The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development is getting ready to “waive” hello to a new hire: Anne Hyslop, currently a senior analyst at Bellwether Education Partners in Washington, and an all-around smarty pants when it comes to everything related to accountability, assessment, and especially, the Obama administration’s implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Hyslop, who has a self-professed love-hate relationship with NCLB waivers (don’t we all?) starts at the department as a senior policy advisor in the at the end of the month. (She doesn’t need Senate confirmation.) She’ll be working with Amy McIntosh, who is currently at the helm of that office. And she’ll be arriving at 400 Maryland Ave. just in time to help review dozens of renewal applications. Lucky duck.

Andy Rotherham, the co-founder of Bellwether, a consulting organization, gave Hyslop some high praise.

“At Bellwether, Anne’s led some outward-facing and internal analysis around federal policy that is as fine-grained and rooted in facts as you’ll find anywhere in this sector,” he said in an email. “She’ll bring a tremendous degree of rigor and specificity to the department’s work around waivers and NCLB policy more generally.”