[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 27 (Wednesday, February 9, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7182-7183]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-2902]


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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 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 February 14, 2011. 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 3-5, 2011.
    Times:
    March 3: Committee Meetings:
    Assessment Development Committee: Closed Session--12 p.m.-4:15 p.m.
    Executive Committee: Open Session--4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.; Closed 
Session--5:15 p.m. to 6 p.m.
    March 4:
    Full Board: Open Session--8:15 a.m. to 10 a.m.; Closed Session--
12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.; Open Session--2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
    Committee Meetings:
    Assessment Development Committee: Closed Session--10:20 a.m. to 
12:0 p.m.; Open session 12:25 p.m.-12:30 p.m.
    Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology: Open Session--10:15 
a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
    Reporting and Dissemination Committee: Open Session--10:15 a.m. to 
12:30 p.m.
    March 5:
    Nominations Committee: Closed Session--7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.
    Full Board: Closed Session--8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.; Open Session--9 
a.m. to 12 noon.
    Location: Marriott Miami Biscayne Bay, 1633 North Bayshore Drive, 
Miami, FL 33132

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 302 of Title III. Public Law 107-279 (which 
amended Pub. L. 107-110), the National Assessment of Educational 
Progress Authorization Act. 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 frameworks and 
specifications, developing appropriate student achievement levels for 
each grade and subject tested, developing standards and procedures for 
regional and national comparisons, developing guidelines for reporting 
and disseminating results, and releasing initial NAEP results to the 
public.
    On March 3, from 12 p.m. to 4:15 p.m., the Assessment Development 
Committee will meet in closed session to review 250 secure NAEP test 
items for the NAEP Long Term Trend in reading and mathematics for ages 
9, 13, and 17 for the 2012 operational assessment and the 2016 pilot 
test. Board members will be provided with secure test items for review 
that cannot be discussed in an open meeting. Premature disclosure of 
these secure materials 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 March 3, 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 p.m. During the closed session on March 3, 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

[[Page 7183]]

the NAEP contracts, and is therefore protected by exemption 9(B) of 
section 552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
    On March 4, the full Board will meet in open session from 8:15 a.m. 
to 10 a.m. The Board will review and approve the meeting agenda and 
meeting minutes from the November 2010 Board meeting. The Executive 
Director will then administer the oath of office for a new Board 
member. This session will be followed by welcome remarks from the 
Governing Board member from Florida, Representative Anitere Flores and 
invited guests from Florida. The Executive Director of the Governing 
Board will then provide a report to the Board followed by remarks and 
updates from the Commissioner of the National Center for Education 
Statistics, and the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences. 
The Board will recess for Committee meetings on March 4 from 10:15 a.m. 
to 12:30 p.m.
    The Reporting and Dissemination Committee and the Committee on 
Standards, Design and methodology will meet in open sessions on March 4 
from 10:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Assessment Development Committee will 
meet in closed session from 10:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. From 10:15 a.m. to 
11:20 a.m. the Assessment Development Committee will continue its 
review of the Long Term Trend test items that began the prior day, 
March 3. From 11:20 a.m. to noon the Committee will receive an 
embargoed briefing on the NAEP 2009 Science Interactive Computer Tasks 
(ICTs) and Hands-on Tasks (HOTs), which will include demonstration of 
secure tasks and preliminary embargoed data. This science report is not 
scheduled for public release until summer 2011. These 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 Assessment Development Committee 
will meet in open session from 12:25 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.
    On March 4, 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 NAEP High School 
Transcript Study. Board members 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 2 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. the Board will meet in open session to 
receive briefings on the Virtual School in Florida and Options for NAEP 
Feedback to Schools. Following these sessions, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., 
the Board will discuss the Future of the Governing Board and NAEP. The 
March 4, 2011 Board meeting is scheduled to conclude at 5 p.m.
    On March 5, the Nominations Committee will meet in closed session 
from 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. to review and discuss the final slates of 
nominees for six positions for terms beginning October 1, 2011. On 
March 5 from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. the Nominations Committee will provide 
a briefing to the full Board in closed session on the recommended slate 
of finalists, following which, the Board will take action on the 
recommendations in open session. 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.
    Following the closed session, the full Board will meet in open 
session from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. to receive a briefing on understanding 
how NAEP questions are scored. At 10:15 a.m. the Board will receive 
Committee reports and take action on Committee recommendations. The 
March 5, 2011 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 a.m. to 5 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-
0000; or in the Washington, DC area at (202) 512-1800.

    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 4, 2011.
Cornelia S. Orr,
Executive Director, National Assessment Governing Board, U.S. 
Department of Education.
[FR Doc. 2011-2902 Filed 2-8-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P