Dive Brief:

• The Obama administration beefed up data collection at the federal level and helped states move forward with their own efforts, but President-elect Donald Trump and the people he appoints could scale back that work, Education Week reports.
• Experts are concerned weak enforcement at the federal level will undermine the Civil Rights Data Collection’s expanded reach to all public schools and, when it comes to the annual American Community Survey, U.S. Rep. John Michael Mulvaney comes to his position as Trump’s budget director with a history of support for privatizing the ACS or making it voluntary.
• While the concept of using data and evidence-based research to make education policy decisions was codified in the Every Student Succeeds Act, it will be up to individual states to maintain that commitment and, especially absent strong federal enforcement, there may be reason for concern.

Dive Insight:

The Every Student Succeeds Act hands a lot of power to the states when it comes to education decision-making at the K-12 level. This will limit the actions Trump’s secretary of education can take. But sometimes it is inaction that can do the damage.

Inaction in Trump’s Department of Education will very likely mean a lack of enforcement of students’ civil rights. The Obama administration was aggressive in applying gender-based civil rights protections to transgender students. His Office for Civil Rights also secured dozens of resolution agreements to improve services for English learners and outreach to their parents. Now districts and states may be left as their own watchdogs.