Peggy G. Carr, Ph.D.
Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics
OMB's New ”Trust Regulation“ Helps Ensure Objective and Timely Education Statistics
11/01/24

The cornerstone of the U.S. Federal statistical system is the principle that the production and dissemination of official statistics must remain completely independent from the development of official policies. This is because, while policymakers certainly need to use official statistics to develop policies, they should not be involved in the production or dissemination of those official statistics as policy making is fundamentally a political activity. If the same people were developing policies and producing the statistics used to evaluate and support the policy, there would be both a great temptation to “tweak the numbers” and an inherent reason to question any measured success. Thus, like the principle of the separation of powers in the U.S. Constitution, which divides the federal government into three branches to promote good government by ensuring that no branch monopolizes power, this principle of the separation of statistical production and policy uses promotes good governance by ensuring that policy debates and decisions are based on indisputably objective and unbiased information. In short, to be as seen as accurate and objective as possible, the production and dissemination of official statistics needs to be not just apolitical work, but work insulated from anyone who might have any stake or interest—actual or perceived—in biasing the statistical results.

This bedrock principle—to maintain the independence and objectivity of official statistics—has always grounded the Federal statistical system.  However, to be sure that the public can have full confidence in the integrity of government data, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released on October 11, 2024 a new rule on the Fundamental Responsibilities of Statistical Agencies and Units.  As required by the bipartisan Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (commonly referred to as the Evidence Act), this rule explains in great detail how Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units (RSAUs) are to fulfill their fundamental responsibilities—such as ensuring the accuracy, timeliness, and independence of the official statistics they produce.  Because this rule’s main goal is to strengthen public trust in how the U.S. Federal statistical system generates and disseminates the statistics that Americans depend on, it has come to be called the “Trust Regulation.”

While the fundamental responsibilities of RSAUs are not new and have been a part of well-established policy and practice, the Trust Regulation spells out critically important policies and practices—such as the requirements of other Federal agencies (especially those known as “parent agencies”)—to ensure they enable, support, and facilitate the independent work of the RSAUs. The Trust Regulation’s policies and practices also clarify that when an agency external to a Federal statistical agency could be interpreted to have authority to determine when and how to disseminate the statistical products of a Federal statistical agency, the authorized agency should delegate those decisions to the Federal statistical agency. By doing this, the Trust Regulation helps assure the public that they can trust and rely on the intercity of official Federal statistics.

NCES’s parent agency is the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).  Several parts of the Trust Regulation call for changes in how IES as a parent agency is to support the professional autonomy of NCES and to avoid the perception of influencing official statistical work.  For example, the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) of 2002 grants the Director of IES authority to make decisions that could be seen as guiding NCES’s statistical work to support IES’s research agenda. To avoid that perception, the Trust Regulations clarifies that such decisions should be delegated to the Federal statistical agency.  As explained concretely in the Federal Register notice about the Trust Regulation:

Rules, policies, and practices that require review and approval from officials external to the RSAU for their statistical products, statistical press releases, website appearance and content, and other communications to external stakeholders such as the press and the Congress specifically addressing statistical products or statistical press releases can create perceived and actual risk of interference with the RSAU. 

Some parts of the Trust Regulation also call for changes in how NCES has operated since NCES was administratively added to IES in 2002 (see a list of key changes below). Yet, while the Trust Regulation clarifies that NCES properly has the responsibility, autonomy, and sole authority for its official statistics, none of the required changes mean that agencies like NCES need to be institutionally separated from their parent agency. Instead, any changes in practice are meant to ensure that a statistical agency like NCES, regardless of where it sits in an organization, can effectively (and without question) carry out its responsibilities by maintaining sufficient autonomy and independence when collecting, maintaining, analyzing, and sharing information – while also protecting the privacy of individuals and organizations.

Let me end this blog by recognizing the years of hard work that produced the vitally important Trust Regulation. This regulation was informed by staff across statistical agencies, other Federal agencies, and members of the public with diverse perspectives who took the time to review drafts and submit written comments to the proposed rule. The resulting regulation provides both invaluable guidance for Federal statistical agencies and their parent agencies and reassurance vital for public trust in official Federal statistics. The Trust Regulation provides for the independence and integrity of our Federal statistical system for years to come.

Examples of Trust Regulation Requirements that Impact NCES's Work

Trust Regulation Requirements for RSAUs
• Determine the content of its statistical products and the timing of disseminations without the parent agency’s review, direction, and approval.
• Include clear branding with the name of the statistical agency on all websites, statistical products, and statistical press releases.
• Establish policies and procedures, in consultation with the parent agency’s Chief Data Officer and Evaluation Officer, for assessing the quality of data that is used by the agency but does not originate from the RSAU.
Trust Regulation Requirements for RSAU parent agencies
• Produce a budget request specific to the RSAU that is fully compliant with the requirements of OMB Circular No. A-11 and is presented separately when part of the parent agency’s annual budget submission to the OMB.
• Allocate labor resources to ensure that one or more employees at the RSAU are knowledgeable of the parent agencies’ “support components” (e.g., shared services, like IT and HR), its policies and processes, and best practices for interacting with the support component.

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