WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos welcomed to the Education Department today the new leaders of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Mark Schneider, director of IES, was confirmed by the Senate on March 23, 2018, and began work at the Department on Tuesday, April 24. James “Lynn” Woodworth, Commissioner of NCES, was appointed by the President on January 17, 2018, and began work at the Department in March.

“We are so pleased to have both Mark and Lynn on our team,” said Secretary DeVos. “They each bring a wealth of knowledge and experience that will enhance the Department’s important research work as we strive to improve education outcomes for all students.”

Schneider was most recently a vice president, an Institute Fellow and president of College Measures at the American Institutes for Research. From 2005 to 2008, he served as commissioner of the NCES. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College, City University of New York.

Woodworth comes to the Department with experience in research, program evaluations and administration of performance pay programs. He was recently the lead quantitative analyst at Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes, a Distinguished Doctoral Fellow at the University of Arkansas and spent 11 years as a public school teacher in Arkansas.