Update on NASEM Panel to Discuss the Future of Education Research at IES

As the 20th anniversary of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) approaches in 2022, the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) has convened a panel of experts to inform IES on The Future of Education Research at the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education. The panel has held sessions open to the public and will continue to meet in closed sessions with the goal of producing a report by the end of January 2022. Some topics explored so far include the following:

• The sessions serve as an opportunity to lay out both short- and long-term research priorities for IES — particularly ways IES can improve its current research activities and plan for the next 20 years.
• Equity issues are a primary interest.
• Some other interests include questions around how educators are using research findings and how research is translated into classrooms/schools.
• The panel is considering the RFA process and how changes can be made to standing panels, training for panels, who joins the panels, and what this means for research (e.g., from a diversity/equity lens).
• The panel is compiling suggestions from the field about funding needs and graduate student/early career issues (particularly from a diversity/equity perspective).