[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 27 (Wednesday, February 11, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6860-6861]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-2880]


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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 23, 2009. 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 5-7, 2009.

Times

March 5: Committee Meetings

    Assessment Development Committee: Open Session--12 noon to 2 p.m.
    Ad Hoc Committee on NAEP Testing and Reporting on Students with 
Disabilities and English
    Language Learners: Open Session--2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
    Executive Committee: Open Session--4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Closed 
Session--5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

March 6

    Full Board: Open Session--8:30 a.m. to 12 noon; Closed Session--
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.; Open Session--1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Committee Meetings

    Assessment Development Committee: Open Session--9:45 a.m. to 12:15 
p.m.
    Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology: Closed Session--
9:45 a.m. to 10:20 a.m. Open Session--10:20 a.m. to 12:15 a.m.
    Reporting and Dissemination Committee: Open Session--9:45 a.m. to 
12:15 p.m.

March 7

    Nominations Committee: Closed Session--7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
    Full Board: Closed Session--9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.; Open Session--
9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
    Location: Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC, 1330 Maryland Avenue, 
SW., Washington, DC 20024

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 5, the Assessment Development Committee will meet in open 
session from 12 noon to 2:00 p.m. and the Ad Hoc Committee on NAEP 
Testing and Reporting on Students with Disabilities and English 
Language Learners will meet in open session from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. 
Thereafter, the Executive Committee will meet in open session from 4:30 
p.m. to 5 p.m. and in closed session from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
    During the closed session the Executive Committee will receive a

[[Page 6861]]

briefing from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) on 
options for NAEP contracts covering the 2008-2012 assessment years, 
based on funding for Fiscal Year 2009-2010. 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 cost estimates and contracting options, adversely impacting 
the confidentiality of the contracting process. Public disclosure of 
information discussed would significantly impede implementation of the 
NAEP contracts, and is therefore protected by exemption 9(B) of section 
552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
    The second portion of the closed session of the Executive Committee 
is for discussion of personnel matters. 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.
    On March 6, the full Board will meet in open session from 8:30 a.m. 
to 9:15 a.m. The Board will approve the agenda and the November 2008 
Board minutes. Following these actions, the oath of office will be 
administered to a new Board member. Thereafter, the Governing Board 
will receive a report from the Interim Executive Director of the 
Governing Board, and hear an update on the work of the National Center 
for Education Statistics (NCES).
    On March 6, two of the Board's standing committees--the Assessment 
Development Committee and the Reporting and Dissemination Committee 
will meet in open session from 9:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
    On March 6, the Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology will 
meet in closed session from 9:45 a.m. to 10:20 a.m. and in open session 
from 10:20 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. During the closed session, the Committee 
will review proposed 12th Grade Preparedness Research Studies, 
independent government costs estimates for the studies, and projected 
timelines for contract awards. The information discussed in closed 
session will be essential to the Committee's recommendations regarding 
preparedness research studies to be implemented and the order of 
implementation. Public disclosure of information discussed would 
significantly impede implementation of the Governing Board's contracts 
and provide an undue advantage to potential bidders, and is therefore 
protected by exemption 9(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
    On March 6 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. the full Board will meet in 
closed session to receive a briefing on the NAEP 2008 Long Term Trends 
Report in Reading and Mathematics from the Associate Commissioner of 
NCES. The Governing Board will be provided with embargoed data on the 
report 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 protected by 
exemption 9(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
    From 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. the Board will participate in a panel 
discussion with former Board Chairs. From 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., the 
Board will receive an update on the work of the Ad Hoc Committee on 
NAEP Testing and Reporting on Students with Disabilities and English 
Language Learners. This session will be followed by an update from 
WestEd on the NAEP 2010 Technological Literacy Framework Project which 
is scheduled to take place from 3:45 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The March 6 
session of the Board meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 4:30 p.m.
    On March 7, the Nominations Committee will meet in closed session 
from 7:15 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. to review and discuss confidential 
information regarding nominees received for Board vacancies for terms 
beginning on October 1, 2009. The Committee will recommend a final 
slate of candidates for Board discussion and action. Following the 
Committee meeting, 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 7 from 9:30 a.m. 
to 10 a.m. to discuss the future direction of NAEP and the Governing 
Board. From 10:15 a.m. to 12 p.m. the Board will receive and take 
action on Committee reports. The March 7, 2009 session of the Board 
meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 12 p.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 5, 2009.
Mary Crovo,
Interim Executive Director, National Assessment Governing Board, U. S. 
Department of Education.
[FR Doc. E9-2880 Filed 2-10-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P