Recently, DOGE has bragged about terminating 89 contracts worth a collective $881 million at the Institute for Education Sciences at the US Department of Education.
You are leaving out the disaster that has occurred with the Education Department leadership. They may have important research but it doesn’t change the school district’s pushing gay and transsexual crap rather than educating children.
I am happy to see such a wasteful organization taken off of our bloated Obama lead ideological agenda.
Let’s get serious about educating the entire student population rather than spreading progressive propaganda.
This is an excellent article which indeed provides evidence that the DOGE actions were rushed and unsophisticated. As a European and an outsider I can only agree that this is disheartening.
They don't care about efficiency or saving money. If they did, the reality is that they would actually expand the federal workforce and do this work in house rather than handing out contracts to private business. Nationally, the conversation around this was coopted by the neoliberals 50 years ago and they decided to push this idea that the government needs to shrink and private industry needs to pick up the slack, but that frequently does end up being a government handout--to people like Elon Musk. The work you've outlined here could potentially be done more efficiently, if it were undertaken by the federal government itself without private company bloat. In that case though, you still wouldn't randomly cancel everything you've already paid for, and you wouldn't discard data. The reality is that cruelty and chaos is their goal--their stated goal. Russell Vought has literally stated that he wishes to traumatize federal workers. They do not care who they hurt or what they lose with these moves because they don't want to educate children in the first place unless they can charge them for it.
Perhaps we waited too long to fund education, and now we've reaped the Trump voter ascendant.
Democracy dies in the classroom. The internet was OK, but social media are not.
I wonder how many algorithm planners used the data from these studies to tune the addictive potential of social media. TikTok just used Chinese studies, much more advanced...
Appreciate the insight on what is happening and what is being impacted by DOGE.
“None of the above is wasteful” – I would argue that what you are describing is wasteful, as the taxpayer has no idea what impact or effect this research has had on education. What is the point of doing great research if it may never be applied? Or if the recommendations from the research are refuted or blocked by the education bureaucracy?
If it was found that the research was well applied and actually made an impact, why can’t the teacher unions and their $5Billion in cash reserves (according to Philip K Howard) pay for the research? Americans are already flooding the education system with money, don’t see why we need to pay more.
Analogy about the NBA is the complete opposite of what is happening. As a fan or as a NBA owner, we see exactly the impact on society that LeBron, Steph, and Wemby have, there is complete transparency and accountability. None of that is happening here with our investment in research. (though this article is a good beginning)
As tax paying shareholders of the government, it is incumbent that government reports back to the shareholders of the impacts that our investment is having on society. If the government can’t do that, then investor shareholders should consider that waste. Or the researchers should get their funding from other sources besides taxpayers.
The reality is that the government could support better educational policy in the US, but the GOP is ideologically opposed to doing so. Then when their half-measures and obstructionism fail, they claim government doesn't work. Well, yeah, it doesn't work when you deliberately work to make sure it does not.
What can the federal government do with education that state governments cannot do? State governments can provide for the education of kids with disabilities or more evenly distribute funds to poor schools. If Democratic (or Republican) dominated states could support better educational policy, then why don't they? Is California intentionally sabotaging education so the federal government can swoop in and save the day?
Fantastic information and context, but what makes you believe that this contention is true: "They have unwittingly canceled some of the best education research out there, along with major national surveys and tests that are crucial to tracking America’s educational performance."
The actions seem not unwittingly in the slightest, but entirely deliberate. The fact that they're reckless doesn't mean its unwitting.
thank you for compiling this -- this is unbelievably important work stuart, and of course, excessively disheartening.
You are leaving out the disaster that has occurred with the Education Department leadership. They may have important research but it doesn’t change the school district’s pushing gay and transsexual crap rather than educating children.
I am happy to see such a wasteful organization taken off of our bloated Obama lead ideological agenda.
Let’s get serious about educating the entire student population rather than spreading progressive propaganda.
This is an excellent article which indeed provides evidence that the DOGE actions were rushed and unsophisticated. As a European and an outsider I can only agree that this is disheartening.
They don't care about efficiency or saving money. If they did, the reality is that they would actually expand the federal workforce and do this work in house rather than handing out contracts to private business. Nationally, the conversation around this was coopted by the neoliberals 50 years ago and they decided to push this idea that the government needs to shrink and private industry needs to pick up the slack, but that frequently does end up being a government handout--to people like Elon Musk. The work you've outlined here could potentially be done more efficiently, if it were undertaken by the federal government itself without private company bloat. In that case though, you still wouldn't randomly cancel everything you've already paid for, and you wouldn't discard data. The reality is that cruelty and chaos is their goal--their stated goal. Russell Vought has literally stated that he wishes to traumatize federal workers. They do not care who they hurt or what they lose with these moves because they don't want to educate children in the first place unless they can charge them for it.
'As someone whose actual PhD is in education policy...'
Thanks for the heads up!
Perhaps we waited too long to fund education, and now we've reaped the Trump voter ascendant.
Democracy dies in the classroom. The internet was OK, but social media are not.
I wonder how many algorithm planners used the data from these studies to tune the addictive potential of social media. TikTok just used Chinese studies, much more advanced...
Appreciate the insight on what is happening and what is being impacted by DOGE.
“None of the above is wasteful” – I would argue that what you are describing is wasteful, as the taxpayer has no idea what impact or effect this research has had on education. What is the point of doing great research if it may never be applied? Or if the recommendations from the research are refuted or blocked by the education bureaucracy?
If it was found that the research was well applied and actually made an impact, why can’t the teacher unions and their $5Billion in cash reserves (according to Philip K Howard) pay for the research? Americans are already flooding the education system with money, don’t see why we need to pay more.
Analogy about the NBA is the complete opposite of what is happening. As a fan or as a NBA owner, we see exactly the impact on society that LeBron, Steph, and Wemby have, there is complete transparency and accountability. None of that is happening here with our investment in research. (though this article is a good beginning)
As tax paying shareholders of the government, it is incumbent that government reports back to the shareholders of the impacts that our investment is having on society. If the government can’t do that, then investor shareholders should consider that waste. Or the researchers should get their funding from other sources besides taxpayers.
The reality is that the government could support better educational policy in the US, but the GOP is ideologically opposed to doing so. Then when their half-measures and obstructionism fail, they claim government doesn't work. Well, yeah, it doesn't work when you deliberately work to make sure it does not.
What can the federal government do with education that state governments cannot do? State governments can provide for the education of kids with disabilities or more evenly distribute funds to poor schools. If Democratic (or Republican) dominated states could support better educational policy, then why don't they? Is California intentionally sabotaging education so the federal government can swoop in and save the day?
Read my first comment again.
Your second comment makes as much sense as your first comment.
Always interesting how bad MAGAts are at reading comprehension.
Fantastic information and context, but what makes you believe that this contention is true: "They have unwittingly canceled some of the best education research out there, along with major national surveys and tests that are crucial to tracking America’s educational performance."
The actions seem not unwittingly in the slightest, but entirely deliberate. The fact that they're reckless doesn't mean its unwitting.