A key federal agency responsible for tracking student performance has been severely weakened by budget cuts and contract cancellations, leaving educators and policymakers with fewer resources to analyze declining reading and math scores. The National Center for Education Statistics, which provides critical data for shaping education policy, faced major disruptions after a government efficiency initiative terminated nearly $900 million in contracts. With learning outcomes at their lowest in decades, the reduction in federal oversight raises concerns about the ability to develop effective solutions. The cuts follow broader staffing reductions at the Department of Education under recent leadership.
National Center for Education Statistics, which collects critical data to guide policy on learning, was decimated after Doge canceled crucial contractsAs reading and math scores fall to their lowest point in the past quarter-century, the US now has fewer tools to understand and develop interventions for this troubling trend.When the Trump administration took a wrecking ball to the Department of Education last year, firing nearly half of its workers and allowing the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) to cancel nearly $900m in contracts, a little-known agency called the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) was among the hardest hit. Continue reading...
