Timeline for ERIC
Development
for other Web Information
see Interest in ERIC page
| Important dates | Missed Deadlines | Revised dates | Superceded dates | Ed refers to the Deparment of Education |
| March 18, 2005 |
Contractor proposal for any additional products or services due. Draft plan for working toward a common abstract structure and format due to Ed for approval. |
| February 18, 2005 | Draft report on outreach and dissemination strategies, including proposed costs, due. This report will be revised and is to be implemented by April 18, 2005. |
| January 31, 2005 | Last date for Contractor to make available approved materials published January -- December 2004. Note, by implications there is no requirement that any updates to the database be made between Jan. 1, 2004 and this date. In actual contract date changed from September 30, 2004 This deadline has been missed. No new date given, but the contractor has promised to post status updates in the "ERIC News" section of the ERIC site. |
| January 18, 2005 | Draft list of education conferences to be used as sources for conference papers due. List to be implemented, and posted on the web site as part of the online submission system by February 18th. |
| December 1, 2004 |
New contractor to begin adding new records weekly. In contract, date changed from July 1, 2004. This deadline apparently missed. New content was not made public on this date, but the people familiar with ERIC say some content is being added. |
| November 30, 2004 | Database of ERIC acquistion agreements and legal authorizations to be operational. No mention that this information will be public. (Had been due July 31.) |
| November 18, 2004 |
Draft screening criteria for conference papers due. Contractor will have one month to revise and implement. Updated customer service plan to be in place. |
| November 15, 2004 | Open electronic submission system to be operational. Draft due October 15th. This system is not yet available. |
| October, 2004 | The Charleston Advisor, http://www.charlestonco.com/ awards the new ERIC product a Reader's Choice Award entitled: Vaporware/Lemon Award. The award text states: "ERIC – for the new ERIC online service managed by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) for the fumbled efforts to revitalize this key database in education in areas such as substantial delays in indexing new articles and having fields that are not searchable in the public interface. " |
| October 18, 2004 |
Draft list of sources due. This will include journals to be indexed and sources of non-journal materials. List to be finalized by November 18th. See selection criteria at http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/resources/html/news/ERIC Selection Policy.pdf Updated and refined abstracting guidelines due, for use by contractor in writing abstracts. |
| October 1, 2004 | New contractor takes over responsibility for making 1993-2003 electronic documents available. This date has been changed twice, from July 30, 2004, and then September 1, 2004. |
| September 30,2004 | Last date for Contractor to make available approved materials published January -- August 2004. Note, by implications there is no requirement that any updates to the database be made between Jan. 1, 2004 and this date. In actual contract date changed to January 31, 2005 |
| September 30, 2004 | ERIC Document Reproduction Service closes and it's products (ERIC fiche and E*Subscribe) are no longer available. This date has been changed from June 30, 2004 |
| September 18, 2004 | New contractor should have completed a "brief written assessment of the ERIC Thesaurus." (SOW p. 14) |
| September 1, 2004 | New contractor takes over responsibility for making 1993-2003 electronic documents available. This date has been changed from July 30, 2004. Database debut still scheduled for this date, but full text now rescheduled for October 1. IT'S UP! |
| August 18, 2004 |
Draft guidelines for outreach and dissemination to increase knowledge and utilization of the ERIC database. Final guidelines to be published by October 18, 2004. Draft Report on material selection standards and criteria due. Contractor will have just one month to revise and implement. The report is now posted Metadata model and specifications due to Ed. which must approve. |
| August 1, 2004 | Contractor will make copies of the database available to vendors for redistribution. |
| July 31, 2004 | Database of ERIC acquistion agreements and legal authorizations to be operational. No mention that this information will be public. Date changed to November 30, 2004. |
| July 30, 2004 | New contractor takes over responsibility for making 1993-2003 electronic documents available. This date has been changed to September 1, 2004. |
| July 18, 2004 | Report on Public Forum, which was held earlier, due to Ed and Steering Committee. |
| July 1, 2004 |
Introduction of new online system. Date changed to September 1, 2004 New contractor to begin adding new records weekly. In contract, date changed to December 1, 2004 |
| June 30, 2004 | ERIC support contracts expire. (Except EDRS, see entry for Sept. 30, 2004) List of approved journals and information sources due. |
| May 18, 2004 |
Public forum within two months of contract award "for soliciting input about making the database highly useful to educators, researchers, and the general public" (SOW p.7). Per an email from Dr. Levinson, the Public forum has been postponed. No date set at this time. Transfer plan specifying which materials will be transferred due. |
| May 14, 2004 | Deadline for performance and usability test reports, and demonstration of the new online system to Ed. |
| April 29, 2004 |
Implementation of Communications plan. This should tell how and where the new contractor will interact with the education community, both users and suppliers. (SOW p.5) Suggested list of Content Experts due to Ed. List to be finalized by May 13th. This list not yet available, as of June 15, 2004 |
| April 15, 2004 |
New Contractor must submit updated project management plan. Draft Communications plan due, specifying how the contractor will coordinate with Ed., E*Subscribe customers, database vendors, database users, journal publishers, other sources of materials, steering committee members and content experts. This plan must be implemented two weeks later. |
| April 1, 2004 | List of suggested Steering Committee members due to Ed. to be finalized by April 15. No public input required. |
| March 31, 2004 | Education Week "News In Brief" column says: "Department Picks Firm To Manage, Overhaul ERIC." The item doesn't add to the information in the official news release, but does name each subcontractor: "Computer Sciences, of El Segundo, Calif., will share the $34.6 million, five-year contract with four subcontractors: Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, N.C.; NATECH, Coos Bay, Ore.; DB Consulting, Silver Spring, Md.; and CurrenTech Inc., Columbia, Md." |
| March18, 2004 | Department Awards $34.6 Million Contract to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) of Rockville, Md. (Current holder of the ERIC Facility contract.) |
| Mid-February 2004 | Anticipated Award date for new Contract. Some proposal writers have received further questions to be answered regarding their bid and answers to those questions need to be turned in to the Department of Education in late January. |
| December 19, 2003 | From
ERIC/IT: Changes Coming to ERIC December 19, 2003. Use one URL http://www.eric.ed.gov
to:
|
| December 2003 | ERIC clearinghouse contracts expire |
| Late November 2003 | Anticipated Award date for new Contract as indicated by Jeff Halstead, Contract Specialist at the Department of Ed. 11/3/03 |
| Mid-Late November 2003 | Notice to ERIC Database Contributors, Partners, and Vendors posted on ERIC homepage: Beginning in January and until the new ERIC model for acquiring education literature is developed later in 2004, no new materials will be received and accepted for the database. However, the ERIC database will continue to grow, as thousands of documents selected by the ERIC clearinghouses throughout 2003 will be added. |
| Mid-October, 2003 | Anticipated Award date for new Contract as indicated in Amendment 01, pg. 3 (this has been changed to late January or mid February) |
| August 18, 2003 | Amendment 01 to the Solicitation posted July 22, 2003 Postpones the due date for proposals to 8/18/03. Also lists some questions that have been asked about the solicitation, and provides answers. Two of the most interesting: -- What is the final decision date for selection of the new contractor? Response: The decision date is not set & will depend on the number of offers received, as well as the time needed to review all offers. -- Will the ED give preference to vendors with whom they have established relationships? Response: No.... |
| August 4, 2003 | Proposals for contractors for the "new" ERIC due to Jeff Halsted, Contract Specialist, E-mail: Jeff.C.Halsted@ed.gov, Telephone: (202) 708-8283, Fax: (202) 708-9817 |
| August 4, 2003 | Community College Week reports "ERIC's Community-College Clearinghouse To Disappear Jan. 1ERIC's Community-College Clearinghouse To Disappear Jan. 1." The article quotes Arthur M. Cohen, Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse for Community Colleges: "Unfortunately, although the Department of Education received thousands of letters from educational organizations, faculty, students and parents, its staff was determined to collapse the ERIC system. As a result, it appears that while the ERIC database will continue to exist, the 16 clearinghouses, along with the user services and publications they have provided for 38 years, will be terminated on December 31, 2003." |
| July 18, 2003 | Edupage publishes article "Group at Syracuse Trying to Save Research Tool" about efforts to continue the AskERIC service which is a summary of the earlier Chronicle article. |
| July 17, 2003 | Chronicle of Higher Education breaks story that "Syracuse U. Team Hopes to Keep Alive AskERIC, an Online Source for Education Data." You will need to be a subscriber to read the detailed story http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/07/2003071701t.htm |
| July 16, 2003 | eSchoolNews Online posts story: "Thousands object to ED's proposed ERIC changes" By Cara Branigan, Associate Editor. This is a lengthy article and includes that wonderful quote from Luna Levinson: "Some of the comments were indeed useful; they were technical and incorporated [into the RFP language]," that makes it clear that thousands of opinions in support of the clearinghouses were of no interest to ED. |
| July 14, 2003 | American Libraries reports "National Library of Education Undergoes Major Staffing Loss." Librarian Christina Dunn was not worried and sought to allay fears that the library was being dismantled. According to the article "Dunn said the staffing changes won’t affect the library’s services, which are used by Education Department employees and D.C.-area education associations." |
| July 3, 2003 | GovDoc-L Listserv carries a message that the National Library of Education is being reorganized or dismantled, with major staffing changes coming down without prior notice or discussion. |
| July 1, 2003 | National Education Knowledge Industry Association issues news release "U.S. Department of Education Fails to Respond to 3,000 Public Comments to Improve Current ERIC Clearinghouse System" |
| June 27, 2003 | The Department of Education published Solicitation 01, including a Request for Proposal and Statement of Work for the ERIC system |
| June 25, 2003 | Governing Council of the American Libary Association, meeting in Toronto, passes "Resolution Concerning the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)." As far as I can figure out from the ALA home page, these resolutions are not made public for nearly a year after passage. |
| June 24, 2003 | The Department of Education published a modification about
ERIC at http://www.fedbizopps.gov
Here is the substance of the notice: The ERIC 2003 RFP will be released by Friday June 27, 2003. The RFP number will be ED-03-R-0018. Please look on this website (fedbizopps.gov) for the official release of RFP ED-03-R-0018. Thank you for your interest in the ERIC program. |
| June 4, 2003 | The Department of Education published a modification about
ERIC at http://www.fedbizopps.gov
Here is the substance of the notice: The Department of Education (ED) seeks to contract with a vendor, or a team of vendors, to operate an online bibliographic and full-text ERIC database of education journal articles and non-journal materials that is highly efficient and easy to use for educators, researchers, and the general public. The following general tasks comprise the work required and are detailed in the RFP: - Steering Committee and content-related functions; - Acquire and link to database materials; - Process database materials; - Maintain, develop, and update the online system; - Contract transition. The full RFP will be released on the fedbizopps.gov website on or about June 20, 2003. The anticipated response date will be stated in the RFP. |
| May 28, 2003 | Education Week publishes story "Plans to Alter ERIC Set Off Alarms" by Debra Viadero. Gives a good overview of the reponse to the Statement of Work. |
| May 28, 2003 | Yahoo/AP news posts story "Plan to Alter Research Database Protested." |
| May 15, 2003 | Library Journal has published an article on p. 54 entitled "Another Casualty."(ProQuest subscription required) While primarily about the elimination of PubScience in response to demands from commercial publishers, it also speculates on what federal information service might be the next target. Although many in education have expressed fears that the ERIC restructuring are part of this same initiative, there is no mention of ERIC or the Department of Education in the article. |
| May 1, 2003 --Postponed -- Actually up on May 20, 2003 | ERIC homepage launches new ERIC Database Search Engine and Redesigned ERIC Site. |
| May 9, 2003 | Comments on the Draft Statement of Work due to Jeff Halsted, Contract Specialist, E-mail: Jeff.C.Halsted@ed.gov, Telephone: (202) 708-8283, Fax: (202) 708-9817 |
| May 9, 2003 | American Educational Research Association posts AERA Comments on ERIC Statement of Work |
| May 9, 2003 | American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education sent a letter but has not posted it publicly. |
| May 8, 2003 | National Education Association sends letter to Secretary Paige and some listservs. It is apparently not posted on their home page. |
| May 7, 2003 | American Library Association posts its comments on the Draft Statement of Work. |
| May 2003 | ESL MiniConference Online Newsletter publishes article: "ERIC Clearinghouses on Chopping Block?" |
| April 30, 2003 | Education Week publishes story: Ed. Dept. Floats Plan for Overhaul Of ERIC Clearinghouses by By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo. Editor Ben Wear accepts responsibility for and has issued a correction of the misleading title. |
| April 21, 2003 | Information Today publishes story: ERIC Continues but Without Clearinghouses by Barbara Quint. This is a good overview of the situation with links to official site and interviews with ERIC directors. |
| April 18, 2003 | Save ERIC.org (this site is now gone 8/03) comes online with information, a model letter, and now an alternative Statement of Work. |
| April 14, 2003 | The Resource Shelf by Gary Price publishes Spread the Word, A Large Chunk ERIC's Funding May Disappear |
| April 10, 2003 | Draft Statement of Work about the ERIC system plans available for public comment until May 9, 2003 |
| April 2003 | Phi Delta Kappan marks 20th anniversary of "A Nation at Risk" by pointing out the political nature of American educational reform initiatives. |
| April 2003 | What Works Clearinghouse full website with registries should be operational |
| March 26, 2003 | The Department of Education published a notice about ERIC
in http://www.fedbizopps.gov Here is the substance of the notice: General Information: The Department of Education intends to post a Draft Statement of Work (SOW) for public comment for the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) in 3-4 weeks. Parties who are interested in this effort should review the Draft SOW when it is posted. If you have questions after reviewing the Draft SOW, please contact Jeff Halsted. |
| March 24, 2003 | Association of Research Libraries (ARL) posts a letter to Grover Whitehurst about ERIC. Expresses their support of the distributed system and offers assistance in planning for future improvements. |
| March 13, 2003 | Statement of Assistant Secretary Grover J. Whitehurst Before the House Subcommittee on Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations on the FY 2004 Budget Request for the Institute of Education Sciences Includes no mention of ERIC and emphasizes that "We expect the [What Works] Clearinghouse to become the principal source of valid information on effective educational practice." See last two paragraphs in the Education Research and Dissemination section for more. |
| February 5, 2003 | A post to the AERA Division D listserv about the future of ERIC elicits a response from the Director of one of the Clearinghouses. |
| February 3, 2003 | Fiscal Year 2004 Education Budget Summary and Background Information (ERIC not listed in programs scheduled for elimination) |
| January 23, 2003 | press release, the ERIC Clearinghouse alliance has joined NEKIA (National Education Knowledge Industry Association). |
| January 21, 2003 | The full text of the ERIC Digests became available at the ERIC Processing and Reference Facility at http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/index/. The Digests previously resided at http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index/. The latter web page displays a notice forwarding users to the ERIC Facility's Digest site. Digests are still indexed in the Department of Education search function so they remain available to those who are already aware of their existence. |
| Winter 2003 | Editorial in the Journal of Curriculum and Supervision reviews The Education Sciences Reform Act and notes: "the bill's language absolutely threatens the long-term continuance of the ERIC centers that currently collect, organize, and disseminate research and development information to the general public and to professional educators." |
| November 21, 2002 | American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the American Library Association (ALA), in concert with 12 other national organizations, join in an effort to retain documents on the U.S. Department of Education’s Web site. |
| November 18, 2002 | Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy held a major policy forum with U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. At the forum they released the report entitled Bringing Evidence-Driven Progress to Education: A Recommended Strategy for the Department of Education, saying that passage of the No Child Left Behind Act offers an opportunity to bring rapid, evidence-driven progress – for the first time – to U.S. elementary and secondary education. |
| November 5, 2002 | Public Law No: 107-279, Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 becomes law |
| October 23, 2002 | Education Week covers the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 as it sails through both houses of Congress. |
| September 27, 2002 | Senate Committee Endorses S. 2969 (third item in The Education Report A weekly report of public policy issues in American Education from Washington Partners, LLC ) tells of differences in House and Senate version of bill that became Education Science Reform Act. The ERIC system was explicitly included, then it got dropped from the final version. |
| September 18, 2002 | Education Week report by Michelle Davis raises concerns that the Department of Education's overhaul of its Web site purportedly to make it easier to use and to remove outdated data is also meant to ensure that material on the site meshes with the Bush administration's political philosophy. |
| February 28, 2002 | Subcommittee on Education Reform held a hearing on "The Reauthorization of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement" |
Return to ERIC Reauthorization News Main
Page
or Statement of Work Response Page
January 31, 2005