U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon Announces New Members and Names Next Chair of the National Assessment Governing Board

Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon named Tennessee Representative Mark White as Chair of the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). Secretary McMahon also announced the appointment of two education leaders to NAGB: early literacy expert Kymyona Burk and elementary school principal Michael Sidebotham. National educational assessment expert Scott Marion was reappointed to a second term. All three Governing Board members will start their four-year terms on October 1.

NAGB is the policy board that oversees the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) - otherwise known as The Nation's Report Card. The Board sets the NAEP achievement levels and determines which grades and subjects to assess and what content to include in assessments.

The Nation's Report Card is the only nationally representative assessment of student achievement. The 2024 NAEP Report Cards in reading, math, and science released earlier this year revealed stagnation and decline in learning outcomes, which have worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The 2024 NAEP results confirmed a devastating trend - American students are falling behind at alarming rates and achievement gaps are wider than ever before," said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. "I am proud to appoint these education professionals who have deep expertise in testing best practices, education reform, and early learning development. Not only will their expertise help shape future assessments, but they will deliver meaningful data to policymakers across the nation to support urgently needed improvements in K-12 classrooms."

About the NAGB Appointees:

State Rep. Mark White has been Tennessee's state representative for District 83, which contains part of Shelby County, since 2010. He chairs Tennessee's House Education Administration Committee. White started his career as a science teacher and later served as the principal of a K-8 school before becoming a small-business owner. He co-founded the Global Children's Educational Foundation, which provides financial assistance and educational opportunities to impoverished children in Panama. White has received numerous awards and recognition for his legislative work, including the Tennessee Community Organizations' Legislator of the Year award in 2016 and the Tennessee CASA Association's Legislator of the Year award in 2012.

Kymyona Burk is a senior policy fellow of early literacy at the Foundation for Excellence in Education, also known as ExcelinEd, and joins the Governing Board in a general public representative role. Burk also serves as a visiting senior fellow at the State University of New York's New Paltz Science of Reading Center. An educational leader with more than 25 years of teaching, coaching, and university- and state-level experience, Burk previously served as state literacy director for the Mississippi Department of Education, literacy coordinator for Jackson State University's Mississippi Learning Institute, and teacher in the Jackson Public School District. She worked closely with former state superintendent of education and Governing Board Member Carey Wright to advance Mississippi's widely lauded reading reforms.

Michael Sidebotham is the principal of Grafton Village Elementary in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and joins the Governing Board in the elementary school principal role. Recognized this year as Virginia Department of Education Principal of Distinction, Sidebotham previously served as a teacher and assistant principal in Stafford, Virginia. He was named Principal of the Year in Stafford County in 2018. Sidebotham's leadership roles have involved many aspects of assessment, including planning and administering state and benchmark tests and using data to inform instructional decisions and accelerate student progress.

Scott Marion is being reappointed in the testing and measurement expert role. Marion is a principal learning associate at the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment - a nonprofit that seeks to increase student learning through educational assessment and accountability practices. His current projects include supporting states and districts in designing and implementing assessment and accountability initiatives, providing technically defensible policy guidance, and implementing high-quality, locally designed performance-based assessments.

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