Under the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA), IES is required to establish a peer review system, involving highly qualified individuals with an in-depth knowledge of the subject to be investigated, for reviewing and evaluating all applications for grants and cooperative agreements that exceed $100,000. In addition, ESRA states that all research, statistics, and evaluation reports conducted by, or supported through, the Institute shall be subject to rigorous peer review before being published or otherwise made available to the public. These scientific peer review activities are carried out by SRO.

In order to ensure that peer review is as objective as possible, peer review activities and staff are purposefully situated outside of the IES Centers that fund research grants and contracts, provide technical assistance to applicants, and work with grantees and contractors.