The board that shapes policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress is getting a new executive director, William J. Bushaw, a former teacher and a veteran of the worlds of research and state education policy.
Bushaw assumes his duties as chief executive officer of the National Assessment Governing Board on July 27, succeeding Cornelia S. Orr, who retired in March. He’ll oversee the 26-member governing board, which oversees the development of NAEP frameworks and cut scores, among other things.
The board was created by Congress, and its members—specified by federal law—must include classroom teachers, governors and state lawmakers of different parties, state education commissioners, state and local school board members, principals, business people and community members. Its members are appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Education. NAGB sets policy for NAEP, and the National Center for Education Statistics administers the test.
Before coming to NAGB, Bushaw served for a decade as the chief executive officer of PDK International, where he oversaw the multiple facets of that organization’s work, including its educators association and collegiate honor society, and co-authored its nationally recognized PDK/Gallup polls on the public schools.
Bushaw also managed national and state research grants at the University of Michigan’s Merit Network Inc., and was deputy superintendent and chief academic officer at the Michigan Department of Education. Before that, he was a high school principal, and a teacher in elementary and middle schools.
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Photo: NAGB