As head of INEP, Anísio created the Brazilian Centre for Educational Research (CBPE), in Rio de Janeiro, with the purpose of co-ordinating sociological, anthropological, statistical and historical studies on Brazilian society. Besides that, other Regional Centres for Educational Research were also created in Belo Horizonte, Recife, Salvador, São Paulo and Porto Alegre. The ones in São Paulo and Porto Alegre joined efforts with local universities, and the one in Salvador, with the state Secretary of Education.

These centres brought together well-known Brazilian and foreign intellectuals, who did research on all sorts of themes, such as the history of Brazilian society, urbanisation, industrialisation and its effects on schooling in the country, the training of teachers for elementary and secondary school. The CBPE managed to organise a specialised library in education with 120.000 titles and to edit a major periodical in the area, called "Educação e Ciências Sociais" (Education and Social Sciences).