systems of Support for Reading in Early 

Elementary School2 0 0 0

Study of Special Education Expenditures 2,000 2,000 3,000

IDEA Implementation Study Products 1,000 1,000 0

 Total 13,318 13,318 13,318

1 Funds from any single fiscal year’s appropriation may be used for 2 years. The table provides estimates of the 

amounts from each year’s appropriation that will be used for each area, not the amount obligated in each of those 

years.

2 No IDEA funding will be used for this study from the FY 2022, FY 2023, or FY 2024 appropriations. All remaining 

actions will use ESEA Section 8601 pooled evaluation funding.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

74

IES Program Administration

(Education Sciences Reform Act)

(dollars in thousands)

FY 2024 Authorization: To be determined 1

Budget Authority:

Annual Fund 2023 Appropriation 2024 Request Change

Personnel Compensation and 

Benefits Costs $46,031 $48,494 +$2,463

Non-Personnel Costs 27,469 28,391 +$922

Total 73,500 76,885 +$3,385

FTE 232 233 +1

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) sets out the organizational structure, mission, and 

functions of IES and each of its four centers—the National Center for Education Research 

(NCER), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the National Center for Education 

Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), and the National Center for Special Education 

Research (NCSER). The work of these centers is supported by staff in the offices of the 

Director, the Deputy Director for Administration and Policy, and the Deputy Director for Science.

The core work of IES under ESRA comprises these functions:

• Conduct and support research, development, statistics, evaluation, and dissemination;

• Disseminate education research findings and results of education research;

• Promote the development and application of knowledge gained from research;

• Strengthen the national capacity to conduct, develop, and disseminate education 

research;

• Promote the coordination, development, and dissemination of education research in the 

Department and the Federal Government; and

• Promote the application of research and development to improve learner outcomes 

across the lifespan.

1 The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2009. Reauthorization for FY 2024 is expected through appropriations 

language.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Program Administration

75

Funding levels for the past 2 fiscal years were:

Fiscal Year (dollars in thousands) Footnotes

2022 $67,093

2023 73,500

FY 2024 BUDGET REQUEST

For fiscal year 2024, the Administration requests $76.9 million for IES Program Administration, 

$3.4 million more than the fiscal year 2023 appropriation. Funds would support an FTE level of 

233 and provide resources necessary for IES to deliver on its statutory and regulatory 

mandates. The FTE level of 233 includes the 198 FTE under Personnel Compensation and 

Benefits (PC&B) and 35 FTE under the Department’s Centralized Services described in the 

sections below.

Personnel Compensation and Benefits—IES

The PC&B request of $41.7 million for IES staff is $2.1 million more than the fiscal year 2023 

appropriation. The fiscal year 2024 Request will support PC&B costs associated with an FTE 

level of 198 FTE for IES. The request also incorporates a proposed 5.2 percent pay raise for 

January 2024 and projected benefits increases. The 1 additional FTE included in this request 

will assist IES in fulfilling its mission of providing rigorous evidence on which to ground 

education practice and policy. 

Non-Personnel Costs, excluding Departmental Centralized Services

The Non-Personnel Costs request of $15.5 million is $630 thousand more than the fiscal year 

2023 appropriation. This increase mostly supports additional funds for EDFacts in Information 

Technology Services/Contracts. In which it is the largest part of the IES non-personnel funds.

Department’s Centralized Services (overhead)

The IES fiscal year 2024 Request share of the Department’s Centralized Services (overhead) is 

$19.7 million, $684 thousand more than the fiscal year 2023 appropriation. Of this amount, $6.8 

million is used for the PC&B costs of 35 FTE for centralized services (e.g., human resources 

support, facilities management) and $12.9 million is for centralized non-pay. The increase 

covers the 5.2 percent pay raise for centralized FTE as well as a planned modernization of the 

Department’s contracts system. Centralized services cover overhead costs such as rent; 

departmental training; personnel security; records information management support services; 

interagency agreements for administrative services provided by other Federal Agencies, such 

as payroll processing, overtime utilities, training coordination and career counseling; IT security; 

telecommunications; computers and related hardware; smartphones; IT processing services; 

and network support.
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

76

Account Summary Table

Click here for the online version

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FISCAL YEAR 2024 PRESIDENT'S BUDGET

(in thousands of dollars)

Cat 

Code 2022 Appropriation 2023 Appropriation

2024 President's 

Budget Request

FY 2024 President's Budget Request 

Compared to FY 2023 Appropriation

Amount Percent

Institute of Education Sciences

1. Research and statistics:

(a) Research, development, and dissemination (ESRA I-A, B and D, exceptsection 174) D 204,877 245,000 291,877 46,877 19.13%

(b) Statistics(ESRA I-C) D 111,500 121,500 127,000 5,500 4.53%

2. Regional educational laboratories (ESRA section 174) D 58,733 58,733 60,733 2,000 3.41%

3. Assessment (NAEPAA):

(a) National assessment (section 303) D 180,000 185,000 189,000 4,000 2.16%

(b) National Assessment Governing Board (section 302) D 7,745 7,799 9,300 1,501 19.25%

Subtotal 187,745 192,799 198,300 5,501 2.85%

4. Research in special education (ESRA, Part E) D 60,255 64,255 64,255 0 0.00%

5. Statewide longitudinal data systems(ETAA section 208) D 33,500 38,500 38,500 0 0.00%

6. Special education studies and evaluations (IDEA, section 664) D 13,318 13,318 13,318 0 0.00%

7. Program Administration D 67,093 73,500 76,885 3,385 4.61%

Total D 737,021 807,605 870,868 63,263 7.83%

NOTES:

1) D = discretionary program; M = mandatory programs

2) Detail may not add to totals due to rounding.