Meeting the AI Moment Requires a New Education R&D Infrastructure

Depending on where you sit in the education ecosystem, 2025 has felt either deeply discouraging or full of possibility. On one hand, earlier this year, the federal government signaled retreat from its commitment to education research, and just this week, the Trump administration took further steps to dismantle the Department of Education. National assessments show […]
Picking Up the Pieces of Federal Education Programs: Can Block Grants Help Marginalized Learners?

The Trump administration is following the Project 2025 agenda, vowing to turn federal education programs into block grants or issue blanket waivers that would let states see money in any way they want. The results might not be what the Trump movement hopes, or what educators fear. Much will depend on whether local actors who […]
Mend, Don’t End, the Institution for Education Sciences

This piece originally appeared in The 74. Last week, DOGE’s “shock and awe” campaign came to education. The chaotic canceling of grants and contracts for various research activities at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), a little-known yet important agency rarely at the center of public debate, was unprecedented. It showed that the Trump administration is becoming adept […]