Education and Research Institute (ERI)

In 1977, the ACU and the Education and Research Institute established the National Journalism Center, which became a division of Young America’s Foundation in 2002. ¹

Activities

The Education and Research Institute created the American History Book Project in 2018 to expose and combat the liberal bias contained in standard U.S. history textbooks. ERI claims that the four main textbooks used in most American schools provide a distorted version of U.S. history with a lack of accurate historical information. The American History Book Project aims to go through these textbooks page by page, providing comments and critiques from college professors of history regarding the textbooks’ treatment of historical events. ³

While its website was still active, the American History Book Project published chapter by chapter critiques of the American Pageant (12th Edition), a textbook often used to teach Advanced Placement U.S. History in American high schools. ⁴ The critiques were written by Burt Folsom, Ph.D., a retired history professor at Hillsdale College, who as of 2025 was a member of the board of scholars at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. ⁵

Financials

The Education and Research Institute does not disclose its donors. ERI often files the IRS E-Postcard, claiming less than $50,000 in revenue. In tax years 2015 and 2019, ERI filed the short-form nonprofit tax return on Form 990-EZ, claiming $17,050 and $57,913 in revenue, respectively. ⁶

Leadership

Stanton Evans founded the Education and Research Institute in 1972 while working as chair of the board of the American Conservative Union (ACU). Evans headed the first three Conservative Political Action Conferences (CPAC), which were established by the ACU in 1974. Evans established the National Journalism Center in 1977 while at the ACU; it became a division of Young America’s Foundation in the early 2000s. ¹

As of 2019, Daniel Oliver was the chair of the board of the Education and Research Institute and a senior director of the White House Writers Group. Oliver is a former chair of the Federal Trade Commission, the Pacific Research Institute, and the National Review magazine. Oliver formerly worked as general counsel at the Department of Education and general counsel of the Department of Agriculture during the Reagan administration. Oliver is a former senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. ⁷

Allan Ryskind was the president of ERI as of 2019, as well as a contributor to the Daily Signal and the former editor and owner of Human Events. ⁸ Ryskind sat on the board of the American Studies Center. ⁹

As of 2019, James Roberts was the secretary of the board of ERI, the executive chair of the American Studies Center, and the executive chair of the American Veterans Center. Roberts is a former director of the White House Fellowships Commission, a former executive director of the American Conservative Union, a former director of the Campaign for Prosperity PAC, and a former director of the Fund for an American Renaissance. Roberts co-organized the founding conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the first Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). ¹⁰

Board member Terrence Scanlon was a former president of Capital Research Center and a former chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission during the Reagan administration. ¹¹