This bill, known as the New Essential Education Discoveries Act of 2025, amends the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 to establish the National Center for Advanced Development in Education (NCADE) within the Institute for Education Sciences. The NCADE's mission is to identify, develop, and promote advances in teaching and learning, including breakthrough technologies, new pedagogical approaches, and innovative learning models. It also aims to address disparities in achievement and opportunity for students through transformative, community-informed solutions across all educational levels, from early childhood to adult education and services for English learners and students with disabilities.

The Advanced Development Center will be headed by a Commissioner and tasked with collecting, analyzing, and disseminating data related to transforming education. Its duties include setting priorities for research and development, supporting the use of scientific discoveries, and evaluating and disseminating findings to education professionals and parents. The Center is authorized to award grants, cash prizes, and enter into contracts to foster collaborations between public and private entities, including teachers, principals, and educational leaders, to advance its mission.

To guide its efforts, the NCADE will establish an advisory panel composed of diverse experts, including parents, educators, technology specialists, and researchers. This panel will report on the state of education research, identify advances, and highlight factors impacting student learning outcomes, with a focus on addressing disparities. The bill authorizes $500,000,000 for the NCADE for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030, with a portion reserved for administrative expenses.

Additionally, the bill reauthorizes and expands a competitive grant program for Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS). This program enables eligible agencies to design, develop, implement, and improve comprehensive data systems that integrate individual-level data from early childhood education through postsecondary study and labor market outcomes. Applicants must detail how their systems will ensure data integration, technical quality, public accessibility of insights, and robust privacy and security protections, including data governance structures and compliance with federal and state privacy laws.

The Secretary will award these grants based on a peer review process that prioritizes technical quality, data linkages, and privacy protection, giving preference to agencies that have completed planning grants or propose innovative data tools. Funds must be used to enhance data infrastructure, integrate diverse data sources, and provide professional development for data users. The bill mandates reports on the effectiveness of these systems and requires the Secretary to issue guidance on privacy, public access to data insights, and data linkages across various sectors, with $500,000,000 authorized for the SLDS grant program for fiscal year 2026 and no less for subsequent years.