[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 30 (Wednesday, February 13, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8303-8304]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-2736]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


National Assessment Governing Board; Meeting

AGENCY: Department of Education, National Assessment Governing Board.

ACTION: Notice of Open Meeting and Partially Closed Meetings.

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SUMMARY: The 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. This document is intended to notify members of the 
general public of their opportunity to attend. Individuals who will 
need special accommodations in order to attend the meeting (i.e., 
interpreting services, assistive listening devices, materials in 
alternative format) should notify Munira Mwalimu at 202-357-6938 or at 
[email protected] no later than February 22, 2008. We will attempt 
to meet requests after this date, but cannot guarantee availability of 
the requested accommodation. The meeting site is accessible to 
individuals with disabilities.

DATES: March 6-8, 2008.
    Times:
    March 6:
    Committee Meeting:
    Executive Committee: Open Session--4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.; Closed 
Session--5:15 p.m. to 6 p.m.
    March 7:
    Full Board: Open Session--8 a.m. to 9 a.m..; Closed Sessions--9 
a.m. to 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. to 2 p.m.; Open Session--2 p.m. to 
4:30 p.m.
    Committee Meetings:
    Assessment Development Committee: Open Session--10 a.m. to 12:30 
p.m.;
    Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology: Open Session--10 
a.m. to 11 a.m.; Closed Session--11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
    Reporting and Dissemination Committee: Open Session--10 a.m. to 
12:30 p.m.
    March 8:
    Nominations Committee: Closed Session--7:15 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.
    Full Board: Closed Session--9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.; Open Session--9:30 
a.m. to 11 a.m.
    Location: Albuquerque Marriott Hotel, 2101 Louisiana Boulevard, 
NE., Albuquerque, NM 87110.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Munira Mwalimu, Operations Officer, 
National Assessment Governing Board, 800 North Capitol Street, NW., 
Suite 825, Washington, DC 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, as amended.
    The Board is established to formulate policy guidelines for the 
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The Board's 
responsibilities include selecting subject areas to be assessed, 
developing assessment specifications and frameworks, developing 
appropriate student achievement levels for each grade and subject 
tested, developing standards and procedures for interstate and national 
comparisons, developing guidelines for reporting and disseminating 
results, and releasing initial NAEP results to the public.
    On March 6, the Executive Committee will meet in open session from 
4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. and in closed session from 5:15 p.m. to 6 p.m. 
During the closed session, the Executive Committee will receive a 
briefing from the National Center for Education Statistics on contract 
options for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 
2008-2012 assessment years, based on funding for Fiscal Years 2008-
2009. The discussion of contract options and costs will address the 
implications for congressionally mandated goals and adherence to Board 
policies on NAEP assessments. This part of the meeting must be 
conducted in closed session because public discussion of this 
information would disclose independent government costs estimates and 
contract options, adversely impacting the confidentiality of the 
contracting process. The meeting must therefore be conducted in closed 
session as disclosure of technical and cost data would significantly 
impede implementation of the NAEP contract awards, and is therefore 
protected by exemption 9(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
    On March 7, the full Board will meet in open session from 8 a.m. to 
9 a.m. The Board will approve the agenda and a new Board member will be 
administered the Oath of Office. The Governing Board will receive a 
report from the Executive Director and hear an update on the work of 
the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
    On March 7, the full Board will meet in closed session from 9 a.m. 
to 9:45 a.m. to receive a briefing on confidential student test results 
and secure test questions from the NAEP 2007 Puerto Rico Mathematics 
Assessment at grades 4 and 8. The Governing Board will be provided with 
confidential test data that has not been released to the public and 
cannot be discussed in an open meeting prior to their official release. 
The meeting must therefore be conducted in closed session as premature 
disclosure of data would significantly impede implementation of the 
NAEP program, and is therefore protected by exemption 9(B) of section 
552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
    On March 7, the Assessment Development Committee and the Reporting 
and Dissemination Committee will meet in open session from 10 a.m. to 
12:30 p.m. The Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology will meet 
in open session from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and in closed session from 11 
a.m. to 12:30 p.m. During the closed session, the Committee on 
Standards, Design and Methodology will discuss contract options for 
setting achievement levels on the 2009 NAEP reading, mathematics and 
science. The meeting must be conducted in closed session as the 
Committee will discuss confidential procurement options and independent 
government cost estimates. Public disclosure of this information, prior 
to release of the Request for Proposals would release confidential 
information and provide unfair advantage to potential bidders present 
at the meeting. This would significantly impede implementation of the 
NAEP program, and is therefore protected by exemption 9(B) of section 
552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
    On March 7, the full Board will meet in closed session from 12:45 
p.m. to 2 p.m. to receive a briefing from the National Center of 
Education Statistics on results of the 2007 NAEP Writing Report Card. 
The Governing Board will be provided with embargoed data on the results 
of the 2007 Writing Report Card that cannot be discussed in an open 
meeting prior to their official release. The meeting must therefore be 
conducted in closed session as premature disclosure of data would 
significantly impede implementation of the NAEP program, and is 
therefore

[[Page 8304]]

protected by exemption 9(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
    Upon conclusion of the closed session, from 2 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. on 
March 7, the full Board will discuss budgets and matters impacting the 
NAEP Schedule of Assessments. The Board will take action on the NAEP 
Schedule of Assessments. From 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. the full Board 
will discuss Board operations and meeting agendas. The March 7 session 
of the Board meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 4:30 p.m.
    On March 8, the Nominations Committee will meet in closed session 
from 7:15 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. to review and discuss confidential 
information regarding nominees received for Board vacancies for terms 
beginning on October 1, 2008. The Committee will recommend a final 
slate of candidates for Board discussion and action. Following the 
Committee meeting, on March 8, the full Board will meet in closed 
session from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. to receive and discuss the final list 
of nominees to be submitted to the Secretary of Education for Board 
appointments. These discussions pertain solely to internal personnel 
rules and practices of an agency and will disclose information of a 
personal nature where disclosure would constitute an unwarranted 
invasion of personal privacy. As such, the discussions are protected by 
exemptions 2 and 6 of section 552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
    The full Board will meet in open session on March 8 from 9:30 a.m. 
to 11 a.m. to take final action on the list of candidates to be 
submitted to the Secretary for appointment, for Board member terms 
beginning October 1, 2008, and to receive and take action on Committee 
reports. The March 8, 2008 session of the Board meeting will adjourn at 
11 a.m.
    Detailed minutes of the meeting, including summaries of the 
activities of the closed sessions and related matters that 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, NW., Washington, DC, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard 
Time, Monday through Friday.
    Electronic Access to This Document: You may view this document, as 
well as all other documents of this Department published in the Federal 
Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) on the 
Internet at the following site: http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister/index.html. To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is 
available free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, 
call the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free at 1-888-293-
6498; or in the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.

    Note:  The official version of this document is the document 
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the 
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal 
Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html.


     Dated: February 8, 2008.
Charles E. Smith,
Executive Director, National Assessment Governing Board, U.S. 
Department of Education.
[FR Doc. E8-2736 Filed 2-12-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P