View all text of Part A [§ 9511 - § 9520]
§ 9516. National Board for Education Sciences
(a) Establishment
(b) DutiesThe duties of the Board shall be the following:
(1) To advise and consult with the Director on the policies of the Institute.
(2) To consider and approve priorities proposed by the Director under section 9515 of this title to guide the work of the Institute.
(3) To review and approve procedures for technical and scientific peer review of the activities of the Institute.
(4) To advise the Director on the establishment of activities to be supported by the Institute, including the general areas of research to be carried out by the National Center for Education Research.
(5) To present to the Director such recommendations as it may find appropriate for—
(A) the strengthening of education research; and
(B) the funding of the Institute.
(6) To advise the Director on the funding of applications for grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements for research, after the completion of peer review.
(7) To review and regularly evaluate the work of the Institute, to ensure that scientifically valid research, development, evaluation, and statistical analysis are consistent with the standards for such activities under this subchapter.
(8) To advise the Director on ensuring that activities conducted or supported by the Institute are objective, secular, neutral, and nonideological and are free of partisan political influence and racial, cultural, gender, or regional bias.
(9) To solicit advice and information from those in the educational field, particularly practitioners and researchers, to recommend to the Director topics that require long-term, sustained, systematic, programmatic, and integrated research efforts, including knowledge utilization and wide dissemination of research, consistent with the priorities and mission of the Institute.
(10) To advise the Director on opportunities for the participation in, and the advancement of, women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in education research, statistics, and evaluation activities of the Institute.
(11) To recommend to the Director ways to enhance strategic partnerships and collaborative efforts among other Federal and State research agencies.
(12) To recommend to the Director individuals to serve as Commissioners of the National Education Centers.
(c) Composition
(1) Voting members
(2) Advice
(3) Nonvoting ex officio membersThe Board shall have the following nonvoting ex officio members:
(A) The Director of the Institute of Education Sciences.
(B) Each of the Commissioners of the National Education Centers.
(C) The Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
(D) The Director of the Census.
(E) The Commissioner of Labor Statistics.
(F) The Director of the National Science Foundation.
(4) Appointed membership
(A) QualificationsMembers appointed under paragraph (1) shall be highly qualified to appraise education research, statistics, evaluations, or development, and shall include the following individuals:
(i) Not fewer than 8 researchers in the field of statistics, evaluation, social sciences, or physical and biological sciences, which may include those researchers recommended by the National Academy of Sciences.
(ii) Individuals who are knowledgeable about the educational needs of the United States, who may include school-based professional educators, parents (including parents with experience in promoting parental involvement in education), Chief State School Officers, State postsecondary education executives, presidents of institutions of higher education, local educational agency superintendents, early childhood experts, special education experts, principals, members of State or local boards of education or Bureau-funded school boards, and individuals from business and industry with experience in promoting private sector involvement in education.
(B) TermsEach member appointed under paragraph (1) shall serve for a term of 4 years, except that—
(i) the terms of the initial members appointed under such paragraph shall (as determined by a random selection process at the time of appointment) be for staggered terms of—(I) 4 years for each of 5 members;(II) 3 years for each of 5 members; and(III) 2 years for each of 5 members; and
(ii) no member appointed under such paragraph shall serve for more than 2 consecutive terms.
(C) Unexpired terms
(D) Conflict of interest
(5) Chair
(6) Compensation
(7) Travel expenses
(8) Powers of the Board
(A) Executive Director
(B) Additional staff
(C) Detail of personnel
(D) Contracts
(E) Information
(9) Meetings
(10) Quorum
(d) Standing committees
(1) EstablishmentThe Board may establish standing committees—
(A) that will each serve 1 of the National Education Centers; and
(B) to advise, consult with, and make recommendations to the Director and the Commissioner of the appropriate National Education Center.
(2) MembershipA majority of the members of each standing committee shall be voting members of the Board whose expertise is needed for the functioning of the committee. In addition, the membership of each standing committee may include, as appropriate—
(A) experts and scientists in research, statistics, evaluation, or development who are recognized in their discipline as highly qualified to represent such discipline and who are not members of the Board, but who may have been recommended by the Commissioner of the appropriate National Education Center and approved by the Board;
(B) ex officio members of the Board; and
(C) policymakers and expert practitioners with knowledge of, and experience using, the results of research, evaluation, and statistics who are not members of the Board, but who may have been recommended by the Commissioner of the appropriate National Education Center and approved by the Board.
(3) DutiesEach standing committee shall—
(A) review and comment, at the discretion of the Board or the standing committee, on any grant, contract, or cooperative agreement entered into (or proposed to be entered into) by the applicable National Education Center;
(B) prepare for, and submit to, the Board an annual evaluation of the operations of the applicable National Education Center;
(C) review and comment on the relevant plan for activities to be undertaken by the applicable National Education Center for each fiscal year; and
(D) report periodically to the Board regarding the activities of the committee and the applicable National Education Center.
(e) Annual report
(f) Recommendations
(Pub. L. 107–279, title I, § 116, Nov. 5, 2002, 116 Stat. 1948; Pub. L. 108–446, title II, §§ 201(b)(2)(D), 202, Dec. 3, 2004, 118 Stat. 2802; Pub. L. 110–154, § 1(d), Dec. 21, 2007, 121 Stat. 1828; Pub. L. 112–166, § 2(cc), Aug. 10, 2012, 126 Stat. 1290; Pub. L. 117–286, § 4(c)(28), Dec. 27, 2022, 136 Stat. 4357.)