EdWeek’s intrepid reporter and NCLB blogger David Hoff (known by some simply as “The Hoff”) is putting away his reporter’s notebook and joining the U.S. Department of Education as deputy assistant secretary for communication services. (UPDATE: Hoff wants to correct the record on this title, which is actually deputy assistant secretary for communications development. And while we’re at it, he’d also like to point out that he doesn’t like being called The Hoff.) In his new role, Hoff will work for Peter Cunningham and write and edit a variety of different publications and products (and since the department has $100 billion in stimulus money to oversee, there’s presumably a lot of writing to get done).

For the time being, NCLB: Act II will be on hiatus. We’ll keep you posted on that.

Hoff, whose last byline was a scintillating epic about a governance struggle in North Carolina, has tallied 1,092 stories (according to the EdWeek electronic archives) during his 12-year run here.

Along the way, Hoff trekked to Antarctica, waited in those oh-so-long lines at Invesco Field with me on Obama’s historic nomination day, and, at last, found his long-lost inner self in Richard Simmons.

Hoff starts his new adventure on May 4.

(Photo credit: davidhasselhoff.com)