Higher education researcher Matthew Soldner will step in as commissioner of the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance for the Institute of Education Sciences next week.
Soldner, like IES Director Mark Schneider, is an alumni of both the American Institutes of Research, where he was a primary researcher, and of the National Center on Education Statistics, where he was a senior technical advisor on the methodology for some of the center’s massive postsecondary longitudinal studies.
“Matt brings much-needed experience with higher education and great organizational skills to IES,” Schneider said in announcing the move.
Soldner’s work has focused on equity gaps in college entrance and completion, as well as improving methodology and data for use in longitudinal studies. He comes as IES grapples with how to make education evaluations more relevant and easy to understand for educators and policymakers.