Grover J. Whitehurst

director, Instite of Education Sciences, US Deptartment of Edudaction

Grover J. (Russ) Whitehurst was appointed by President George W. Bush to a six-year term as the first Director of the Institute of Education Sciences. As director, Whitehurst administers the Institute, including the activities of the National Center for Education Statistics, the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance and the National Center for Education Research. He coordinates the work of the Institute with related activities carried out by other agencies within the Department and the federal government. He advises the secretary on research, evaluation and statistics relevant to the work of the Department. During his career as a researcher, Whitehurst was the author or editor of five books and published more than 100 scholarly papers on language and pre-reading development in children. Throughout his academic career, his research focused on the development of knowledge and programs that might have a direct influence on the lives of children and families. Those goals continue in his role as Institute director. Whitehurst was born and reared in Washington, North Carolina. He was educated in the public schools of Washington, received his undergraduate degree at East Carolina University, and obtained a Ph.D. in experimental child psychology in 1970 from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is married with two children.