FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Patrick Wolf, holder of an endowed chair in school choice at the University of Arkansas, has been nominated by President Bush to serve on the National Board for Education Sciences, a federal advisory board to the U.S. Department of Education.

The vacancy is one of eight being filled. Pending Senate confirmation, Wolf’s term would expire March 15, 2012.

“I’m excited about this opportunity to perform public service,” Wolf said. “My main area of interest is conducting rigorous, scientific evaluations of education policies, so that we can better understand how to help students learn. The mission of this board is to support and guide such important research.”

Wolf, a professor of education who holds the Twenty-First Century Chair in Education Accountability, joined the faculty of the College of Education and Health Professions in the fall of 2006. Wolf came from Georgetown University, where his work focused on education policy. Over the past decade, he has authored, co-authored or co-edited more than 30 scholarly publications on education policy, public management and campaign finance. His most recent book is Educating Citizens: International Perspectives on Civic Values and School Choice (Brookings, 2004), which he co-edited.

Wolf was selected by the U.S. Department of Education to lead the evaluation of the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program, a federally funded pilot program to provide tuition vouchers to low-income D.C. students to attend private schools.

Wolf and his research team also are evaluating the Milwaukee school system’s voucher program. It has been in place for 15 years, making it the oldest such program in the nation.

Wolf taught public management at Columbia University prior to joining the Georgetown faculty. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and he earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University.

The National Board of Education Sciences is the presidentially appointed advisory panel of the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education. The board performs a host of duties, ranging from reviewing and approving the research priorities of the institute to advising and consulting with the director on the policies of the institute. It reviews and regularly evaluates the work of the institute to ensure that its research, development, evaluation and statistical analyses are consistent with the standards set out in the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002. For further information on the NBES, visit http://ies.ed.gov/director/board/index.asp.