Jack Buckley, Commissioner

National Center for Education Statistics
Institute of Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education

Sean P. "Jack" Buckley was confirmed December 2010 by the U.S. Senate as the Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, and his term runs through June 21, 2015. He brings a commitment to enhancing the relevance, timeliness, and methodological rigor of NCES's work in all areas of education.

Commissioner Buckley is on leave from New York University, where he is an associate professor of applied statistics. He served as Deputy Commissioner of NCES from 2006 to 2008 under former NCES Commissioner Mark Schneider and is known for his research on school choice, particularly charter schools, and on statistical methods for public policy.

Buckley was an affiliated researcher with the National Center for the Study of the Privatization in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and in 2007 published a book with Mark Schneider entitled Charter Schools: Hope or Hype? He has taught statistics and education policy as an adjunct assistant professor at Georgetown University, an assistant professor at Boston College, and an instructor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Buckley spent five years in the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer and nuclear reactor engineer, and he also worked in the intelligence community as an analytic methodologist. He holds an A.B. in Government from Harvard and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from SUNY Stony Brook.