In April 2025, the National Academy of Education (NAEd) and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), represented by the Legal Defense Fund, jointly filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education. The lawsuit challenges the Department’s decision to cripple the collection of critical educational data—a move that significantly undermines evidence-informed research efforts to identify educational inequality as well as best practices which advance educational opportunities for all students.
The lawsuit argues that this decision severely hampers researchers’ ability to conduct timely research critical to producing evidence-based insights that inform educational policies and practices. For instance, extensive research has demonstrated the disproportionate educational disparities experienced by Black, Latino, and Native American students; students with disabilities; English language learner/multilingual learners; and socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Eliminating the collection of educational data jeopardizes efforts to monitor progress, assess the efficacy of pedagogical interventions, and ensure equal learning opportunities for all students.
Process:
- In May 2025, the NAEd and NCME filed a preliminary injunction accompanied by 11 declarations of NAEd members.
- On May 16, 2025, there was a hearing.
- On June 3, 2025, the court denied our motion for a PI.
- On July 21, 2025, we filed an amended complaint. The government filed a motion to dismiss.
- On February 25, 2026, the federal court allowed the lawsuit to move forward, rejecting the U.S. Department of Education’s attempt to have the case dismissed. The ruling finds that NAEd and NCME have plausibly alleged concrete harms from the termination of key federal education research studies and data programs, including the loss of nationally representative data and long-standing trend studies. The Court concluded that the organizations and their members rely on these studies and data to fulfill their research missions, and that the alleged harms are both specific and legally cognizable. With the motion to dismiss denied, the discovery phase of the lawsuit begins. The Department must produce internal documents and data explaining these decisions, and our counsel will likely get to question key Department decision-makers. This phase will give NCME, NAEd, and the broader research community a clearer picture of how the cuts affect data access, research, and evidence-based educational policy. NAEd and NCME believe this development marks an important step toward restoring the federal research infrastructure that supports the advancement of high-quality measurement research and evidence-based educational policy.