Arkansas Tech University alumnus Dr. James Lynn Woodworth has been selected as the new commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the U.S. Department of Education.
In his new role, Woodworth will oversee an operation that, according to its website, is “the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations.”
His appointment was announced by the White House on Thursday, Jan. 4.
Woodworth first graduated from Arkansas Tech with a Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1992. He added a Master of Education degree in educational leadership from ATU in 2009 and went on to obtain a Doctor of Philosophy degree in education reform from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 2013.
At the time of his appointment to lead the NCES, Woodworth was serving as a quantitative research associate at the Center for Research on Educational Outcomes, part of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
His previous experience includes six years in the U.S. Marine Corps and 11 years as a band director in the Mansfield School District (Ark.).
