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Reauthorizing the SBIR Program is Important for Economic Competitiveness
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program expired at the end of September due to a disagreement between Senator Ernst (R-IA) and Senator Markey (D-MA), the chair and ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. They disagree about the status of “SBIR mills” within the…

Modernizing the Regional Educational Labs (RELs)
The Regional Educational Labs (RELs) were created as part of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Over the six decades since then, their mission and impact have been frequently questioned. Over the years, including in 2025, efforts have emerged to eliminate them stemming from a variety of challenges related…

The Institute of Education Sciences: 22 Years of Helping States, Districts, and Educators Make Informed Decisions
Recent staffing and budget cuts at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) threaten the nation’s capacity to generate and use high-quality education research—just when states, districts, and educators need it most to confront today’s urgent challenges. IES, the federal science agency within the U.S. Department of Education (ED), suffered the…

Accelerating AI-Enabled Transformation Through Research & Policy
In Spring 2025, FullScale (formerly The Learning Accelerator) identified a critical need in the sector: leaders need support navigating and making sense of AI. Leveraging learnings from two of our major projects, the Exponential Learning Initiative and the School Teams AI Collaborative, we surfaced a driving question: What would it…

Supporting Modern Education Research
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is at a critical juncture. After decades of operating under an outdated research model characterized by five-year grants, $5 million budgets, and limited results, IES must fundamentally transform its approach to education R&D. This article outlines the principles, structures, and practices that should define…

Education R&D Rooted in Community Need: A Conversation with Trenace Dorsey-Hollins
At Imagine Network, we are building capacity at the state and local levels to spur innovation and create learning opportunities needed now and into the future. Parents are a critical part of creating bold solutions in their community. So, what do they want the co-creation of new ideas to look…












