Two of the federal government鈥檚 top education research officials are planning to leave their posts to take jobs at private Washington organizations where they will focus on school policy.
Grover J. 鈥淩uss鈥� Whitehurst, the director of the Institute of Education Sciences, the main research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, has agreed to take a position at the Brookings Institution, beginning next year.
And Mark S. Schneider, who served as commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, a research and data-crunching agency that is part of the IES, has said he is moving on to the American Institutes for Research, a job he will begin within weeks.
The end of any presidential term traditionally is marked by a wave of departures of high-ranking government officials for jobs in the private sector, and so in that sense, the two researchers鈥� exits were to be expected.
Both Mr. Whitehurst and Mr. Schneider came to the federal government as widely published scholars from the same institution, the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Both have pressed for strong methodological approaches to data, observers have said, and have a reputation for keeping their agencies鈥� work free of ideological bias.
Mr. Whitehurst, whose term expires next month, will become the director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings, a Washington think tank. He will take over that post from Tom Loveless, who said in an interview that he had planned for some time to relinquish his role as director and continue at Brookings as a senior fellow.
Public Access
Mr. Whitehurst declined to comment in detail on the transition to Brookings. He did say he was proud of his agency鈥檚 work.
鈥淚 want to focus on my present job,鈥� said Mr. Whitehurst, adding, 鈥淭here鈥檚 been a tremendous amount of attention paid to education research over the last seven or eight years, and the IES has played a significant role in that.鈥�
At the IES, Mr. Whitehurst spearheaded the Bush administration鈥檚 drive to transform education into an evidence-based field, not unlike medicine鈥攁n effort that both spurred debate and raised the profile of education research nationally. Illustrative of that undertaking was the What Works Clearinghouse, an online resource established by the IES to vet the research track records of programs, policies, and practices used in schools.
Under Mr. Whitehurst鈥檚 tenure, the agency also dramatically increased the number of randomized controlled studies financed by the department, strengthened its peer-review process, and created fellowships to nurture top research talent.
Whitehurst was originally nominated by President Bush in 2001 to direct the Department of Education鈥檚 office of educational research and improvement. When Congress eliminated that office as part of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Mr. Whitehurst was named director of the IES.
Lawmakers created the institute with the idea that it would foster 鈥渟cientifically based鈥� research on school improvement, free of political interference.
鈥淩uss provided strong and enlightened leadership during a period of transformation in the federal education R&D enterprise,鈥� said James W. Kohlmoos, the president of the Knowledge Alliance, a Washington-based group that represents both government-funded and independent research groups. 鈥淗e was able to inject a new level of rigor and quality into educational research.鈥�
Mr. Loveless concurred. 鈥淗e鈥檚 put IES and education policy research on the right path,鈥� he said of Mr. Whitehurst, calling him 鈥渁 critical reader of research in the best sense of the term.鈥�
Mr. Schneider was nominated by President Bush to fill the NCES post in 2005, and his term was to expire next June. As NCES commissioner, Mr. Schneider sought to make federal education research more digestible and useful to the public, in both published reports and through his agency鈥檚 .
During Mr. Schneider鈥檚 tenure, for example, the NCES launched the online site, which allows visitors to search for postsecondary schools by cost and location; and Quick Stats, designed to enable visitors to easily search for and parse education data. He also oversaw the release of several major reports, including a federal study of states鈥� widely divergent standards for judging students鈥� academic proficiency. (State Tests, NAEP Often a Mismatch, June 13, 2007.)
Mr. Schneider, 61, will serve as a vice president at the American Institutes for Research and lead special initiatives in the education, human development, and workforce division, the nonprofit organization said.
鈥淚t was an opportunity that was just too good to turn down,鈥� Mr. Schneider said in an interview. 鈥淚鈥檝e always been impressed with the quality of the work at air. The atmosphere is collegial and cordial, and it鈥檚 a wonderful place to work.鈥�
Academic Background
Mr. Whitehurst said in a statement sent to IES employees that Stuart Kerachsky, who is currently the deputy commissioner, will become acting commissioner of the NCES.
As part of his duties as NCES commissioner, Mr. Schneider has overseen a number of contracts with the air, which total about $22 million for the most recent fiscal year, air officials said. Both Mr. Schneider and air officials said he will work in a division that does not deal with NCES contracts and will not handle any contracts with the agency. Mr. Schneider said he has also cleared the move with federal officials to make sure it complies with ethics policies.
Mr. Schneider won praise from observers during his tenure for keeping the statistics agency鈥檚 work free of an ideological taint. In 2006, in fact, Mr. Schneider said the NCES should not have initiated a study that showed public school students outperforming private school students, because the work, while of high quality, had relied on subjective statistical methods. (Federal Statistics Commissioner Questions NCES Involvement in Private vs. Public School Study, Aug. 10, 2006.)
Jane Hannaway, the director of the education policy center at the Urban Institute, a Washington research institution, said Mr. Schneider鈥檚 scholarly background was evident in his ability to work with researchers. Ms. Hannaway also directs a center at the Urban Institute that receives IES funding.
鈥淎ll the major data sets are getting turned around more quickly and getting presented to the public more quickly,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e understands what the important questions are, and he鈥檚 able to assess where the available information is good and where it鈥檚 lacking.鈥�
