Within the Monday assembly, workers had been instructed that the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE), a unit inside the Trump administration run by Elon Musk, plans to cancel most of IES’ contracts. Two workers shared screenshots of emails summoning them to that assembly.
Staff described a somber temper the place some fought again tears, and others raised questions on the way forward for IES.
One of many workers who spoke with NPR mentioned the entire contracts they oversee have been terminated. “So it begs the query, what is going to this imply for our jobs?”
One other worker was skeptical of the concept these cuts would result in extra effectivity. “In the event that they’re doing this to avoid wasting authorities cash, they’re losing hundreds of thousands at present. All the cash we’ve got spent engaged on these merchandise, down the drain.”
NPR reached out to the Division of Schooling, and to the White Home, for remark. The White Home has not responded. An Schooling Division spokesperson replied by sharing a hyperlink to a Monday evening post on the X account for DOGE.
The submit mentioned, “the Division of Schooling terminated 89 contracts value $881mm” and that “one contractor was paid $1.5mm to ‘observe mailing and clerical operations’ at a mail middle.”
However a 3rd supply with in depth data of many of those canceled Schooling Division contracts, who wouldn’t converse publicly for worry of retribution, instructed NPR that one shuttered program was already underway in lecture rooms — to review methods to assist college students nationwide make up for floor they’ve misplaced in math.
Based on this supply, college students in a number of states had been already working with high-quality, adaptive digital instruments. Now, with the cancellation of that contract, the research will likely be lower brief, and the educational instruments might quickly be faraway from lecture rooms.
The canceled contracts additionally embrace surveys and information assortment on a spread of points, together with non-public colleges, homeschooling and profession and technical teaching programs.
“This can be a decimation,” the supply instructed NPR, “the destruction of understanding what works for teenagers.”
“It’s surprising, it’s pointless,” mentioned Thomas Weko, a former commissioner on the NCES, referring to the halt in necessary analysis work.
He added that the creation of IES was “an try to put our understanding of schooling on a scientific footing with different fields of information like drugs.”
If contracts tied to IES and NCES are certainly terminated, and its analysis turns into unavailable on-line, a trove of information gathered over many a long time concerning the state of schooling within the U.S. might turn out to be troublesome to entry. It’s unclear what these contract terminations would imply for future information assortment.
Based on the workers NPR spoke with, the Nationwide Evaluation of Academic Progress (NAEP), will likely be preserved, at the least for now. NAEP, also called The Nation’s Report Card, is the gold standard in assessments of student achievement and releases extensively used information on how Okay-12 college students are faring in core topics together with math and studying.
President Trump has repeatedly mentioned he plans to shut the Schooling Division, which employs more than 4,000 people and has an annual funds of $79 billion.
He told Fox News in an interview that aired on Sunday: “I’m going to inform [Elon Musk] very quickly, like perhaps in 24 hours, to go verify the Division of Schooling. He’s going to search out the identical factor. Then I’m going to go, go to the navy. Let’s verify the navy. We’re going to search out billions, tons of of billions of {dollars} of fraud and abuse.”
In latest days, administration officers additionally positioned dozens of Schooling Division workers on paid administrative leave with little clarification. On the time, the White Home confirmed the president’s plans to shutter applications inside the division that aren’t protected by legislation and his plans to name on Congress to shut the division fully.
