[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 142 (Monday, July 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43515-43517]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-18204]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


National Assessment Governing Board; Meeting

AGENCY: National Assessment Governing Board, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of open meeting and partially closed sessions.

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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 (e.g: 
interpreting services, assistive listening devices, materials in 
alternative format) should notify Munira Mwalimu at 202-357-6938 or at 
[email protected] no later than July 27, 2010. We will attempt to 
meet requests after this date, but cannot guarantee availability of the 
requested

[[Page 43516]]

accommodation. The meeting site is accessible to individuals with 
disabilities.

DATES: August 5-7, 2010.

Times

August 5: Committee Meetings

    Assessment Development Committee: Closed Session--8:30 a.m. to 3:30 
p.m.
    Executive Committee: Open Session--4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.; Closed 
Session--5:15 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

August 6

    Full Board: Open Session--8:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.; Closed Session--
12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.; Open Session--1:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Committee Meetings

    Assessment Development Committee: Open Session--10:00 a.m. to 11:30 
a.m.; Closed Session--11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.;
    Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology: Open Session--10:00 
a.m. to 11:30 a.m.; Closed Session 11:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.
    Reporting and Dissemination Committee: Open Session--10:00 a.m. to 
12:30 p.m.

August 7

    Nominations Committee: Closed Session--7:45 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.
    Full Board: Open Session--8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
    Location: Ritz-Carlton Washington DC, 1150 22nd Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20037.

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 the following: 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 August 5, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., the Assessment 
Development Committee will meet in closed session to review secure NAEP 
items for grade 12 economics, grades 4 and 8 reading, and grades 4 and 
8 writing. The writing items are for the 2011 operational assessment; 
the reading items are for the 2013 pilot test; and the economics items 
are for the 2011 pilot test. The Board will be provided with embargoed 
test items for review that cannot be discussed in an open meeting. 
Premature disclosure of data would significantly impede implementation 
of the NAEP assessments, and is therefore protected by exemption 9(B) 
of section 552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
    On August 5, from 4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., the Executive Committee 
will meet in open session and thereafter in closed session from 5:15 
p.m. to 6:00 p.m. During the closed session on August 5, the Executive 
Committee will receive a briefing from the National Center for 
Education Statistics (NCES) on options for NAEP contracts covering 
assessment years beyond 2011 and discuss budget implications for the 
NAEP assessment schedule and for international linking studies. The 
discussion of contract options and costs will address the 
Congressionally mandated goals and 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.
    On August 6, the full Board will meet in open session from 8:30 
a.m. to 9:45 a.m. The Board will review and approve the meeting agenda 
and meeting minutes from the May 2010 Board meeting. This session will 
be followed by remarks from outgoing Board members. The Executive 
Director of the Governing Board will then provide a report to the 
Board, followed by updates to the Board from the Director of the 
Institute of Education Sciences and the Deputy Commissioner of the 
National Center for Education Statistics. The Board will recess for 
Committee meetings on August 6 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p. m.
    The Reporting and Dissemination Committee will meet in open session 
on August 6 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
    The Assessment Development Committee will meet in open session from 
10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and thereafter in closed session from 11:30 
a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to receive briefings on two NAEP assessment areas. 
The first briefing will be on response rates to 2009 NAEP science 
items, which will include illustrative secure items at grades 4, 8, and 
12. These data and items have not yet been released to the public, 
since the 2009 NAEP Science Report Card is scheduled for release in the 
fall of 2010. The second briefing will be on preliminary student 
performance data from the 2010 NAEP computer-based writing assessment 
pilot test at grades 8 and 12. This secure data cannot be discussed in 
an open meeting prior to official release. Premature disclosure of data 
would significantly impede implementation of the NAEP assessment, and 
is therefore protected by exemption 9(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5 
U.S.C.
    The Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology (COSDAM) will 
meet in open session from 10:00 a.m. to 11:25 a.m. and thereafter in 
closed session from 11:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. During the closed session, 
Committee members will review and discuss 2010 Grade 12 NAEP 
participation rates and implications. COSDAM members will then review 
and discuss data on science achievement levels for 2009 at grades 4, 8, 
and 12, to include achievement levels descriptions, achievement levels 
cutscores, and exemplar items. The secure data on participation rates 
and achievement levels cannot be discussed in an open meeting prior to 
their official release. Premature disclosure of data would 
significantly impede implementation of the NAEP assessment, and is 
therefore protected by exemption 9(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5 
U.S.C. Following this closed session COSDAM will meet in open session 
from 12:20 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. to take a formal vote on the science 
achievement levels for 2009 at grades 4, 8, and 12.
    On August 6, from 12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. the full Board will meet 
in closed session to receive a briefing on the 2009 National Assessment 
of Educational Progress (NAEP) Science Achievement Levels at grades 4, 
8, and 12. The Board will be provided with embargoed results that 
cannot be discussed in an open meeting prior to their official release. 
Premature disclosure of data would significantly impede implementation 
of the NAEP assessment, and is therefore protected by exemption 9(B) of 
section 552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
    From 1:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. the Board will meet in open session to 
discuss Governance Issues for the Common Core Standards and 
Assessments. Following this session, from 2:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., the 
Board will receive updates from the

[[Page 43517]]

Business Policy Task Force and the Council of Chief State School 
Officers Task Force. From 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. the Board will receive 
a briefing on NAEP and International Comparisons. The August 6, 2010 
Board meeting is scheduled to conclude at 5:00 p.m.
    On August 7, the Nominations Committee will meet in closed session 
from 7:45 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. to review and discuss specific names for 
Board vacancies, and their qualifications for Board membership for 
Board terms beginning October 1, 2010. 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 August 7 from 8:30 a.m. 
to 9:30 a.m. to receive a status report on implementation of the Board 
policy on Testing and Reporting on Students with Disabilities and 
English Language Learners. Thereafter, the Board will receive Committee 
reports and take action on Committee recommendations. The August 7, 
2010 session of the Board meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 12 noon.
    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 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern 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 1-866-512-
1800; or in the Washington, DC area at (202) 512-0000.

    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: July 21, 2010.
Cornelia S. Orr,
Executive Director, National Assessment Governing Board, U. S. 
Department of Education.
[FR Doc. 2010-18204 Filed 7-23-10; 8:45 am]
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