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From the Washington Examiner: The Trump administration placed Peggy Carr, the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, on leave Monday, just weeks after the nation’s yearly report card showed mathematics and reading scores plummeting to two-decade lows.
Former President Joe Biden appointed Carr to serve as commissioner in September 2021, following a nearly 20-year career atop NCES’s Assessment Division. Carr has not been terminated, according to Department of Education officials, and will continue to receive pay until a review of her employment is completed.
“Today, the Department placed Peggy Carr, Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) at IES who was appointed under the Biden Administration, on administrative leave,” a Department of Education spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “We thank Peggy for her service to the Department of Education.”
Carr’s leave comes less than one month after she delivered the 2024 National Assessment of Education Progress scores.
That report showed reading and math scores for eighth graders hitting their lowest point in more than two decades, continuing the downward trend among students following the COVID-19 pandemic. Fourth grade reading scores similarly fell to a 20-year low, but fourth grade math scores improved slightly.
In January 2024, Carr announced the release of an “Equity in Education Dashboard.”
She touted that it was a response to the White House executive order on “advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities.”
In 2023, NCES released an innovative Equity Dashboard!
Listen along as NCES Commissioner Peggy Carr describes the dashboard, its thematic framework, & some of its features.
Explore the dashboard: https://t.co/uP5ezcd5ob #YearInReview #ConditionOfEd pic.twitter.com/V4LbWgcnJb
— NCES (@EdNCES) January 25, 2024
Carr also touted “equity” in the following video presentation:
DYK that NCES covers the entire life cycle of education? Commissioner Peggy Carr explains the extent of NCES research and the types of #EdData collections it conducts in our newest video. pic.twitter.com/XNkxaiTKzg
— NCES (@EdNCES) March 12, 2024
All that equity talk clearly didn’t do anything to help student learning, as their math and reading scores have hit 20-year lows.
SCOOP w/ @marisa_schultz
Trump’s Department of Education has placed National Center for Education Statistics Commissioner Peggy Carr on administrative leave, after the 2024 National Assessment of Education Progress showed math/reading scores hitting 20yr lows
— Christian Datoc (@TocRadio) February 24, 2025
Trump puts Education Department official on leave following dismal NAEP report card https://t.co/CrhSW6Hi90
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 25, 2025
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