The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has drastically reduced its staff following federal budget cuts aimed at eliminating waste, resulting in just five employees remaining. This staffing crisis is occurring at a time when comprehensive data on education is essential to assess the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on students. The recent layoffs and contract cuts jeopardize the ability to analyze educational trends and hold schools accountable. Experts argue that this diminishes the capacity to understand and address learning losses attributed to pandemic-related disruptions.
"The backbone of accountability for our school systems begins with simply collecting data on how well they're doing. The fact that our capacity to do that is being undermined is really indefensible."
"Without some of the federal data the NCES was collecting, it will be hard to draw definitive conclusions about learning loss or any other claims about national education trends."
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