The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education is dedicated to advancing research that improves college opportunity for low-income, first-generation students, and students with disabilities. In response to the U.S. Department of Education’s recent Request for Information on the future of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) submitted recommendations focused on one critical area: the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
NCES is the federal government’s primary source of independent, nonpartisan education data. Yet since being moved under IES in 2002, NCES has faced declining staff and stagnant funding, leading to cuts in key studies—including those that once provided national insight into low-income and first-generation students. While IPEDS offers important institutional data, it does not allow researchers to examine outcomes by income or parental education level, leaving major equity questions unanswered.
COE’s response underscores that rebuilding NCES capacity is essential for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners seeking to understand whether federal investments like TRIO and financial aid are working. To restore a strong data foundation, COE highlights four priorities: better use of existing federal administrative data for statistical purposes; rebuilding NCES staffing rather than relying heavily on contractors; investing in research and development to modernize data collection; and strengthening state partnerships to support a more efficient, coordinated national data infrastructure.
What’s Needed Now: Four Opportunities for Impact
COE’s response highlights four actionable strategies to rebuild NCES capacity and strengthen our national education data infrastructure so that equity gaps are not hidden or ignored.
1. Use What We Already Have: Leverage Administrative Data
Significant education data already exists across federal systems—including TRIO Annual Performance Reports and student loan data. Transferring these datasets to NCES for statistical use would expand insight at minimal additional cost and reduce data collection burdens on schools and colleges.
2. Rebuild Internal Expertise
NCES depends heavily on contractors due to limited staff. Increasing staffing levels—particularly research and data science experts—would allow NCES to conduct and manage more of its own data collections, improving transparency, consistency, and sustainability.
3. Invest in Data Innovation
Creating a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) would allow NCES to pursue cost-effective innovation, revive discontinued studies, and support longitudinal research—especially research involving first-generation and low-income students.
4. Empower States to Support a Modern Data System
Strengthening state-federal partnerships through existing grant and technical assistance programs could jump-start the creation of a state-governed national data infrastructure. A modern system would allow states and institutions to share information more efficiently and reduce the need for expensive national surveys.
These steps would expand access to high-quality, disaggregated data and make it possible once again to track how first-generation and low-income students progress through education. Without such data, the experiences of the students most affected by inequities remain hidden.
The Pell Institute supports efforts that elevate data transparency and research grounded in equity. Reinvesting in NCES is not simply a structural change—it is an investment in the knowledge required to advance educational opportunity for all.
Media Inquiries
For media inquiries or to arrange an interview, please contact Terrance L. Hamm, associate vice president of communications and marketing at COE via email: [email protected] or call (202) 347-7430.
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