The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced its new Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Data Center, which is part of an effort to improve the quality of special education data collected as part of IDEA. The DOE awarded Westat Inc a $6.5 million dollar grant to establish the National Technical Assistance Center to Improve State Capacity to Accurately Collect and Report IDEA Data. This center will provide technical assistance to states by gathering more accurate reliable data, providing training to states to help school and district officials submit better data, and improving data infrastructure.