National Assessment Governing Board; Meeting

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

National Assessment Governing Board; Meeting

AGENCY: National Assessment Governing Board; Education.

ACTION: Notice of partially closed meeting.

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SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of a

forthcoming meeting of the National Assessment Governing Board. This

notice also describes the functions of the Board. Notice of this

meeting is required under Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory

Committee Act.

DATES: March 5-7, 1998.

TIME: March 5, Achievement Levels Committee, 2:00-4:00 p.m. (open);

Subject Area Committee #1, 2:00-3:00 p.m. (open), 3:00-4:00 p.m.

(closed); Executive Committee, 5:00-6:00 p.m. (open), 6:00-7:00 p.m.

(closed). March 6, Full Board, 8:30-10:00 a.m. (open); Design and

Methodology Committee 9:30-11:30 a.m. (open); Reporting and

Dissemination Committee, 9:30-11:30 a.m. (open); Joint Meeting Subject

Area Committee #1 and #2, 9:30-11:30 a.m. (open); Full Board 11:30-4:45

p.m. (open). March 7, Nominations Committee, 7:30-9:00 a.m. (open);

Full Board 9:00 a.m.-adjournment, approximately 12:00 noon, (open).

LOCATION: Four Seasons Olympic Hotel, 411 University Street, Seattle,

Washington.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Ann Wilmer, Operations Officer,

National Assessment Governing Board,

[[Page 8444]]

Suite 825, 800 North Capitol Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20002-4233,

Telephone: (202) 357-6938.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Assessment Governing Board is

established under section 412 of the National Education Statistics Act

of 1994 (Title IV of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994),

(Pub. L. 103-382).

The Board is established to formulate policy guidelines for the

National Assessment of Educational Progress. The Board is responsible

for selecting subject areas to be assessed, developing assessment

objectives, identifying appropriate achievement goals for each grade

and subject tested, and establishing standards and procedures for

interstate and national comparisons. Under Public Law 105-78, the

National Assessment Governing Board is also granted exclusive authority

over developing Voluntary National Tests pursuant to contract number

RJ97153001 and is required to review and modify the contract to the

extent the Board determines necessary, if the contract cannot be

modified to the extent the Board determines necessary, the contract

shall be terminated and a new contract negotiated.

On March 5, there will be an open meeting of the Achievement Levels

Committee from 2:00-4:00 p.m. The Committee will be reviewing the

proposed final achievement level descriptions for the 1998 civics and

writing assessments. On the Voluntary National Tests, the Committee

will examine some of the policy issues related to achievement levels in

math and reading.

Also on March 5, there will be two partially closed meetings:

Subject Area Committee #1, and the Executive Committee. The Subject

Area Committee will meet in open session, 2:00-3:00 p.m., to finalize

plans for the report to the Full Board on the Voluntary National Tests

specifications in 4th grade reading. In closed session, 3:00-4:00 p.m.,

the Committee will review the RFP for a NAEP Foreign Language

Assessment. This portion of the meeting must be conducted in closed

session because premature disclosure of the information presented for

review might significantly frustrate a proposed agency action. Such

matters are protected by exemption 9(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5

U.S.C.

During the open portion of the Executive Committee, 5:00-6:00 p.m.,

there will be presentations on the following activities: Voluntary

National Tests; Reauthorization; Secondary Analysis Grants; and NAEP

Redesign. The Committee will then meet in closed session from 6:00-7:00

p.m., to continue discussion of cost estimates for NAEP and future

contract initiatives. This portion of the meeting must be closed

because public disclosure of this information would likely have an

adverse financial effect on the NAEP program. The discussion of this

information would likely to significantly frustrate implementation of a

proposed agency action if conducted in open session. Such matters are

protected by exemption (9)(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.

In addition, during the closed portion the Committee will be taking

action on personnel appointments for the positions for Assistant

Director of Test Development, and Assistant Director for Reporting and

Dissemination. The Committee will discuss the qualifications of the

individuals recommended for appointment. These discussions will relate

solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency and

would disclose information of a personal nature where disclosure would

constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy if

conducted in open session. Such matters are protected by exemptions (2)

and (6) of section 552b (c) of Title 5 U.S.C.

On March 6, the full Board will convene in open session at 8:30

a.m. The agenda for this session of the meeting includes remarks from

the Washington State Superintendent of Schools, and an update on NAEP

activities.

The Design and Methodology Committee, and the Reporting and

Dissemination Committee will each meet in open session from 9:30-11:30

a.m. The Design and Methodology Committee will be reviewing the grant

applications for the NAEP cycles 2000-2003, and a proposal for a NAEP

12th grade longitudinal study. On the Voluntary National Tests, the

Committee will be focusing on the contractors linking proposal, and the

pilot and field test design. The Reporting and Dissemination Committee

will review plans for the schedule and release of upcoming NAEP

reports, and the contractors proposed plan for reporting and utilizing

the results of the Voluntary National Tests.

Subject Area Committees #1 and #2 will meet jointly from 9:30-11:30

a.m. The Committees will hear an update of the plans for the next NAEP

assessments, as well as, schedule information on the current NAEP

assessments in 1998.

The full Board will reconvene beginning at 11:30 a.m.-12:00 noon to

hear a briefing on the features of the redesign that have been detailed

in the NCES grant applications for the next two cooperative agreements

for conducting NAEP. These cooperative agreements will cover two

operational aspects of NAEP: (1) Data collection, 2000-2003; and (2)

development, scoring, analysis, and reporting. The Board will also

consider matters related to the Voluntary National Tests which include

hearing an overview of activities under the AIR contract through

September, and a report, recommendations, and discussions on the math

and reading specifications.

On March 7, the Nominations Committee will meet in open session

from 7:30-9:00 a.m. The Committee will discuss modification of the

calendar for the 1998 nominations process; prepare for the review of

resumes; and set a date for finalizing committee recommendations.

Also on March 7, the full Board will meet from 9:00 a.m.-12:00

noon. The Board will hear comments regarding the Voluntary National

Tests from the Executive Director of the Council of Great City Schools,

and the Superintendent of the Seattle School District. Also, the Board

will receive the reports of its committees.

Summaries of the activities of the closed sessions and related

matters, which are informative to the public and consistent with the

policy of Section 5 U.S.C. 552b(c), will be available to the public

within 14 days of the meeting.

Records are kept of all Board proceedings and are available for

public inspection at the U.S. Department of Education, National

Assessment Governing Board, Suite 825, 800 North Capitol Street, N.W.,

Washington, D.C., from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Dated: February 13, 1998.

Roy Truby,

Executive Director, National Assessment Governing Board.

[FR Doc. 98-4154 Filed 2-18-98; 8:45 am]

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