Proud to see Agora associate Maura Spiegelman contribute to this AEFP conversation on the future of federal education statistics. Her expertise reflects our commitment to building stronger data systems for researchers, educators, and communities. #AEFP2026

Also, from the Study Group on Innovating for Whom We Measure in the AI Era, there's a February 24 webinar exploring how AI can support more equitable and useful measurement and improvement systems. Register here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Stanford’s 2026 AI and Education Summit is today, Wednesday, February 11. A strong lineup exploring how AI can support human relationships, trustworthy design, and evidence informed practice: acceleratelearning.stanford.edu/conference/a... #AIinEducation #ResponsibleAI #HumanCenteredAI

Good news in the FY2026 education budget. Despite proposed cuts, Congress kept most ED programs funded at prior levels. This stability gives educators and researchers room to plan, innovate, and strengthen systems for kids and families. www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

OPRE is being significantly reduced under the new ACF restructuring. Independent research on programs like Head Start and child welfare is at risk. Read the joint statement from Data Foundation and Results for America. datafoundation.org/news/press-r...

Agora welcomes ED’s plans to strengthen IES. The Northern report reflects several recommendations we submitted last fall, from harmonized APIs to CEDS‑aligned research and coordinated TA, encouraging alignment for the field. www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

Are you smarter than an eighth grader in digital literacy and computational thinking? Test yourself with a real ICILS 2018 task and see how students reason through digital challenges. Read Linda’s new blog: edevaluator.org/explore-a-co...

One year ago, federal RIFs reshaped the Department of Education. We honor the public servants and contractors whose work built the nation’s education data systems. Agora remains committed to carrying that legacy forward with transparency, equity, and care.

Part 2 of our series on universal child care and PreK expansion is out. Jodi Jacobson Chernoff highlights why listening to staff and families during implementation is essential for protecting quality as programs grow. edevaluator.org/nurturing-wh...

Proud to share that Agora’s Maura Spiegelman will join colleagues at AEFP on March 19. Our work pushes for evidence, equity, and systems change that strengthens opportunities for every learner. virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/event/public...

#IES and #NCES have announced that data for the 2020-22 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:20/22) are available for analysis on DataLab, here: nces.ed.gov/datalab/inde... I'm pleased to see these data available and want to share some observations, below: (1/X)

How do students around the world understand and interact with AI? 🤖📚 Read more about plans for ICILS 2028 and AI usage in schools from ICILS 2023 in our latest blog: tinyurl.com/2wkj5vh2 #AI #DigitalLiteracy #ICILS2028

Averages can mask meaningful differences in school systems. In our latest blog, we look at how national vs. international datasets (NTPS & TALIS) describe the educator workforce & how disaggregation helps us understand and address equity: tinyurl.com/y55c9fu6 #EduSky #EdData #TALIS #NTPS

🚨New blog: Early reading is key to unlocking future opportunities, and smart investments in literacy paid off big time in Mississippi ($32 for every $1 spent!). NAEP is a reliable benchmark that helps states keep kids cruising toward success. tinyurl.com/3xd5ez6u #Literacy #NAEP #ReadingMatters

✨ CEDS & education data standardization ✨ Teacher pipeline: what the data shows ✨ State-to-state collaborative benchmarking Read & subscribe: edevaluator.org/subscribe State education folks - would love to connect with you about your data needs.

The smartest investment isn’t on Wall Street - it’s in early childhood. Universal PreK and child care fuel the economy by freeing parents to work & setting children for lifelong success. @jodichernoff33.bsky.social breaks down how to invest strategically: tinyurl.com/cyja57br #EarlyChildhood

New— Emails I obtained show that a top charter school advocacy group is concerned about moving education programs to the Department of Labor. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/charter-sc...

Preliminary ≠ provisional? A look at NTPS data shows how early estimates stack up against final - and what that means for timeliness vs. accuracy in survey production. edevaluator.org/fast-and-goo... #DataAnalysis #SurveyResearch #EdResearch

Launching Data Currents - Agora's monthly newsletter for the education research community: 📊 Federal data updates 🔍 State system insights 📈 Research & policy connections 💡 Practical guidance Subscribe here: edevaluator.org/subscribe/ #EdResearch #EducationData #SLDS

Despite increased tech exposure, ICILS data show a troubling decline in student digital literacy for U.S. students. Read more about international findings and implications for policy, data collection, and preparing our nation's youth: tinyurl.com/m9dwnuaa #DigitalLiteracy #ICILS #AIinEducation

How is the United States Doing Compared to its International Peers? How did adult literacy skills in the U.S. change between 2012 and 2023? Read Agora's latest blog by Tom Snyder. #EducationAtAGlance #OECD #USeducation edevaluator.org/how-is-the-u...

The Pell Institute’s latest brief shows worrisome trends: 🎓 In 2002, 72% of high school students expected to earn a bachelor’s degree. By 2022, that number dropped to 44%. Among first-generation students, aspirations plunged from 60% to 33%. tinyurl.com/yn4fz9jx

Agora Associate Elise Christopher discusses the loss of NCES longitudinal studies, including High School and Beyond, which won't be collected next spring as planned.

Extreme weather is increasingly disrupting the educational progress of students. Longitudinal education studies can account for extreme weather events by incorporating administrative data from public sources, but these solutions require support. tinyurl.com/22dvdd6j

Natural Disasters in Longitudinal Education Data – Agora Education Research edevaluator.org/natural-disa...

The end of the “hegemony” of X as the most used social media platform by researchers has been strongly shaped by political-geographical factors and Elon Musk’s intervention into US politics, according to a new study. @patrickjack.bsky.social reports #academicsky #bluesky

FYI: I've updated my list of Useful Data Resources, primarily with a bunch of (20-ish?) new links to state-specific public school datasets and data repositories. go.illinois.edu/UsefulDataRe... Suggestions/corrections are always welcome.

"People take statistical agencies for granted. So they're easy to cut because there's no lobby or special interest group that's powerful enough to protect them." - Ethan Harris, former head of global economic research at Bank of America www.reuters.com/business/us-...

He is a graduate of my school - Harvard Graduate School of Education

Dear peers in the education, research, and policy communities. Now that my ten years as a statistician at the Department of Education have been abruptly ended, I'm hunting for a job. Please let me know of any opportunities for further work. Please spread this post for visibility. Thank you! David

Reporter: How do you feel about the Columbia settlement? Dominique: Let me tell you about public universities in Republican-led states... I appreciate that I get the kicker on a lot of these stories because I'm the most grim www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

In the coming years, we will have less available data to draw on to re: education in the U.S. With this collection of prior articles and our upcoming special issue, we hope to highlight how impt NCES data is for understanding (and improving) American education. link.springer.com/collections/...

Honored to be part of the first-ever LGBTQIA+ committee for the International Consultation on Sexual Medicine. We reviewed the science and developed clinical guidance on sexual (dys)function across diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, and intersex/DSD experiences. #SexualMedicine #ICSM

PIAAC U.S. 2023 Technical Note Now Available (December 10, 2024) The Technical Note for the U.S. Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) 2023 is now available. This report provides a high-level overview of the design and implementation of... nces.ed.gov/surveys/piaa...

Highlights of the 2023 U.S. PIAAC Results Now Available (December 10, 2024) Highlights results for U.S. adults from the most recent 2023 data collection in comparison with the 2017 data collection and the combined 2012/14 data collection. Results are available for all... nces.ed.gov/surveys/piaa...

Happy IPEDS data release day! The newest year of graduation rates, admissions, and financial aid data just dropped. And, as always, go back to revise last year's file with the newly updated data.

New Data on Postsecondary Graduation Rates, Outcome Measures, Student Financial Aid, and Admissions. (December 5, 2024) This provisional set of web tables presents fully edited and imputed data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) winter... nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pu...

2023–24 Common Core of Data (CCD) Universe Data Files now available (December 5, 2024) These files are a product of the Common Core of Data (CCD) data collection for the 2023–24 school year. Data are reported at state, district, and school levels and include staff... nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pu...

TIMSS 2023 U.S. Highlights Web Report (December 4, 2024) This web report provides key comparative results from the most recent cycle of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) at the 4th and 8th grades. Findings and interactive figures show... nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pu...

A Look at Barriers to Participation for Spanish-Speaking Parents: 2019 (November 25, 2024) A new Data point using National Household Education Survey data shows that Spanish-speaking families or enrolled students reported barriers to participating in school activities... nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pu...

A Look at Parent Involvement by Household Language: 1999–2019 (November 25, 2024) A new Data Point using National Household Education Survey data shows that the percentages of students whose parents reported participating in selected school-related activities were... nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pu...

New Data On Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools (November 14, 2024) NCES releases new public-use data on school crime and safety, including the frequency of school crime and violence at school, the presence and activities of school security... nces.ed.gov/surveys/ssoc...

Most U.S. Public K–12 Schools Offer After-School Programs But Many Cannot Accommodate All Students Who Want To Participate (November 14, 2024) The September 2024 School Pulse Panel (SPP) release provides information on after-school programs, summer programs, and civics... nces.ed.gov/surveys/spp/...

Measuring eighth-grade digital literacy during the post-COVID recovery period. NCES Releases the U.S. Results From the 2023 International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) Web Report (November 12, 2024) The National Center for Education Statistics... nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pu...

NCES Releases School Crime Supplement 2022: Web Tables for the Crime & Safety Surveys Program Table Library (November 7, 2024) These Web Tables present national-level estimates of bullying among students in grades 6–12 in U.S. public and private schools. nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pu...

NCES is accepting proposals for the Data Users Conference (November 6, 2024) NCES is now accepting proposals for presentations at the NCES Data Users Conference (DUC). The event is virtual and will take place on February 11-13, 2025. The window for proposal submissions... ies.ed.gov/whatsnew/con...