For trust in education statistics

Picking up where they left off last year on the Strengthening Education through Research Act (SETRA), Congress is moving quickly, with the Senate HELP Committee advancing it during the last week of January. Nineteen former statistical agency heads and I, however, urge the bill be modified to strengthen the accountability and responsibilities of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in SETRA. To do otherwise would send the wrong signal about the importance of objective statistical data in the policymaking process. 

As the foundation for policy making and policy administration, objective and credible statistical data are vital to our democracy, economy, governance, and well-being. All sides of a policy debate should be able to look to the statistical data as objective and high quality. Any perception that the data have been influenced by a partisan perspective undermines the policy making and its administration.

{mosads}The independence of a federal statistical agency is a critical element in an agency producing objective and credible statistical data as pointed out in new guidance from the White House Office of Management and Budget directive for federal statistical agencies and the National Academy of Science in its Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency. Statistical agencies should have complete control over the data collection, analysis, and publication. This independence should include control over an agency’s planning, budget, press releases, and information technology. As two of the letter’s signers recently wrote: “such autonomy affords the agency the ability not only to withstand improper outside influence but also, just as importantly, to deflect the perception of such.” Further, the “prestige and vetting provided by presidential appointment and senate confirmation strengthen an agency head’s position to stand by the integrity of the data and to inform policy making with useful data.”

One way to achieve this is to assure that both parties find a leader acceptable because of his/her technical qualifications and integrity, through a Senate confirmation.

NCES is one of the largest and most prominent federal statistical agencies. It is also second oldest. Established in 1867 under the label “department of education,” its sole function (then located in the Department of the Interior) was statistical:

“That there shall be established at the City of Washington, a department of education, for the purpose of collecting such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education…”

NCES stature and relevance are at risk. The concern goes back to the 2002 legislation for the creation of the Institute of Education (IES) when responsibilities NCES previously held were transferred to IES or circumscribed in that legislation. For example, NCES authority over its publications—including press releases— and budget control were removed under that law. Further, the presidentially appointed, senate-confirmed commissioner was made to report to the presidentially appointed, senate-confirmed IES director, who, in turn, reports to the presidentially appointed, senate-confirmed Secretary of Education. In 2012, senate confirmation of the NCES commissioner was removed. SETRA transfers the NCES commissioner’s appointment from the President to the IES director. 

We urge steps be taken to strengthen NCES’s responsibility for its critical statistical functions. More specifically, we urge Congress to:

• Restore Senate confirmation and keep presidential appointment of the NCES Commissioner;
• Give direct responsibility to NCES for decisions over the scope, content and frequency of data compiled, analyzed and disseminated by the Center;
• Ensure that NCES is accountable for a balanced data collection and reporting program through direct responsibility for developing budget plans within the U. S. Department of Education and for allocations of available appropriations for statistics;
• Authorize the NCES commissioner to make final decisions on review procedures and release of statistical reports and data;
• Authorize NCES to compile data and make analyses of statistics, keeping a clear distinction from policy interpretations or political uses of data;
• Require NCES to take direct actions that protect the integrity and confidentiality of its data, and not assign that function to IES; and

The changes that would need to be made to SETRA could be relatively minor but would have enormous impact for NCES and the overall federal statistical system.

As we approach the 150^th anniversary of the founding of NCES, it is important to keep in mind its historical roots to ensure education policy is based on a strong foundation of statistical data in the future.

Elliott was commissioner at the National Center for Education Statistics, from 1984-1995. He and 19 former statistical agency heads wrote this letter to Congress last week: http://www.amstat.org/misc/FormerAgencyHeadLetter.pdf.