The U.S. House of Representatives has given quick and quiet approval to a bipartisan bill that would reauthorize the Education Science Reform Act, with an eye toward making federal K-12 research more relevant and timely for those in the field.
The legislation approved May 8 also calls for new or improved collection of data on areas such as high school graduation rates, school safety, discipline, and teacher preparation and evaluation. And it would add a new focus on examining the implementation of a particular policy or strategy, not just its impact.
It also makes changes to a federal program that helps states bolster their longitudinal data systems, shifting the focus of grants away from just building data systems to using them to improve student outcomes. The measure would also beef up privacy protections for student data.
