Baldwin schools superintendent was appointed to key education post

We are thrilled to welcome Shari to the governing board.”

Lesley Muldoon executive director, National Assessment Governing Board

Baldwin School District Superintendent Shari Camhi has been appointed to serve on the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees student achievement across the country.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona made the appointment, which took effect on Oct. 1.

Camhi said that she would continue to serve as Baldwin superintendent, meeting with the governing board once every quarter and taking her decades of experience in education with her.

Congress established the nonpartisan board in 1988 to set policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation’s Report Card, the country’s only representative measurement of student achievement.

The NAEP provides objective information on student performance in various subjects and reports on student achievement across the nation, in states and in select large urban districts.

With Camhi’s experience at Baldwin schools and as the past president of the School Superintendents Association, Lesley Muldoon, the board’s executive director, said she believes Camhi will be instrumental in her new role.

“We are thrilled to welcome Shari to the governing board,” Muldoon said. “Shari has demonstrated forward-thinking leadership on a national and local scale, including how out-of-school opportunities and workforce preparation can advance academic success for students and prepare them for bright futures. Her insights will be instrumental in ensuring the Nation’s Report Card provides relevant, actionable information for policymakers, education leaders and the public. Never before has this been more important, as our nation recovers from the Covid pandemic.”

The 26-member board is responsible for deciding which subjects NAEP assesses, determining assessment content, setting achievement levels that describe student performance, and pursuing new ways to make NAEP results useful and meaningful to the public. Camhi said that she would look at trends in academic success for students across the country.

Camhi said she was nominated for the position in October of 2022 and was up against several other superintendents for the post. After about a year of filling out extensive paperwork, involving faith assessment and philosophical questions, Camhi was informed that she had been appointed.

“I was honored,” Camhi said. “It was a pretty long and extensive process, but to be the one superintendent that’s chosen from around the country is certainly an honor. I’m thrilled to represent a different point of view.”

Camhi said that along with her appointment to the board, she is assigned to its Assessment Development Committee.

“As superintendent of Baldwin, the work that we’ve done there and the success that we’ve had, the perspective that I will bring to the board is future-focused,” Camhi said.

Camhi said that when she served as president of the School Superintendents Association, she represented superintendents from around the country, including rural, suburban and urban communities, as well as Native American tribal lands. She added that her broad understanding of the student population in America would be useful when she assesses a wide range of students nationwide.

“I think that anytime you can get together to have real conversations about things that matter is worth every minute of your time,” Camhi said. “I take the academic success of our kids exceptionally personally, and I believe it is exceptionally important.”

New York State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa said,

“On behalf of the (state education) department and state Board of Regents, I congratulate Shari L. Camhi, superintendent of Baldwin Union Free School District, on her appointment to the National Assessment Governing Board.

“We’re pleased to have New York’s voice represented in the national assessment discussion,” Rosa added.

“While no single test score, on its own, can fully depict what a student knows and can do, we must work together to have a full picture of student achievement to ensure all students have what they need to be college, career, and civic ready.”

Camhi said that her appointment to the board is “wonderful notoriety” for the Baldwin community and the work that she will be doing on the board is “in service for the Baldwin students and the Baldwin community.”