ISSUE BRIEF - No. 5389 - Legitimate Role for the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences

Oct 15, 2026

Issue Brief No. 5389 (August 29, 2025) argues that as federal education functions are restructured, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has exceeded appropriate federal responsibilities. It calls for closing the What Works Clearinghouse and ending the Education Department’s related regional laboratory activities, contending that education policy judgments should be handled by parents, states, and local officials. It supports maintaining constitutionally appropriate IES work focused on civil-rights-relevant data collection and student demographics, while rejecting federally endorsed or federally commissioned evaluations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Key Takeaways

What to Eliminate

What to Keep

ISSUE BRIEF No. 5389 | August 29, 2025 CENtER FOR EDuCAtION POLICY A Legitimate Role for the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences Jay P. Greene, PhD, and Jonathan Butcher KEY TAKEAWAYS As federal policymakers phase out the u.s. Department of Education, some department functions will be maintained and moved to other federal agencies. the department’s Institute for Education sciences (IEs) has strayed into tasks that belong to parents and state and local officials, and its overreach must end. under another agency, the IEs should continue to collect student demographics for use in enforcing civil rights laws, as well as collecting student achievement data. President Donald Trump has instructed U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education”using her authority to “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted bylaw.”1 As Secretary McMahon considers such steps, she has already indicated that some department functions will be maintained and moved to other agencies. Some responsibilities will be transferred to other federal offices, such as adult education programs, which department officials moved to the U. S. Department of Labor under an inter-agency agreement.2 This Issue Brief provides policy guidance on the future of programs maintained by the Institute of Education Science (IES) . The IESis the research arm of the Education Department.3 The office gathers data this paper, in its entirety, can be found at [https://report.heritage.org/ib5389](https://report.heritage.org/ib5389) the Heritage Foundation | 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE | Washington, DC 20002 | (202) [546-4400 | heritage.org](546-4400 | heritage.org)[ ](546-4400 | heritage.org)Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before Congress. on students and schools, including data on K–12 schools and postsecondary institutions. IES officials also commission evaluations of education policies and practices from third parties and recommend best practices for educators and education policymakers. What to Eliminate For decades, IES and the Education Department have strayed into responsibilities that properly belong to parents and state and local education officials—that overreach must end. In particular, the IES’s What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), which ostensibly adjudicates the evidence supporting different educational policies and practicesand makes recommendations about which ones it believes are best, and its 10 Regional Education Laboratories (RELs), should be closed. Both functions are beyond the appropriate scope of federal activity. Concerning the WWC, federal policymakers should not host a “truth committee”4 that declares which competing educational policies and practices should be adopted nationwide based on their potentially biased interpretation of the research. Similar activities are performed by RELs, which are regional offices that perform “training, coaching, and technical support” for educators.5 The RELs date back to 1965 and were most recently reauthorized by Congress under the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) of 2002; Congress should repeal this ESRA mandate. To the extent that examining and recommending educational policies and practices to improve outcomes maybe desirable, those tasks should be performed by researchers at the state or local levels, as well as by private-sector academics, analysts, and policymakers. Parents and state policymakers have the ultimate responsibility for providing students with quality learning experiences, not federal officials. Social science is not sufficiently rigorous to warrant government endorsement, even if it were appropriate to develop national policy positions. The“laboratory of the states” should decide answers to these policy questions based on the ch

FAQs

Why does the brief argue the IES should stop certain activities?

It contends the IES has moved into responsibilities that belong to parents and state and local education officials. The brief specifically characterizes federal roles like adjudicating evidence and issuing national recommendations as beyond appropriate federal scope.

What does the brief recommend eliminating?

It recommends closing the What Works Clearinghouse and shutting down the 10 Regional Education Laboratories (RELs), arguing these activities function as nationwide “truth” and support mechanisms for education policy beyond federal authority.

What does the brief say should be kept at the IES?

It says constitutionally appropriate tasks should continue, especially data collection needed for civil-rights enforcement and for enabling other research. It also supports collecting student achievement data for those purposes while rejecting inappropriate federally commissioned evaluations.

Oct 15, 2026

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