Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Federal Rollbacks That Could Disappear a Generation
With federal education research on the chopping block, who will defend the data that drives student success?
I am the mother of a transgender daughter. Until recently, education data helped tell her story—how she experiences school, where she faces barriers, and what policies could make education better for kids like her. But as the federal government pulls back on collecting data that captures identity, equity, and systemic barriers, that story—the reality of her experience—risks disappearing.
This is not just an abstract policy shift. It’s erasure.
Over the past few months, we’ve seen the federal government dismantle decades of progress in education data transparency and accountability:
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is being gutted—severely limiting federal investment in research that helps states and districts make evidence-based decisions.
Office for Civil Rights (OCR) protections are being weakened, which means fewer investigations into racial, gender, and disability disparities in school discipline, academic access, and safety.
Changes to federal reporting requirements risk lowering academic standards, obscuring disparities through broad averages, and eliminating key assessment measures that provide critical insights into student progress—particularly for historically underserved students.
This is personal for me as a parent and someone who worked nationally to shape accountability policies. As a former member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Future of Data Working Group, I helped shape a narrative rooted in the idea that we cannot improve what we do not measure.
That’s why these rollbacks are so dangerous. They are not just about shifting priorities—they are about making it easier to ignore the reality of students’ belonging and achievement.
The Honest Data Movement Worked—And That’s Why It’s Being Undone
For years, policymakers across partisan lines agreed on a simple truth: We must be honest about student outcomes. The era of No Child Left Behind (NCLB)—for all its flaws—exposed deep racial and economic inequities that aggregate data had long masked. A study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce underscored how NCLB policies unmasked disparities, forcing states to confront how public schools failed marginalized students.
Now, we are watching that progress be systematically dismantled. And if states and communities do nothing, this moment will mark a return to an era where low-income students, students of color, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ youth are once again ignored and invisible.
This Is Bigger Than States—But States Are the Last Line of Defense
Let’s be clear: states cannot and should not be expected to replace an entire federal infrastructure alone. The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and other federal agencies have historically provided resources, expertise, and funding that no single state can replicate.
But while states cannot fill this gap alone, they also cannot afford to stand back.
The unique structure of the U.S. education system means that state and local leaders hold the power to protect data transparency and student accountability—even as federal agencies step away.
The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) made this clear in their statement following the IES contract cancellations:
“Cuts to federal education data, evaluation, and research threaten to compromise the ability of states and school districts to improve education outcomes for students and remain globally competitive.”
So, the question is no longer whether states should act—it’s how they can do it without shouldering this alone.
A Collective Action Plan: Who Must Step Up and How
Protecting education transparency isn’t just a state issue—it’s a shared responsibility. If we want to ensure students aren’t erased from the data that shapes policy, here’s what needs to happen:
State Legislatures & Education Agencies ➡️ Codify past studies, datasets, and information being removed federally.
Ensure state-level laws mandate collecting and reporting disaggregated data on race, gender, disability, and student success.
Build state-backed data repositories to maintain historical education datasets, ensuring continuity even if federal support disappears.
Pass policies that ensure state education funding is tied to transparent, measurable student outcomes rather than vague commitments.
Local Philanthropy ➡️ Invest in research efforts to study communities' experiences within their full identity context.
Fund independent research centers focusing on intersectional education data and long-term student success.
Support community organizations conducting qualitative research and storytelling projects to document diverse student experiences in real-time.
Hold state and district leaders accountable by funding public reporting on education equity and policy impact — always disaggregated by subgroups.
School Districts & Local Governments ➡️ Double down on reporting, discussing, and making sense of our social systems in ways that use disaggregated data.
Require annual equity reports that track disparities in school discipline, academic access, and postsecondary outcomes.
Train educators and administrators in data literacy to proactively use disaggregated student data to close opportunity gaps.
Build local data-sharing collaboratives that connect education data with broader social indicators—housing stability, health access, and community safety.
Higher Education, Think Tanks, and Research Institutions ➡️ Step in where federal research agencies are stepping back.
Develop independent research agendas that track long-term student outcomes and systemic inequities.
Partner with K-12 schools and advocacy organizations to ensure the continued study of historically underserved student populations.
Push for state and regional funding to replace federal dollars lost in the dismantling of IES.
Advocacy Organizations & Grassroots Movements ➡️ Keep the pressure on state and local leaders to act.
Monitor and publicly report on which states are protecting data transparency—and which are rolling it back.
Mobilize families and students to demand data accountability and evidence-based policy decisions.
Challenge misinformation—when policymakers try to downplay student outcome declines, push back with facts, and demand real solutions.
This Isn’t Just Policy—It’s About Ensuring Future Generations Know the Truth
For decades, education advocates fought to make student data more transparent, to ensure that students of color, LGBTQ+ youth, students with disabilities, and students from low-income communities weren’t left out of the story.
Now, we are at risk of losing that progress—and we will not stand by and allow this erasure to happen.
At Open School Inc., where most of our students are part of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities, we center student voices and experiences. Our work right now is to ensure these diverse experiences are not erased from the data that drives education policy. We are pushing for policies that protect data transparency, use disaggregated data to drive real action, and hold our state leaders accountable for ensuring that every student—especially those most at risk of being ignored—is seen, heard, and supported in their education.
The federal government may be pulling back, but states, school districts, researchers, and communities don’t have to follow suit. The reality is that states with robust, data-driven policies already embedded in law, practice, and culture will be far better equipped to withstand these rollbacks. They will continue making informed decisions, allocating resources effectively, and addressing disparities based on evidence, not ideology.
Meanwhile, states that have long resisted transparent data practices—preferring to rely on anecdotes over analysis—will be at greater risk of falling into politically convenient narratives that obscure, twist, or erase the realities of student outcomes. Subjective stories can be reshaped to serve those in power, but data—when protected and used responsibly—keeps us accountable to the truth.
Without data, history is rewritten. Who will ensure our diverse children remain visible?
About Dr. Christine Toribio Pitts
Christine is a trained teacher, researcher, education policy leader, and advocate. She currently serves as interim President of Open School Inc., where she uses evidence-based strategies to reinvent schools for Oregon students. With a background in education governance, accountability, and assessment, she is committed to ensuring education policy and practice are driven by research and data, not rhetoric.
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