U-M works to preserve and disseminate education data as feds pull funding for its collection

As Americans continue to digest cuts to the U.S. Department of Education, researchers at the University of Michigan (U-M) are striving to maintain and widen access to education data critical to informing public policy. 

"I think the big thing is that there's just a whole lot of uncertainty around what type of research the federal government will support and enable through their data collection," says Kevin Stange, co-director of U-M’s Education Policy Initiative. "I'm a huge fan of the federal government and its role in collecting and disseminating data and statistics for policy and research, but there's been big cuts to the agencies that do that, more broadly, but particularly in education."

Stange explains that concerns related to cuts "change by the day." For instance, many of the U.S. Department of Education's contracts with data collection agencies have been cut, and then the staff that worked on them were all fired. This leaves local and state entities in a position of having to determine what policies work best.

"Now there are court cases that have decided that some of those cuts were illegal and some of those people need to be hired back," he says. "People's concerns are warranted. I think we don't really know what the environment will look like and what we'll actually lose access to, but we're certainly already seeing the signs of it."

Stange stresses that the concern surrounding education research and data is not "partisan or political." 

"We need to know how best to support students in Michigan, whether they be elementary students, kids on the transition from high school into the workforce or into college, or people returning to college," he says. "These are all questions that I think are not partisan. We just want to know what works best. And the research helps us identify those things."

Stange adds that understanding challenges and finding effective policy interventions is particularly timely, especially given the significant educational disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He points out that the Michigan Education Data Center (MEDC), part of U-M’s Education Policy Initiative, is a powerful clearinghouse for state-level data. MEDC provides data across educational levels, including student enrollment, attendance, and test scores, playing a critical role in facilitating education policy research.

For instance, half of Michigan's school districts have implemented transitional kindergarten. The state-funded early education program is designed to support children who need additional time to develop skills before entering traditional kindergarten. MEDC revealed significant benefits of this program, including expanded access to early childhood education, enhanced kindergarten readiness, and improved math performance through third grade. 

MEDC has also shed light on the Tuition Incentive Program, a state-run financial aid initiative providing tuition assistance to community college students who have previously received Medicaid. Research by Stange revealed only 14% of eligible high school graduates, and 29% of eligible community college students, are taking advantage of the program. The primary barrier is that many students are unaware of their eligibility. In response to these findings, there's increased focus on expanding outreach so students can access this educational support.

"A lot of new access to administrative data about education records that many states have made available is one of the biggest changes for education and education policy research over the last two decades," Stange says.