SIIA’s Feedback Submission to Senate HELP’s Reauthorization of ESRA On Wednesday, December 6th, SIIA submitted feedback to Senate HELP regarding the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA), reauthorized as the Advancing Research in Education Act (AREA). The bill is scheduled for markup next week. In the comments, SIIA specifically recommended the following changes to the bill:
- Change AREA’s definition of “evidence-based” to the same definition as used in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
- We suggested the bill add another type of qualification of “appointed member” to the National Board for Education Sciences, believing that it is important for the board to have direct expertise in the field of education technology.
- For the priorities of the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, we asked for the bill to clarify that the federal government will not be developing educational tools or curricula for use in the classroom.
We will provide more information after the markup is complete.
