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Miami Herald
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Education researchers sue Trump administration, testing executive power
Some of the biggest names in education research - who often oppose each other in scholarly and policy debates - are now united in their desire to fight the cuts to data and scientific studies at the U.S. Department of Education. The roster includes both Grover J. "Russ" Whitehurst, the first head of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) who initiated studies for private school vouchers, and Sean Reardon, a Stanford University sociologist who studies inequity in education. They are just two of the dozens of scholars who have submitted declarations to the courts against the department and Secretary Linda McMahon. They describe how their work has been harmed and argue that the cuts will devastate education research. Professional organizations representing the scholars are asking the courts to restore terminated research and data and reverse mass firings at the Institute of Education Sciences, the division that collects data on students and schools, awards research grants, highlights effective practices and measures student achievement. Related: Our free weekly newsletter alerts you to what research says about schools and classrooms. Three major suits were filed last month in U.S. federal courts, each brought by two different professional organizations. The six groups are the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP), Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), American Educational Research Association (AERA), Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE), National Academy of Education (NAEd) and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME). The American Educational Research Association alone represents 25,000 researchers and there is considerable overlap in membership among the professional associations. Prominent left-wing and progressive legal organizations spearheaded the suits and are representing the associations. They are Public Citizen, Democracy Forward and the Legal Defense Fund, which was originally founded by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) but is an independent legal organization. Allison Scharfstein, an attorney for the Legal Defense Fund, said education data is critical to documenting educational disparities and improve education for Black and Hispanic students. "We know that the data is needed for educational equity," Scharfstein said. Related: Chaos and confusion as the statistics arm of the Education Department is reduced to a skeletal staff of 3 Officers at the research associations described the complex calculations in suing the government, mindful that many of them work at universities that are under attack by the Trump administration and that its members are worried about retaliation. "A situation like this requires a bit of a leap of faith," said Elizabeth Tipton, president of the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness and a statistician at Northwestern University. "We were reminded that we are the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, and that this is an existential threat. If the destruction that we see continues, we won't exist, and our members won't exist. This kind of research won't exist. And so the board ultimately decided that the tradeoffs were in our favor, in the sense that whether we won or we lost, that we had to stand up for this." The three suits are similar in that they all contend that the Trump administration exceeded its executive authority by eliminating activities Congress requires by law. Private citizens or organizations are generally barred from suing the federal government, which enjoys legal protection known as "sovereign immunity." But under the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946, private organizations can ask the courts to intervene when executive agencies have acted arbitrarily, capriciously and not in accordance with the law. The suits point out, for example, that the Education Science Reform Act of 2002 specifically requires the Education Department to operate Regional Education Laboratories and conduct longitudinal and special data collections, activities that the Education Department eliminated in February among of a mass cancelation of projects. Related: DOGE's death blow to education studies The suits argue that it is impossible for the Education Department to carry out its congressionally required duties, such as the awarding of grants to study and identify effective teaching practices, after the March firing of almost 90 percent of the IES staff and the suspension of panels to review grant proposals. The research organizations argue that their members and the field of education research will be irreparably harmed. Of immediate concern are two June deadlines. Beginning June 1, researchers are scheduled to lose remote access to restricted datasets, which can include personally identifiable information about students. The suits contend that loss harms the ability of researchers to finish projects in progress and plan future studies. The researchers say they are also unable to publish or present studies that use this data because there is no one remaining inside the Education Department to review their papers for any inadvertent disclosure of student data. The second concern is that the termination of more than 1,300 Education Department employees will become final by June 10. Technically, these employees have been on administrative leave since March, and lawyers for the education associations are concerned that it will be impossible to rehire these veteran statisticians and research experts for congressionally required tasks. The suits describe additional worries. Outside contractors are responsible for storing historical datasets because the Education Department doesn't have its own data warehouse, and researchers are worried about who will maintain this critical data in the months and years ahead now that the contracts have been canceled. Another concern is that the terminated contracts for research and surveys include clauses that will force researchers to delete data about their subjects. "Years of work have gone into these studies," said Dan McGrath, an attorney at Democracy Forward, who is involved in one of the three suits. "At some point it won't be possible to put Humpty Dumpty back together again." Related: Education research takes another hit in latest DOGE attack In two of the suits, lawyers have asked the courts for a temporary injunction to reverse the cuts and firings, temporarily restoring the studies and bringing federal employees back to the Education Department to continue their work while the judges take more time to decide whether the Trump administration exceeded its authority. Lawyers for the third suit said they are planning to do the same but have not yet filed this paperwork. A first hearing on a temporary injunction is scheduled on Thursday in federal district court in Washington. A lot of people have been waiting for this. In February, when DOGE first started cutting non-ideological studies and data collections at the Education Department, I wondered why Congress wasn't protesting that its laws were being ignored. And I was wondering where the research community was. It was so hard to get anyone to talk on the record. Now these suits, combined with Harvard University's resistance to the Trump administration, show that higher education is finally finding its voice and fighting what it sees as existential threats. The three suits: Public Citizen suit Plaintiffs: Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) and the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) Attorneys: Public Citizen Litigation Group Defendants: Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and the U.S. Department of Education Date filed: April 4 Where: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Documents: complaint, Public Citizen press release, A concern: Data infrastructure. "We want to do all that we can to protect essential data and research infrastructure," said Michal Kurlaender, president of AEFP and a professor at University of California, Davis. Status: Public Citizen filed a request for a temporary injunction on April 17 that was accompanied by declarations from researchers on how they and the field of education have been harmed. The Education Department filed a response on April 30. A hearing is scheduled for May 9. Democracy Forward suit Plaintiffs: American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE) Attorneys: Democracy Forward Defendants: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Acting Director of the Institute of Education Sciences Matthew Soldner Date filed: April 14 Where: U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Southern Division Documents:complaint, Democracy Forward press release, AERA letter to members A concern: Future research. "IES has been critical to fostering research on what works, and what does not work, and for providing this information to schools so they can best prepare students for their future," said Ellen Weiss, executive director of SREE. "Our graduate students are stalled in their work and upended in their progress toward a degree. Practitioners and policymakers also suffer great harm as they are left to drive decisions without the benefit of empirical data and high-quality research," said Felice Levine, executive director of AERA. Status: A request for a temporary injunction was filed April 29, accompanied by declarations from researchers on how their work is harmed. Legal Defense Fund suit Plaintiffs: National Academy of Education (NAEd) and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) Attorneys: Legal Defense Fund Defendants: The U.S. Department of Education and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon Date filed: April 24 Where: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Documents:complaint, LDF press release A concern: Data quality. "The law requires not only data access but data quality," said Andrew Ho, a Harvard University professor of education and former president of the National Council on Measurement in Education. "For 88 years, our organization has upheld standards for valid measurements and the research that depends on these measurements. We do so again today." Status: LDF attorneys are planning to file a request for a temporary injunction. Contact staff writer Jill Barshay at 212-678-3595, jillbarshay.35 on Signal, or barshay@ This story about Education Department lawsuits was written by Jill Barshay and produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Proof Points and other Hechinger newsletters. The post Education researchers sue Trump administration, testing executive power appeared first on The Hechinger Report.
Axios
13-03-2025
- General
- Axios
Mass. students aren't recovering equally from COVID learning loss
Students in Massachusetts K–12 schools are on average nearly half a grade behind pre-pandemic achievement levels in math and reading. Why it matters: Massachusetts ranking No. 1 on the Nation's Report Card last year — a distinction often touted by Gov. Maura Healey — doesn't mean students have escaped the effects of COVID learning loss. State of play: The Education Recovery scorecard shows Massachusetts students are improving in math and reading, but haven't fully recovered since the pandemic, especially in districts serving middle- to low-income students. Despite some gains in math, the report estimates the loss in math achievement is almost 40% of the progress students typically make annually in grades four through eight in Massachusetts. Zoom in: The average student in Revere, Fall River, Everett and Framingham remains at least a grade behind 2019 achievement levels in math. In Lynn, the average student is two grades behind math achievement levels. In reading, the average student in Framingham, Revere and Lynn is 1.5 grades behind 2019 achievement levels. Meanwhile, students in wealthier districts — Lexington, Brookline and Newton — are approaching 2019 levels in math, as are students in Plymouth and Brockton. The average Lexington student has surpassed 2019 achievement levels in reading, while Newton and Plymouth are approaching 2019 levels. The big picture: No state showed improvements in both math and reading from 2019 to 2024, according to the Nation's Report Card — a national assessment of math and reading achievement. High-income districts are four times more likely to have recovered, according to the Education Recovery Scorecard, which combines results from the Nation's Report Card assessment and state test scores. What they're saying: The slide in test scores "masks a pernicious inequality: scores have declined far more in America's middle- and low-income communities than its wealthy ones," Sean Reardon, director of Stanford University's Educational Opportunity Project, said in a statement. Caveat: Massachusetts students have made improvements, even though the state had less pandemic funding per student. Massachusetts received close to $2.9 billion in federal pandemic aid for K–12 schools, or $3,000 per student. The national average relief amount was $3,700 per student. The funds did contribute to academic recovery nationally, especially when schools used the money on summer learning, tutoring and other targeted efforts to help students catch up. What's next: Researchers urged states and districts to redirect funding toward interventions, now that federal pandemic relief has dried up. They also said mayors, employers and other leaders should address chronic absenteeism so the burden doesn't fall entirely on schools. The bottom line:"The rescue phase is over," Tom Kane, director of Harvard's Center for Education Policy Research, said in a statement. "The federal relief dollars are gone. It is time to pivot from short-term recovery to longer term challenges such as reducing absenteeism and addressing the slide in literacy."
Boston Globe
14-02-2025
- Science
- Boston Globe
New England's students remain half a year behind, new analysis shows, with few bright spots
Advertisement In the region's most extreme cases, Maine and Vermont students in grades 3 to 8 are about a full year behind their 2019 peers in reading, after losses compounded between 2022 to 2024. The two northern states experienced the largest drops in reading of anywhere in the country. Rhode Island students, on the other hand, are best off in the region, but remain a third of a year behind in both subjects. Nationwide, only Louisiana students are notably stronger in either subject than pre-pandemic, with their students up about 0.3 grade levels in reading. Louisiana and Alabama students are also about level with five years prior in math. The Education Recovery Scorecard database by researchers at Harvard, Stanford, and Dartmouth was released Tuesday and provides the most comprehensive picture yet of how American students are performing since COVID-19 first disrupted learning. The analysis uses the gold standard To convert test scores into grade levels, the researchers measured the gap in average test scores between grades; a Grade 4 student scoring at the average level of a Grade 5 student would be one grade level above average. Related : Advertisement The research showed that higher-needs districts were particularly hard hit by the pandemic and have not closed the gap since. 'The highest poverty districts have fallen behind more than the lowest poverty districts,' said Sean Reardon, a Stanford sociologist who worked on the scorecard. Persistent declines are widespread at the district level. Across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, students in nearly 80 percent of districts remain behind their 2019 peers in each subject. (District-level data are not available for Vermont and Maine.) Spokesperson Alana Davidson of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education said Governor Maura Healey's administration is focused on efforts to address learning loss, including increasing education funding, an awareness campaign on the importance of school attendance, and a major investment in early literacy. 'We know that there is more work to be done to help students recover from the pandemic and address learning loss,' Davidson said. In New England as nationwide, the rare districts where students have recovered are disproportionately more affluent districts such as Lexington, Mass., Little Compton, R.I., and Woodbridge, Conn. Only a few of the region's higher-poverty districts have had students catch up, Related : Similar patterns are visible by race and ethnicity, the researchers found, with the pandemic widening pre-existing gaps. 'Not only are districts serving more Black and Hispanic students falling further behind, but even within those districts, the Black and Hispanic students are falling further behind their their white district mates,' Reardon said. None of the region's largest districts have recovered. In math, declines from 2019 to 2024 range from about one-fifth of a grade level behind in Brockton to nearly two grades behind pre-pandemic levels in New Haven and Lynn. Advertisement The researchers calculated the situation in America's schools would be even more dire without the 'The dollars ... prevented the gaps from being even worse between high-and low-income districts,' Kane said. Now that those funds have run out, Kane said, states and districts should Kane also called for efforts to reduce absenteeism, including public information campaigns. Kane pointed to absenteeism as one of the reasons for ongoing declines, with higher-poverty areas particularly hard hit. 'Mostly, we've left the challenge of helping students to catch up on school district leaders, principals, and teachers' shoulders, but lowering absenteeism is one of the few things that mayors and employers and other community leaders could help with,' he said. Related : Kane also urged schools to ensure parents are accurately informed on their children's academic performance, as polls show parents largely believe their children are at grade level. 'Parents aren't going to sign up for summer learning or ask for a tutor in school or agree to an increase in the school year if they're under the impression that everything's fine,' he said. The researchers Washington, D.C., and Union City, N.J. Advertisement District leaders pointed to investments including tutoring, teacher training, and a custom research-backed literacy curriculum as key ingredients for the system's recent progress. In Massachusetts and Boston, on the other hand, test scores have been declining since before the pandemic. Reading scores peaked in 2017 and math scores in 2013; the state's students are now about a grade level behind their peak in both subjects. But with the state's students still posting the best scores on the Nation's Report Card, Massachusetts learners remain about half a year ahead of the 2019 national average. Boston students are about a grade level behind that mark. 'Our recent NAEP scores show fourth-grade performance nearing pre-pandemic levels, validating our three-year investment in equitable literacy and high-quality materials,' said Boston Superintendent Mary Skipper in a statement. But older students continue to face learning loss, she said. 'The FY26 budget addresses this with increased literacy investments across all grades, plus intensive math tutoring, and a new high-quality math curriculum for our middle and high schoolers,' Skipper said. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Christopher Huffaker can be reached at
Axios
14-02-2025
- General
- Axios
Students struggle to recover from COVID learning loss
American students are half a grade level behind pre-pandemic achievement levels in math and reading, according to an Education Recovery Scorecard report released on Tuesday. Why it matters: No state showed improvements in both math and reading from 2019 to 2024, according to the Nation's Report Card — a national assessment of math and reading achievement. High-income districts are four times more likely to have recovered, according to the Education Recovery Scorecard, which combines results from the Nation's Report Card assessment and state test scores. The slide in test scores "masks a pernicious inequality: scores have declined far more in America's middle- and low-income communities than its wealthy ones," Sean Reardon, director of Stanford's Educational Opportunity Project, said in a statement. By the numbers: 17% of students between third and eighth grade are in districts with average math achievement above 2019. 11% are in districts that have recovered in reading, and 6% are in districts that have recovered in both reading and math. More than 100 districts performed above pre-pandemic levels in both math and reading. Between the lines: Louisiana is the only state that showed slight improvements in both math and reading, according to the Education Recovery Scorecard report. Zoom out: Chronic absenteeism, which worsened during the pandemic, has started to show improvements, per the report. But it slowed academic recovery, especially in high-poverty districts. In 2019, the national rate was 15%. That nearly doubled to 29% in 2022 and dropped slightly to 26% in 2023. In the 20 states with data through Spring 2024, chronic absenteeism fell by an additional two points. "The full impact of the rise in absenteeism is not yet clear," the report said. What's next: Researchers urged states and districts to redirect funding toward interventions, now that federal pandemic relief has dried up. They also said mayors, employers and other leaders should help in addressing chronic absenteeism so that all of the burden doesn't fall on schools. The bottom line:"The rescue phase is over," Tom Kane, director of Harvard's Center for Education Policy Research said in a statement. "The federal relief dollars are gone. It is time to pivot from short-term recovery to longer term challenges such as reducing absenteeism and addressing the slide in literacy." Editor's note: This story was updated to clarify that while the Nation's Report Card found no states improved in both math and reading, the Education Recovery Scorecard found one exception, Louisiana. Go deeper: American students' reading skills drop to record lows
