An internal Department of Education report recommends a sweeping review of the Institute of Education Sciences, including the National Center for Education Statistics, and suggests discontinuing or reshaping several long‑running federal data collections. The 95‑page memo argues many surveys labeled "statutorily required" are operational choices and calls for six big shifts in IES’s mission and operations. The proposed overhaul follows last year’s deep staff cuts at IES and NCES, which already curtailed key surveys and raised alarms among researchers and state education officials. The report says the only data collection explicitly required by statute by name is NAEP, the Nation’s Report Card, and recommends prioritizing state‑useful data while cutting or consolidating others. The changes would affect institutional reporting, longitudinal research, and accountability frameworks that colleges and K‑12 systems rely on. If implemented, the overhaul could shrink the federal data footprint used for funding decisions, program evaluation, and policymaking—forcing institutions and states to adapt their performance measurement strategies.