Why Talent And Resources Are The Backbone Of Education R&D

Forbes

5 days ago

The Supreme Court in mid-July cleared the path for the Trump Administration to implement a significant restructuring of the U.S. Department of Education that will, by some estimates, cause the elimination of nearly 1,400 federal education staff. This includes roughly 90% of the professionals at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the agency responsible for overseeing national education research and data systems.
Good policy starts with good people. Lose them, and the system breaks down.
Following the ruling, Education Secretary Linda McMahon stated the department would 'continue to perform all statutory duties.' But early signals suggest this will be an uphill climb. Just days later, the delayed release of the 2025 national science scores underscored the challenge of executing important federal functions without the experienced professionals to deliver them.
Meanwhile, state and district leaders scrambled to adjust to another curveball: the withholding of nearly $7 billion in federal education funds for the 2025-26 school year. These funds, authorized by Congress and integral to local budgets, supported everything from academic enrichment to professional development.
The money was eventually released on July 25; however, the confusion and chaos caused by the surprise delay were enough for even some of Trump's supporters to question what the Administration was doing. Ten Republican senators sent a letter to OMB Director Russell Vought on July 16, urging him to release the funds, writing: 'The decision to withhold this funding is contrary to President Trump's goal of returning K-12 education to the states. This funding goes directly to states and local school districts, where local leaders decide how this funding is spent.'
Alabama state superintendent Eric Makey told POLITICO, 'This is not about political philosophy, this is about reliability and consistency. None of us were worrying about this.'
And there are more reports of a potential rescissions package that would target the Department of Education. These are reminders that strong systems require steady support.
Talent Is The First Ingredient In Effective R&D
When the Alliance for Learning Innovation (ALI), which I lead as executive director, convened over 150 education leaders and stakeholders to develop our Blueprint for the Future of Federal Education R&D, one theme stood out: skilled professionals are required to drive effective research and innovation.
Recent firings and buyouts at the U.S. Department of Education are disrupting the work of specialists who conduct large-scale federal education research, analyze critical assessments like the Nation's Report Card, and translate complex data into practical guidance for schools. These staff departures threaten to sever essential connections between researchers, educators, and ed tech developers just when evidence-based decision-making is most crucial for student outcomes. Without the talent to run these systems, even well-intentioned priorities can stall.
The need for sound, actionable education research transcends partisan divides. ALI's spring survey of K-12 parents revealed strong bipartisan support for federal education R&D funding, with 79% of all parents and 73% of Republican and right-leaning parents favoring continued investment. Across the political spectrum, families agree that the federal government should play a leading role in helping schools identify effective practices and scale successful interventions. Parents want public investments in evidence-based tools that help students succeed, whether through improved literacy instruction, stronger math supports, or responsible classroom AI integration.
What A Reimagined Federal R&D Structure Could Look Like
Rebuilding the federal education workforce overnight isn't feasible; it will be a Herculean task. But this moment presents an opportunity to rethink how we structure and support federal education R&D for the long term.
ALI's Blueprint outlines a modern approach that harnesses talent both inside and outside government through strategic public-private partnerships to deliver what schools need and parents expect.
This dual strategy would expand the education R&D talent pipeline by investing in career pathways for external researchers, developers, and data scientists while simultaneously building interdisciplinary teams within federal agencies, combining experts in learning science, education policy, implementation, and user-centered design. Such integrated expertise, assembled through civil service recruitment and partnership mechanisms like the Intergovernmental Personnel Act and cooperative agreements, would ensure that critical federal initiatives like the Nation's Report Card have the sophisticated analytical capacity needed to generate actionable insights for educators.
This is not about growing the government for its own sake. It's about ensuring that the tools and innovations educators need are rigorously developed, tested, and deployed in a way that serves students.
We Need to Rebuild, Not Retreat
Secretary McMahon reiterated her commitment to ensuring that the Department of Education continues to 'perform all statutory duties' and that, as she said during her confirmation hearing, federal education funding would not be reduced. These are important commitments, and ones that millions of educators, families, and state leaders are counting on.
Now is the time to outline how those duties will be met in light of the staffing reductions and the hold on funding. Education R&D is not about compliance; it's about capacity. And that capacity is only possible when the federal government acts as the reliable partner that schools need to plan, adapt, and improve.
ALI and many others in the education research and innovation community are committed to working with policymakers across the political spectrum to ensure the federal education R&D ecosystem remains strong, nimble, and aligned to real-world needs. Whether it's evaluating AI tools, supporting early literacy programs, or scaling successful tutoring models, the backbone of these efforts is talent and investment.
Because when we lose the people and resources behind education R&D, we don't just slow innovation, we leave schools without the support they need to serve students well.
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