As a country, we need to understand who goes to school, where and what their experiences are. It’s hard to ensure that students have access to quality education without some basic information about our schools.
As noted by former Assistant Secretary of Education Chester Finn, collecting and reporting data is perhaps the federal government’s “oldest and most fundamental” role, dating back to President Andrew Johnson in the mid-19th century. President George W. Bush, when signing the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) of 2002 into law, emphasized the potential to “strengthen the scientific basis for the Department of Education’s continuing efforts to help families, schools, and State and local governments with the education of America’s children.”
For these reasons, ESRA states that “Not later than June 1, 2003, and each June 1 thereafter, the Statistics Commissioner, shall submit to the President and the appropriate congressional committees a statistical report on the condition and progress of education in the United States” (20 U.S.C. 9545(b)).
Read more at The Brookings Institution.
