Michael Nettles Named to Head ETS Early Childhood Research Center

Center will use research to help children improve skills and close achievement gap

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Oct 10, 2011, 09:00 ET

PRINCETON, N.J., Oct. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Michael T. Nettles, one of the nation's leading education researchers and experts on achievement gaps, has been selected to head a newly created Early Childhood Research Center at Educational Testing Service (ETS). Nettles is currently Senior Vice President of ETS's Policy Evaluation & Research Center (PERC) and will integrate the Early Childhood Research Center into PERC, which also includes the Policy Information Center.

The center will focus on research and assessment aimed at positioning children from birth through age 9 (or in Pre-K through 3rd grade) to succeed throughout their academic lives. ETS is well known for its high school and college assessments and as one of the leading educational research organizations in the world. Historically, ETS also has focused a great deal of attention on closing achievement gaps, and has concentrated its efforts on analyses and reports to guide and inform parents, educators and policymakers.

"With the help of this new center, ETS seeks to expand its assessments and research to contribute to improving teaching, learning and assessment in the earliest grades of school," Nettles says. "We will collect and analyze data, information, research and analyses to identify problems and search for ways that ETS can apply its intellectual capital and resources to contribute to the quality of measurement and education of young children. We also will promote educational innovations and interventions with the goal of eliminating the demographic stratification in achievement."

"The United States is at a crossroads," says Kurt Landgraf, President and CEO of ETS. "If the trajectory of our young learners is not changed over the next several decades, the divide between the 'haves' and 'have nots' may become so wide that the future of this great nation could literally be in jeopardy."

Over the course of his career, Nettles has held leadership and faculty positions at two major research universities and, early in his career, he held an academic leadership post at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. Nettles served as the first Executive Director of the Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute of the College Fund/UNCF. He also serves on numerous boards, and his past board memberships include the National Assessment Governing Board and the Board of Trustees of the College Board. Nettles' publications address issues of achievements gaps in education. They include Developing High-Potential Youth Programs: A Return on Investment Study for U.S. Programs and The Challenge and Opportunity of African American Educational Achievement in the United States.

About ETS

At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary education, as well as conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® tests and The Praxis Series™ assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org

Contact:

Tom Ewing
1-609-683-2803
[email protected]

SOURCE ETS