Education researchers struggle to pick up the pieces after Trump cuts

The educational research community is looking to pick up the pieces after the Trump administration has canceled dozens of studies and ended hundreds of jobs.  

In line with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), hundreds of federal contracts have been canceled with education research groups, accused by the administration of either being useless or simply too “woke.” Longitudinal studies on early childhood education and artificial intelligence literacy are among those that have taken significant hits.

The industry has not given up on the prospect of future collaboration with the Trump White House but fears the long-term effects the cuts could have as teachers are already struggling with learning loss and sinking test scores.

“We've had a number of projects canceled, including some very long-standing research projects, namely the Regional Education Labs that WestEd has been part of for almost its entire history, so 59 years,” said Jannelle Kubinec, CEO of WestEd, adding studies relating to reading, chronic absenteeism and math and numeracy have also been terminated.  

“In some cases, those are just suspended, and we’re asking ourselves, what's next? I think the end of these came quite abruptly. So, we didn't have a transition plan in place,” Kubinec added. 

The Education Department’s Institute of Education Sciences, its research arm, faced $900 million in cuts under DOGE’s directive, decimating employment both in the agency and among other research groups whose workers relied on federal contracts. 

The Department of Education said the contracts failed to focus on student achievement and were rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) directives.

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, which has been conducted in 1998, 2011 and began in 2023 to follow kindergarteners through third grade, was abruptly put on hold amid the contract cancelations.  

“I think they were actually with the field staff to go out and begin collecting information on first graders” when the contract was canceled, said Rachel Dinkes, president and CEO of Knowledge Alliance. “We are probably past the point of being able to collect information on the first grade cohort, which is really the first national look at a generation of young children post-pandemic.” 

If things can get turned around, Dinkes said, they are “not too late to collect information on them in third grade.” 

An analysis from Grant Watch of which words were found the most in the terminated grants discovered projects with “Black” in the description or title were most frequently eliminated, The Hechinger Report reported. Other words commonly used in the canceled contracts were “climate,” “student,” “network,” “justice,” “identity,” “teacher” and “undergraduate.” 

“Across the board, we're really talking about a complete capacity downsize. It’s people, it's money, it's spaces, it's resources. So, it's definitely a lot all at once [...] Outside of contract cancelations and risk, a lot of the harm is yet to come,” said Jinann Bitar, higher education research and data analytics at EdTrust. 

Along with interruptions in longer studies, the turbulence in the field has led to hesitation in researchers wanting to start a career in this area, as there are few safe spaces for the studies left.

“This is going to be gut-stopping for current researchers, but it's actually going to be almost impossible to overcome for early-career researchers if they don't have anywhere stable to be in the meantime on their research,” said Bitar. 

Kubinec said there are "some opportunities through philanthropy" for funding that his and other organizations are pursuing, but that it's "not like funding education research is top of mind for most foundations."

And, as in several other areas of the federal government, the DOGE cuts are being challenged in court, though definitive relief, if it ever comes, is a long way off.

The most recent point of excitement among the community came with the Education Department’s hiring of Amber Northern, senior adviser to the education secretary with a focus on reforming the Institute of Education Sciences.   

"I think we'll have a lot more knowledge of the direction of the department after she assumes this role,” said Dinkes, noting many groups are looking forward to meeting her.  

“She is a very thoughtful researcher, and I'm excited for her to start there and see where this story continues to go,” she added.