IES Blog

Institute of Education Sciences

Introducing the 2024-2025 Open Science Interns from the Virtual Student Federal Service Program

This year, we have four student interns who are joining IES from the U.S. Department of State’s Virtual Student Federal Service (VSFS) Program. These doctoral student interns are the first cohort of IES open science interns to work together collaboratively. They will be supporting NCER and NCSER in understanding and communicating about research in education and special education. Under the mentorship of two IES program officers, Helyn Kim and Amy Sussman, the interns will use and refine their knowledge and skills of education research to help us communicate about our work and investments to the broader public, including those who can use the information for practice or policymaking. We asked the interns to tell us about themselves, their research interests, their goals for this internship, and a fun fact.

Stephanie Estrera, Florida State University

Hi y’all, I am a third-year PhD student in developmental psychology at Florida State University and an IES predoctoral fellow. Prior to moving to Tallahassee, Florida and starting my PhD, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin (hook’em!). In 2018-20, I was an education volunteer with Peace Corps Philippines, which is an experience that has deeply influenced my current research interests and goals.  Broadly, I am interested in using behavioral genetic methods to examine the direct role of a child’s environment on their reading outcomes. Some of my current work is focused on children’s reading motivation, measurement of family stressors, and the role of the home and school environments on children’s reading development. I believe that the way forward in producing relevant and replicable research is through open science and transparency collaboration. Currently, I am a member of the LDbase team, an NIH-funded data repository and open science resource for educational and developmental science communities.

One of my goals during this internship is to learn best practices for research dissemination for education stakeholders outside of the scientific community. The work conducted by education researchers affects the everyday American, but it can be a challenge to make those findings understandable. As a researcher, I believe it is the scientific community’s duty to disseminate our work in a way that resonates with other educational stakeholders so we can move forward and improve education for all. I'm excited for this internship, because I think it will be an excellent opportunity to hone and practice my science communication skills.

Fun Fact: Outside of my work, I am an ocean-enthusiast and Open Water SCUBA certified! Some of my favorite marine life encounters include whale sharks, manatees, sea turtles, octopuses, and the humble box fish (my favorite reef fish).

Heidi Hines, University of California, Irvine

I am a third-year PhD student in education at the University of California, Irvine. Before starting my PhD program, I worked in the public school system as a school psychologist. My experience as a school psychologist and observing the prevalence of reading difficulties among children led me to become interested in researching early literacy instruction and intervention. My research interests include early literacy for all students, especially those with disabilities. I feel compelled to learn more about research in early literacy and make this research easily accessible to the public to help guide instructional practices.

One of my goals in this internship is to learn more about the strategies used to disseminate research and how those strategies are implemented. Another goal is to increase my skills in sharing research in a practitioner-friendly manner. I’m excited about this internship opportunity as it will provide hands-on experience collaborating with experts and disseminating research.

Fun Fact: I love to run! I ran cross country and track throughout high school and college. I’ve continued to run since then, and I’ve completed 6 full marathons and over a dozen half marathons.

Audra Johnston-Zamora, University of Oregon

I am currently a second-year PhD student at the University of Oregon in the department of special education and clinical services. My educational pursuits have very much been influenced by my own difficult upbringing and experiences in the foster care system. During my own journey towards well-being, I learned about trauma-informed practices, the neurobiological implications of exposure to trauma during early childhood, and the evidenced-based interventions that may serve to buffer those life-long implications. Since then, whether I took on the role of a classroom teacher, coach to other educators, or future researcher, my “why” is and always will be to create a loving, compassionate, healing educational space where all children (and even adults) can thrive.

Through my experiences with this internship, my goal is to develop my communication and research skills. Until recently, even as an educator, I was hardly exposed to empirical research or taught the skills needed to truly understand it. Yet, so many wonderful advances and knowledge about best practices can be understood through research. In this internship, I plan on strengthening my ability to concisely synthesize critical information taken from research studies in an effort to address the research to practice gap.

Fun Fact: I am a Disney fanatic! One year I spent a total of 22 days at Disneyland Park with my family. I have numerous Disney tattoos and dresses, and I can recite the songs and dialogue for Beauty and the Beast from beginning to end.

Bhabika Joshi, Vanderbilt University

I am currently a third-year PhD student in special education at Vanderbilt University, with a focus on quantitative research, culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students, and autism. I am a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and have previously served as senior director of clinical services. I earned my master’s in applied behavior analysis and special education from Vanderbilt University in 2020 and hold dual undergraduate degrees in English and communication sciences and disorders (speech language pathology) from The University of Texas at Austin, with a concentration on autism research. In 2018, I undertook a Fulbright fellowship in Nepal, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

My research is driven by a deep passion for advancing knowledge in the autism community, including advocating for families and caretakers of children with autism and identifying culturally responsive avenues of support for families and children with autism.  During this internship, I look forward to deepening my understanding of quantitative research methodologies and exploring how they can be applied to support culturally and linguistically diverse children with autism.

Fun Fact: Outside of my professional pursuits, I enjoy reading, writing, hiking, and exploring new places. I am currently training for a trek to Everest Base Camp in December 2024.


This blog was produced by Helyn Kim (helyn.kim@ed.gov), NCER program officer, and Amy Sussman (amy.sussman@ed.gov), NCSER program officer.

IES Makes 13 Awards to Statistical and Research Methodology in Education Projects

IES is pleased to announce the newest set of Statistical and Research Methodology in Education (Stats/Methods) investments: 13 projects, nine of which will create innovative methodological products and four of which will develop toolkits to help education scientists understand and apply recently developed methods in their work. This set of Stats/Methods projects will receive more than $9.3 million in funding over the next three years.   

Projects funded under the Stats/Methods program support the development of products (for example, new and improved methods, toolkits, guidelines, review papers, compendia, curated data resources, and software) that help education scientists as they strive for rigor in their research. The Stats/Methods program has funded several widely used statistical software packages, such as Stan, HLM, and Blimp. Stats/Methods projects have also produced papers and presentations that have advanced the theory and practice of randomized trials, psychometrics, and Bayesian statistics in education.

The latest awards from the Stats/Methods program focus on four different areas to support education research. Collectively, these 13 projects will result in innovative products, including templates, new methods, software, tools, practice guides, visual displays, databases, and language models that researchers can use to improve the rigor of education research.

IES is looking forward to partnering with these project teams to advance education research, policy, and practice through the development and dissemination of innovative methods.


This blog was written by Charles Laurin (Charles.Laurin@ed.gov), NCER program officer.

NCER Intern Reflects on a Summer of Supporting Public Access Implementation

IES offers internship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students interested in learning about the research grant making process and contributing to the work of the different centers. Internships are coordinated through the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Volunteer Unpaid Internship Program and are available throughout the year.

This summer, NCER was fortunate to have Christine White join us. Christine is a doctoral student in developmental psychology at Florida State University and an IES Pre-Doctoral Fellow working with the Florida Center for Reading Research. She worked with Elizabeth Albro, NCER commissioner, and Laura Namy, NCER associate commissioner for the Teaching and Learning Division, to co-design and complete an internship focused on public access implementation. In this blog, Christine shares her experiences and insights from her summer internship opportunity.

Photo of Christine White

Why I Applied for the Internship

As I approached the end of the second year in my doctoral program, I realized that a career in academia does not align well with my goals and interests. I am much more interested in evaluating, communicating, and using research to inform practice and policy than in asking novel questions and designing studies. Around this time, I also began working as part of the LDbase data repository team at Florida State, where I learned how open practices, such as preregistration, sharing data, and making scholarly publications freely accessible, can enhance the credibility, reach, and efficiency of research. I developed a strong interest in understanding the landscape of barriers and incentives influencing educational researchers in the adoption of open practices.

When I attended the American Educational Research Association conference in spring 2023, my goal was to learn about internship opportunities in organizations outside of academia. When I stopped by the IES table, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Elizabeth Albro. It quickly became clear that a summer internship with NCER would be a great fit. I learned that IES had recently developed a new plan to increase public access to federally funded research, and that one of their upcoming goals was to identify barriers grantees may face in complying with revised requirements for making data and publications publicly accessible at the time of publication. Thus, the timing was perfect for me to join NCER as a public access implementation intern and contribute to this initiative.

My Internship Experience

I was able to intern remotely from Tallahassee, Florida. Under the mentorship of Drs. Namy and Albro, my role was to identify anticipated challenges that grantees might face in meeting the revised requirements under the new public access plan. I met with NCER and NCSER program officers to discuss unique considerations for data sharing across different awards and project types, co-led a Virtual Office Hour session where over 70 prospective applicants and grantees shared questions and concerns about the revised requirements and expectations, and attended NCER and inter-agency meetings to learn more about the federal government’s vision for and progress towards increasing public access to research.

Through these activities, I learned about the concerns education researchers have about sharing research data and publications, such as navigating restrictive data use agreements and journal policies, selecting an appropriate online repository for sharing data, and deciding how to curate and share research data that may be at particular risk for reidentification (for example, rich video or audio data, or data collected in small or rural schools). As part of my internship, I documented these observations and began to develop ideas for resources IES could develop that may help address common concerns, such as revising existing data sharing guides to contain more detailed information about deidentifying and curating data types beyond quantitative data and creating a list of vetted data repositories of interest to educational researchers.

What I Learned from the Internship

First, through attending NCER and inter-agency meetings, I learned a great deal about the grant-making process and how government agencies operate and collaborate to support research. It was fascinating to see how NCER functions and fits within the larger systems of IES and the Department of Education.

Second, I learned about the federal government’s initiatives to increase openness and transparency in research. It was inspiring to be able to contribute during this period of active transition towards more accessible research across agencies and to hear innovative ideas for enabling and incentivizing researcher engagement in open practices from individuals with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and expertise. I greatly appreciated that leadership at NCER and other agencies acknowledged that achieving a culture of open and accessible research is not just about introducing requirements but developing infrastructure and resources to flexibly support the people who are making it happen.

Finally, connecting with applicants and grantees gave me new insight into the challenges researchers encounter when sharing data and publications and the types of supports they need or expect from their funding agency. This knowledge has been invaluable not only for directing my activities during the internship but for informing my own research on researcher engagement in open science practices.

What is next for me?

I recently defended my preliminary exams, and I will soon begin working on my dissertation. After completing my PhD, I plan to apply to post-doctoral fellowships and positions that reflect my interest in evaluating and applying educational research in non-academic contexts and thinking “big picture” about how research can support practice, policy, and ultimately, improve the lives of teachers and students.


This blog was written by Christine White, public access implementation intern, NCER.

Celebrating National Principals Month: Highlights from the National Teacher and Principal Survey

October is National Principals Month! This celebration marks the invaluable leadership contributions of U.S. K–12 public and private school principals.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) would like to thank principals and administrators from across the country whose support and guidance improve their schools and the successes of their students and staff each and every day.

The data in this blog would not be possible without the participation of principals and school staff in the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS). We have recently concluded the 2023–24 NTPS; to learn more about our most recent data on teachers’ and principals’ experiences and perspectives, please stay tuned to NCES’s website for upcoming reports.

Here are some facts and figures about principals from the NTPS for the 2020–21 school year. Click the links to dig deeper into each of the topics.

 

Principals’ Educational Attainment, Salary, and Professional Experiences in the 2020–21 school year

 

Figure 1. Percentage distribution of 2020–21 public school principals, by 2021–22 status

Bar graph showing the percentage of school principals who stayed at the same school, moved schools, or left the principalship. Data is broken down between public school, private school, and an aggregate. 80-83% stayed, 3-5% moved, 10-11% left.

 

Principal Satisfaction in the 2020–21 School Year

  • The 202021 NTPS asked all K12 public and private school principals to rate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with six different statements about their position as a principal (figure 2).
    • About 94 percent of all principals agreed that they were generally satisfied with being a principal at their school.
    • About 34 percent indicated they don’t seem to have as much enthusiasm now as they did when they began their job.
    • About 24 percent indicated they would leave their job as soon as possible if they could get a higher-paying job.
    • About 17 percent indicated the stress and disappointments involved in being a principal at their school weren’t really worth it.
    • Some 17 percent of all principals agreed that they thought about staying home from school because they were just too tired to go.
    • About 17 percent thought about transferring to another school.

 

Figure 2. Percentage of all K–12 school principals who agreed with statements about their position as a principal: 2020–21

Bar graph showing the percentage of principals who agreed with statements about job satisfaction. 94% surveyed reported being generally satisfied, 34% reported lowered enthusiasm, and 17% reported being unsatisfied with their schools or burnt out.

 

 

Demographics and Other Characteristics of Principals in the 2020–21 school year

 

Figure 3. Percentage distribution of all K–12 school principal sex by race/ethnicity: 2020–21

Bar graph showing the percentage of principals by sex, race, and ethnicity. 78% identified as white, 43% white female, 35% male. 10% identified as Black or African American (7% female, 3% male), 9% Hispanic. Multiple/ or other were approx. 1% each.

For more information about the National Teacher and Principal Survey, please visit https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/. More findings and details are available in the NTPS schoolteacher, and principal First Look reports.


[1] At least 1 year beyond the master’s level.

[2] Principals who selected “Hispanic,” which includes Latino, as their ethnicity are referred to as Hispanic regardless of race. All other race categories in this blog exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity.

[3] Principals were asked whether they were male or female. Although this variable is labeled “sex,” the questionnaire did not use either the term “gender” or “sex.”

 

 

 

 

NCES Resources to Support Response Efforts for Hurricane Milton

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) offers a variety of tools to support hurricane planning, response, and recovery efforts. These resources provide crucial data on educational institutions and infrastructure, helping decision-makers during this critical time. Below is an overview of the key NCES resources available to assist with hurricane response activities.

Key NCES Resources

Interactive Web Maps and APIs

Figure 1: School Weather Watch - Hurricane Milton

Sample map of the School Weather Watch - Hurricane Milton resource that includes the path of Hurricane Milton overlayed with NCES data.

 

NCES provides interactive maps with detailed information on educational institutions across the United States, including the School Weather Watch - Hurricane Milton.

These maps are accessible via application programming interface (APIs), allowing users to easily integrate these data into their own applications. Available resources identify:

These tools are especially useful for assessing the proximity of schools to impacted areas, enabling local authorities and relief organizations to prioritize support.

Public and Private School Search Tools

NCES provides easy-to-use search tools for identifying public and private schools in hurricane-affected regions:
  • The Elementary/Secondary Information System (ELSI): A web application that enables users to view data and create reports on public and private schools across various metrics.
  • Private School Search Tool: Search for private schools by state county, or ZIP Code to access detailed information, including addresses, enrollment numbers, and other key data.
  • Public School Search Tool: Find public schools by state, county, or ZIP Code to access detailed information, including addresses, enrollment numbers, and other key data.
These tools provide quick access to essential information, supporting coordinated response efforts.

Postsecondary and Public School District Lookup Tools

School district boundaries and postsecondary institutions are critical for planning resource allocation and understanding affected regions.

  • College Navigator: Search for postsecondary institutions by location, programs offered, and other characteristics.
  • Public School District Lookup: Explore district boundaries and access information about schools within those districts.

School District Demographic Information

NCES also provides demographic data for school districts, derived from the American Community Survey. This information helps users understand the populations served by each district and is available through the NCES's School District Demographic Dashboard. Additionally, these data can be accessed through NCES’s ACS-ED Maps.

How These Resources Can Assist

By offering comprehensive, real-time access to school system data, NCES helps emergency planners, local authorities, and relief organizations make informed decisions. Whether assessing potential school closures or identifying facilities for emergency shelters, these tools ensure that educational considerations are integrated into broader response and recovery efforts.

Additional Resources

By Josue DeLaRosa and Douglas Geverdt, NCES

Note: This post was updated October 12th, 2024, with current link to the School Weather Watch resource.