Katherine Wallman joined the federal statistical system in 1967 and became Chief Statistician of the United States in 1992. She championed data confidentiality and evidence-based policymaking and focused on strengthening ties with state education agencies.
National Center for Education Statistics
NCES: Perspectives, Insights, and Recommendations from Former Leaders
Former NCES leaders explain how chronic staffing, contracting, and bureaucratic barriers undermined the agency’s ability to produce timely education statistics. They offer practical recommendations for rebuilding a stronger, more agile NCES.
ASA Urges Protection for Scientific, Statistical Roles in Federal Workforce Rule
The ASA is asking the government not to include scientific and statistical jobs in a new rule that could make it easier to fire federal workers, saying these roles should stay separate from politics so the public can trust the data and decisions based on it.
Data Science, Analytics Degrees See Explosive Growth
This summer’s release of the 2023 degree completion data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows incremental to solid growth for statistics and biostatistics degrees and doubling and tripling for data science and analytics degrees.
Peggy Carr
Peggy Carr and her siblings were among the first African American students to integrate K–12 schools in eastern North Carolina. This challenging period of community growth, identity, and self-reflection inspired her intense interest in equity in education. She began to excel in mathematics and science, which eventually led her to excel at two historically Black universities—North Carolina Central and Howard. The first in her family to earn a PhD, Carr is also the first person of color to hold the prestigious, presidentially appointed position of NCES commissioner.
Statistics, Biostatistics Degree Growth Continued in 2021
The number of master’s degrees in business statistics awarded annually increased from 37 in 2010 to nearly 3,000 in 2021, paralleling the growth in bachelor’s and master’s degrees in statistics and biostatistics over the last couple decades. Similarly, the number of universities awarding the business statistics degree increased from 4 to 55 in the same period, according to the latest preliminary data release for 2021 degree completions from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Meet Peggy Carr, Commissioner for Education Statistics
On August 24, 2021, President Joe Biden announced the appointment of Peggy G. Carr as commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics in the Institute of Education Sciences at the US Department of Education.
Undergraduate Statistics Degrees Up 474% Since 2010
The increase in the number of universities granting statistics and biostatistics degrees also continues steadily.
2020 Bachelor’s Degree Recipients in Statistics Show Resilience
This spring’s respondents to the ASA survey of 2020 bachelor’s graduates reported a challenging, stressful, and prolonged job search, although the results also show an unemployment rate roughly the same as the rate for the 2016 and 2017 respondents, higher median salaries, and hiring by a variety of companies.
ASA, COPAFS, Partners Urge Bolstering of Federal Statistical Agencies
Federal statistics have undergirded our democracy, society, and economy since the nation’s founding. Even as their importance has increased over the centuries—especially recently with the focus on evidence-based policymaking—the agencies producing the data have been neglected, lost important autonomy and statutory protections, and been pushed deeper into the federal bureaucracy.