August 2014 In a July 9 letter to the chair and ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, AERA and 10 other research organizations urged senators to protect the autonomy, authority, and stature of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), as it takes up the Strengthening Education Through Research Act (SETRA). The bill, which reauthorizes the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), passed the House of Representatives in May. SETRA would weaken NCES by transferring several of the agency’s responsibilities and control over its own budget to IES, and making the position of NCES Commissioner no longer a presidential appointee.