U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced the selection of Darvin Winick as the new chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). Winick is a senior research fellow in the College of Education at the University of Texas and a career organizational consultant.

Winick was a founder, president, and managing principal of LWFW, a large, psychology and economics research and consulting firm. He has a long history of working on bipartisan education reform and a technical background in measurement and assessment.

"I am very happy to designate Darvin as the new NAGB chairman," Paige said. "I know first-hand of his excellent work as a compassionate education reform activist, and am impressed by his valuable contributions for more than two decades as an advisor on public education issues at the local, state and federal levels. I?m confident he will provide the visionary leadership needed to oversee the design and implementation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress."

Winick replaces Mark Musick, the only member of NAGB who has served since it was established in 1988. Musick has been NAGB chairman for half of its 14 years and was originally appointed to NAGB by former Education Secretary William Bennett.

"I want to thank Mark for his many years of stellar commitment and excellent service to NAGB," Paige said. "He has been a national leader in the movement for higher academic standards and statewide testing, and has provided educators with sound, practical advice in helping improve schools across America. I am pleased he will be continuing to serve on the NAGB."

The 24-member governing board develops policy guidance for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the only continuing assessment of what students know and can do in various subjects.

The board is involved in a number of activities, including:

• selecting the subjects to be tested;
• identifying learning objectives for each grade tested;
• identifying appropriate achievement goals; and
• ensuring that all items selected for use in the assessment are free from racial, cultural, gender or regional bias.

The independent, bipartisan board was established by the Hawkins-Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988 (P.L. 100-297). The board must include governors or former governors, legislators, educators, testing experts and curriculum specialists, as well as business and industry representatives, parents and persons representing the general public.

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