A. Northern discussed her "reimagining" of IES
What did she have to say in an interview with Rick Hess?
On 14 May 2026, Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute interviewed Amber W. Northern about her report regarding the US Institute of Education Sciences. Ms. Northern, who has a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia where she studied educational policy and research, conducted a review of IES at the behest of US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. In February, Ms. Northern and Adam Opp issued a report entitled “Reimagining the Institute of Education Sciences: A Strategy for Relevance and Renewal.”
I watched the interview live and was preparing a post about it, but AEI published a Web page describing it and linking to a YouTube recording of it. That page is much better than what I was going to write, so readers who are interested should visit “What Now for Federal Education Research” and watch the video (maybe fast forward through the countdown at the beginning of the video?). Ms. Northern is appropriately circumspect about the implications of her comments. What she said should not, of course, be construed as policy. But, it is pretty interesting to learn her views of the issues and ideas.
Following cuts to staff and contracts at IES—the agency responsible for federal education research and data collection—Secretary of Education Linda McMahon tapped Dr. Northern to serve as a senior adviser and lead a process to rethink IES. The resulting report by Dr. Northern, Reimagining the Institute of Education Sciences, lays out a detailed plan to address the problems facing federal education research.
There is precious little expressly about special education in the conversation between Mr. Hess and Ms. Nothern, but their discussion provides informative background about research funding in the US, in general. Alert readers will remember that Special Education Today published “Remodeling US special education research” at about the time (5 March 2026) Ms. Northern’s report was released. There is discussion about the report and special education research in that article.