As senior vice president and the Edmund W. Gordon Chair of the Policy Evaluation & Research Center (PERC) at the Educational Testing Service (ETS), Nettles is a highly influential expert on access, opportunity, equity, assessment and student performance and achievement at the K-12 and post-secondary levels.
Because of the breadth of his serious and sustained impact on higher education policy, he is Diverse magazine’s 2019 Dr. John Hope Franklin Award recipient.
“I can tell you that his dedication to improving our education system for all learners is second to none,” says Dr. Walt McDonald, president and CEO of ETS.
“His work has been instrumental in advancing the application of ETS research and information to highlight and address critical education challenges,” adds McDonald, who says he has known Nettles for 35 years. “He’s a champion for all learners and is unquestionably deserving of this honor.”
Nettles’ involvement has been broad and deep. Two U.S. secretaries of education appointed him to the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees and develops policies for the National Assessment of Educational Progress. He served eight years on both the GRE Board and the College Board of Trustees.
President Barack Obama appointed him to the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans in 2014, and he has served on the National Research Council Board on Testing and Assessment, the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment, the Joint Advisory Board for Education Research Centers in Texas, the Board of the Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice at the University of Southern California and the International Advisory Panel on Assessment for the Human Science Research Council of the Republic of South Africa.
