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Debate Erupts on How to Pick Chief of U.S. Schools Data

Advocates for researchers and statisticians are at odds with federal education officials and their advisers over the best way to shield the U.S. Department of Education’s top statistics agency from political interference.

At issue in the debate, which surfaced at an advisory-board meeting last month, is whether the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics ought to be appointed by the director of the department’s Institute of Education Sciences, or nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, which is how the selection process works now.

The split reflects long-running concerns over how best to buffer federal statistics...