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The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the independent, non-partisan statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. IES' stated mission is to provide scientific evidence on which to ground education practice and policy and to share this information in formats that are useful and accessible to educators, parents, policymakers, researchers, and the public. It was created as part of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002.

The first director of IES was Dr. Grover J. "Russ" Whitehurst, who was appointed in November 2002 and served for six years. Dr. Thomas W. Brock is currently delegated the duties of IES director.

IES is divided into four major research and statistics centers:

The National Board for Education Sciences serves as an advisory board for IES and has 15 voting members, who are appointed by the President of the United States. The Board also includes several ex-officio, non-voting members, including the director of IES, the commissioners of the four centers, and representatives of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the National Science Foundation. The Board advises and consults with the director and the commissioners to identify research and organizational priorities for IES. Dr. Larry Hedges, of Northwestern University, is currently the chairman of the National Board for Education Sciences.

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