July 2015
Ruth Curran Neild, who had been the commissioner of the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, has assumed the responsibility of directing the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) under the title of deputy director of policy and research. She started her new role on July 13. Sue Betka had been in the role as interim director for nearly a year, following the departure of John Q. Easton, who left IES for the Spencer Foundation.
Neild has been at IES since 2011, when she started as the associate commissioner of knowledge utilization. In the last four years, she has been instrumental in helping to reorient the federal Regional Educational Laboratories network and to make the What Works Clearinghouse more user-friendly, as school districts increasingly turn to the site for evidence on school reform models.
AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine noted that “Neild’s commitment to excellence in research, evaluation, and dissemination is evident in her leadership role over the past three years as commissioner of the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. Nonetheless, the critical position of IES director needs to be filled with a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed candidate.”
The education research community continues to wait for a permanent replacement for the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which has also been vacant since Sean P. "Jack" Buckley left the position for the College Board at the end of 2013.
“Peggy Carr has been doing an outstanding job as interim director of NCES, but, as the leader of the second oldest and third largest statistical agency in the United States, this role merits a presidentially appointed permanent position,” said Levine.
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