Education Department stops collecting some LGBTQ+ student data

K-12 Dive (July 31)

"The U.S. Department of Education is abandoning the collection of key civil rights data on the nation’s LGBTQ+ students, cutting out data and definitions related to the harassment, bullying and assaults of a student group that has been found to be more at-risk of such incidents. 

"The changes will be made to the Civil Rights Data Collection, a mandated survey of all public school districts that has been administered for almost six decades, for at least the 2025-26 school year. Changes to future years’ data collections are still forthcoming. 

"Changes to the 2025-26 survey questions — approved by the Office of Management and Budget in July — include eliminating schools’ reporting of how many students identify as nonbinary, how often they are victims of harassment and bullying, and whether school districts have policies prohibiting those incidents."

Read the complete article

2026 MidSouth Education Policy Workshop

"The second MidSouth Education Policy Workshop will bring together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to present and discuss empirical research on education policy and the economics of education. This workshop is jointly organized by faculty at Miami University (OH), University of Kentucky, University of Tennessee, and Vanderbilt University. 

"This workshop will be held in-person at the University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY) beginning the morning of Thursday, October 8th, and concluding in the afternoon on Friday, October 9th.  To facilitate engagement, the workshop will be held entirely in person, without an option for virtual participation.

"We are accepting submissions (abstracts) for two types of presentations:

• Working papers to be presented in full-length sessions (e.g., 15-20 minutes for presentation and discussion) 
• Works-in-progress to be presented in shorter flash talks (e.g., 10-15 minutes for presentation and discussion)

"Please submit a full paper draft or abstract (up to 500 words) for consideration by 9am (Eastern) on Friday, August 21, 2026. We regret that we are unable to provide financial support for conference-related travel."

Read more information and the complete call for papers online.

From the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA)

"As COSSA has been reporting, the Trump Administration has proposed eliminating the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) Directorate in FY 2027. Advocates have been working tirelessly over the last several months to demonstrate to Congress the importance of SBE and the critical contributions made by social and behavioral science research. In fact, nearly 3,000 letters have been sent to Congress in response to COSSA’s Action Alert issued earlier this spring, urging lawmakers to save SBE.
 
"Our work is not done. Too many Members of Congress remain unaware of this issue and need to be contacted immediately. Therefore, even if you have already sent a letter to your representatives in Congress, we ask that you promptly follow up with the new message."

Read more and take action at the COSSA Action Center

Inside Trump’s Stealth Trick to Rig the Census—and Congress

Catherine Rampell, The Bulwark, July 24, 2026 (requires subscription)

"A VAGUELY OMINOUS BUT LITTLE-NOTICED regulatory filing issued in late June could have a profound impact on business, immigrants, and the balance of power in our country.

"The filing was a notification that the Trump administration had drafted new rules governing the decennial census. The actual specifics of those new rules remain scant. But from conversations I’ve been having with people close to the process, it is widely expected that the administration will try to recategorize millions of immigrants (both unauthorized and legal) as not actually living here in the United States."

Counting on Administrative Records: What we know (and don’t) ahead of the 2030 Census

Diana Elliott, Population Reference Bureau, July 28, 2026

"With each decade, conducting the U.S. census becomes a more onerous task. One particularly enduring—and costly—challenge is accurately counting people who are very hard to count, including those who are transient, have complex living arrangements, and distrust the government.

"The U.S. Census Bureau routinely introduces innovations meant to address this challenge. For the first time ever, the 2020 Census allowed households to respond online. While this option helped with data collection and processing, it did little to change the universe of respondents; as it turns out, the people most likely to respond online are also more likely to respond no matter what.

"Administrative records—existing forms like tax records and beneficiary information used to fill in data gaps when households didn’t respond—proved more effective in 2020. While not perfect, this practice has improved the quality of data for the hardest-to-count populations, and it’s expected to see even more widespread use in 2030.

"With Census Day fast approaching, let’s break down what we know about how administrative records were used in 2020, what 2030 could look like, and why transparency around their planned usage is so important."

"The American Statistical Association today released 2026 Midyear Update: Resources and Leadership Supporting Federal Statistics, the first in a new series of topical updates supplementing its ongoing assessment of the health of federal statistics. The update focuses on staffing, budgets and leadership-the core resources agencies need to fulfill their missions-and finds that agencies continue to operate with substantially fewer staff, reduced purchasing power and significant leadership gaps.

"Federal statistics-produced by agencies including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, and the National Center for Health Statistics-inform decisions by congress, businesses, researchers and households on matters ranging from inflation and employment to public health and education.

"The statistical agencies have shown remarkable resilience over the past 18 months, continuing to produce the data the nation relies on," said ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein. "At the same time, the cumulative loss of staff and leadership raises serious questions about the agencies' long-term capacity to meet their missions."

"The update documents the following trends:

• Staffing losses: All 13 federal statistical agencies have experienced staffing reductions since January 2025. Six agencies have lost at least one-third of their workforce and two have lost more than two-thirds. While hiring has resumed at many agencies, it's only for a handful of positions at most and, for the others, recruitment has barely begun to offset earlier losses.
• Widespread leadership vacancies: As of July 28, 2026, only 6 of the 13 agencies are headed by permanent, non-acting leaders.
• Eroding purchasing power: Most agencies received FY26 appropriations close to FY25 levels, but after accounting for inflation, purchasing power continued to decline. Eight agencies have lost at least 18% of their purchasing power since FY09.
• Proposed further cuts: The administration's FY27 budget request again proposes substantial reductions for most statistical agencies, with funding for 2030 Census preparations as the principal exception.
• Significant agency transitions: The National Agricultural Statistics Service lost nearly 40% of its staff since 2024 and is expected to lose more with a relocation for many positions from Washington, DC, to St. Louis, Missouri. The former Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics at the Social Security Administration has lost nearly 70% of its staff amid a restructuring that leaves its future role as a statistical agency uncertain.

"In addition to concluding that agencies are in a weakened and vulnerable position, the authors note that the pace of change has slowed in 2026 compared to the disruptions of 2025. Several agencies have resumed hiring, and, with the exception of the National Center for Education Statistics, most continue to regularly release their products. Some agencies have also introduced new statistical tools and products despite resource constraints.

"At the same time, the report finds that recent policy changes-including changes to civil service protections and new restrictions on privacy-protection methods used by the Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis-are likely to have lasting implications for the agencies' operating environments."

From the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA)

White House Issues ‘Golden Age of Science’ Report and 2028 Research Priorities (July 28, 2026)

"Earlier this month, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) release a report, Science: A New Golden Age. The report calls for a shift in the way research is funded in the U.S. and centers on Trump Administration priorities in emerging areas like AI. OSTP Director Michael Kratsios discussed the report before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee last week (see related article)."

House and Senate Committees Hold Hearings on the State of American Science (July 28, 2026)

"Both the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (CST) and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (SST) held hearings recently regarding the American scientific research enterprise."

From the American Sociological Association, July 27, 2026

"Dear Colleagues,
 
"We are writing with important information about the ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG), which has been funded by the National Science Foundation for the past six years.

"After learning that we will not be receiving our next funding increment from NSF, we are suspending the ASA DDRIG program and will not be opening the 2027 application cycle. This does not affect any student who currently holds an ASA DDRIG.

"Over six application cycles, the ASA DDRIG program awarded 153 grants to students at 62 institutions. We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to all the reviewers who have made the program possible and to all the students, both applicants and grantees, whose work has inspired us. We are actively seeking other funding opportunities and will be back in touch with the sociology community if funding becomes available in the future.

"In the meantime, we encourage you to write to your representatives in Congress to let them know how the cancellation and suspension of research funding impacts you, your students, and your colleagues. Please visit ASA Action Center to view our current action alerts on this matter. Feel free to customize your message if you received an ASA DDRIG or NSF DDRI and share how the program helped shape your trajectory.

"Thank you for your understanding and continued support of ASA's efforts to promote the work of sociologists and the discipline of sociology. ASA DDRIG Program Team"

(See the recent DCSS news item on 2026 DDRIG awards to DMV scholars.)

US civil rights agency moves to end demographic data collection after 60 years

Associated Press, July 21

"How many women hold executive-level positions at top U.S. companies? What is the racial and ethnic breakdown of those roles? What is the gender and racial breakdown of the lowest-paid roles at those companies?

"The Trump administration is making it harder for the public to know, moving to toss aside a 60-year-old requirement for tens of thousands of private sector employers to submit workforce demographic reports each year to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws in the workplace.

"The EEOC’s Republican majority voted 2-1 Tuesday to rescind the data collection requirement, submitting the proposal to a 30-day public commentary period before final approval. The proposal is a quiet but profound salvo in President Donald Trump’s shake up of civil rights enforcement, ending a practice that has endured through 10 Republican and Democratic administrations."

Comment on the proposal

The Federal Register notice announcing and inviting comments on the proposed change is online here. Comments are due by August 24, 2026.

SUMMARY: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC" or  "Commission") is issuing a proposed rule to rescind and remove the requirements for the filing of the EEO-1, EEO-2, EEO-3, EEO-4, EEO-5, and EEO-6 reports, and the recordkeeping and record preservation requirements related to these reports, under 29 CFR part 1602 because it has preliminarily determined that the reports are inconsistent with equal employment opportunity law and potentially unconstitutional. It further finds the data collected is not narrowly tailored, is unnecessary to enforce anti-discrimination laws, and at a minimum, that any marginal benefits are outweighed by the substantial burdens imposed on both employers, who must submit these reports annually regardless of any specific allegation or indication of a potential violation of the statutes the EEOC enforces, as well as the Commission. As part of this proposed rule, the Commission also reminds stakeholders that, in a notice of proposed rulemaking issued on November 21, 2024, the Commission proposed incorporating into part 1602 references to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. In the interest of efficiency, the Commission currently intends to include these previously proposed part 1602 revisions in the final rule issued at the conclusion of this rulemaking.

SNAP Tracker: People Are Losing Food Assistance as the Harmful 2025 Republican Reconciliation Law Is Implemented

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, July 21

"The harmful Republican reconciliation law enacted July 4, 2025, poses great harm to families, including higher food costs, poverty, and hunger. It makes deep cuts to federal funding for food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), shifting significant new costs to states. It dramatically expands SNAP’s already harsh and ineffective provision taking away people’s benefits for not meeting a work requirement. And it ended eligibility for many people with a lawful immigration status. 

"We estimate that SNAP participation nationwide fell by more than 4.5 million people (11 percent) between the law’s July 2025 enactment and April 2026, based on the latest month of data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and data from the Georgia Department of Human Services provided in an open records request. This estimate uses state data for Georgia due to anomalies in USDA data."

Read the complete report on the Center's website