The U.S. Department of Education (ED) provides a wide range of support for state education agencies, including funding and policy initiatives. For example, the federal No Child Left Behind Act holds states accountable because they receive federal funding for education. ED also collects and disseminates data on schools in the U.S. through the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Institute of Education Sciences. The U.S Department of Education website provides a wide range of resources including information about education related legislation, policy, programs, and grants.

Institute for Education Sciences

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) funds research studies that investigate ways to improve academic achievement. IES conducts large-scale evaluations of federal education programs and reports a wide array of statistics on the condition of education in the U.S. It also produces a nationwide report card called the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

National Center for Education Statistics

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education. The NCES website includes a wide range of Data Tools that contain demographic, fiscal and other longitudinal education data by state, school district, and school. The NCES also oversees the Common Core of Data (CCD), a program that collects annual fiscal and non-fiscal data about all public schools, public school districts, and state education agencies in the U.S. Annual CCD data files are available from 1986 to the present.

What Works Clearinghouse

The What Works Clearinghouse is a central source of scientific evidence for what works in education. An initiative of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, the WWC fulfills several purposes:

• Produces user-friendly practice guides for educators that address instructional challenges with research-based recommendations for schools and classrooms.
• Assesses the rigor of research evidence on the effectiveness of interventions (programs, products, practices, and policies), giving educators the tools to make informed decisions.
• Develops and implements standards for reviewing and synthesizing education research. 
• Provides a public and easily accessible registry of education evaluation researchers to assist schools, school districts, and program developers designing and carrying out rigorous evaluations.

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