[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 81 (Thursday, April 26, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24938-24939]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-10006]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


National Assessment Governing Board; Meeting

AGENCY: National Assessment Governing Board, U.S. Department of 
Education.

ACTION: Notice of open and closed meeting sessions.

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SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda for 
the upcoming meeting of the National Assessment Governing Board (Board) 
and also describes the specific functions of the Board. Notice of this 
meeting is required under Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act. This notice is issued to provide members of the general 
public with an opportunity to attend and/or provide comments. 
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 April 27, 2012. 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: May 17-19, 2012.

Times

May 17

Committee Meetings
    Assessment Development Committee (ADC): Closed Session: 12 p.m.-
4:15 p.m.
    Executive Committee: Open Session: 4:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.; Closed 
Session: 5:30 p.m.-6 p.m.

May 18

    Full Board: Open Session: 8:30 a.m.-9:45 a.m.; Closed Session: 
12:30 p.m.-2 p.m.; Open Session: 2:15 p.m.-4:45 p.m.
Committee Meetings
    Assessment Development Committee (ADC): Closed Session: 10 a.m.-12 
p.m.; Open Session: 12 p.m.-12:30 p.m.
    Reporting and Dissemination Committee (R&D): Open Session: 10 a.m.-
12:30 p.m.
    Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology (COSDAM): Open 
Session: 10 a.m.-11:20 a.m.; Closed Session: 11:25 a.m.-12:25 p.m.; 
Open Session: 12:25 p.m.-12:30 p.m.

May 19

    Nominations Committee: Closed Session: 7:30 a.m.-8:15 a.m.
    Full Board: Open Session: 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
    Location: Marriott Plaza San Antonio, 555 South Alamo Street, San 
Antonio, TX 78205

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Munira Mwalimu, Executive 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 
(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 frameworks and specifications, 
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 May 17, 2012, two committee meetings are scheduled. The 
Assessment Development Committee (ADC) will meet in closed session from 
12 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. to review secure computer-based tasks for the NAEP 
2014 Technology and Engineering Literacy Assessment. During the closed 
session, ADC members will be provided specific test materials for 
review which are not yet available for release to the general public. 
Premature disclosure of these secure test items and materials would 
compromise the integrity and substantially impede implementation of the 
NAEP assessments and is therefore protected by exemption 9(B) of 
section 552b(c) of Title 5 of the United States Code.
    On May 17, 2012, the Executive Committee will meet in open session 
from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and thereafter in closed session from 5:30 
p.m. to 6 p.m. During the closed session, the Executive Committee will 
discuss a personnel matter. This portion of the meeting will be 
conducted in closed session because public discussion of this 
information would 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 of the United States Code.
    On May 18, 2012, the full Board will meet in open session from 8:30 
a.m. to 9:45 a.m., followed by a closed session from 12:30 p.m. to 2 
p.m. and thereafter in open session from 2:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.
    From 8:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. on May 18, the Board will review and 
approve the May 2012 meeting agenda and meeting minutes from the March 
2012 Board meeting, followed by the Chairman's remarks and a welcome 
from San Antonio Board member Leticia van de Putte and a San Antonio 
policy maker. From 9:15 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. the Executive Director of the 
Governing Board will provide a report to the Board, followed by updates 
from the Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics 
(NCES) and the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). 
Following these

[[Page 24939]]

sessions, the Board will recess for Committee meetings from 10 a.m. to 
12:30 p.m.
    The Reporting and Dissemination Committee will meet in open session 
from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Assessment Development Committee (ADC) 
will meet in closed session from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and in open session 
from 12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. During the first closed session, the ADC 
will complete its review of secure Technology and Engineering Literacy 
(TEL) tasks at grade 8, which was begun during the closed session on 
Thursday, May 17. ADC members will be provided with specific test 
materials for review which are not yet available for release to the 
general public. Premature disclosure of these secure test items and 
materials would compromise the integrity and substantially impede 
implementation of the NAEP assessments and is therefore protected by 
exemption 9(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5 of the United States Code.
    The second item on the ADC closed meeting agenda for May 18 will be 
a briefing on the NAEP mathematics special studies: the Mathematics 
Computer-based Study (MCBS) and the Knowledge and Skills Appropriate 
(KaSA) special study. The briefing on these two special studies must be 
conducted in closed session because the Committee will be discussing 
secure test items and embargoed data for 8th grade students. During the 
closed session, ADC members will be provided specific test materials 
for review which are not yet available for release to the general 
public. Premature disclosure of these secure test items and materials 
would compromise the integrity and substantially impede implementation 
of the NAEP assessments and is therefore protected by exemption 9(B) of 
section 552b(c) of Title 5 of the United States Code. Following this 
closed session ADC members will convene in open session to discuss the 
Expert Panel Report on NAEP Background Variables.
    The Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology will meet in 
open session from 10 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. and thereafter in closed 
session from 11:25 a.m. to 12:25 p.m. followed by an open session from 
12:25 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. During the closed session, the Committee will 
receive and review preliminary findings from the Grade 8 Mathematics 
Multi-Stage Adaptive Field Trial and the Committee will receive and 
discuss secure data on the NAEP writing achievement levels at grades 8 
and 12. The Committee will be provided with specific writing 
achievement level descriptions, cut scores, consequences data, and data 
on exemplar performances--secure assessment data and writing 
achievement levels results that have not been approved for release and 
therefore cannot be disclosed to the public at this time. Premature 
disclosure of these secure data would significantly impede 
implementation of the NAEP assessments and reporting, and is therefore 
protected by exemption 9(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
    On May 18, 2012 from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. the full Board will meet 
in closed session to receive two briefings. During the first session, 
NCES and its contractor will provide a demonstration of the computer-
based writing assessment system, including secure tasks to which 
students were asked to respond. The demonstration of assessment tasks 
will depict data not yet released to the public. Following this 
briefing, a demonstration of the software used for the achievement 
level setting process will be provided to the Board along with the 
results on the Writing Achievement Levels for Grades 8 and 12. Both 
presentations provided to the Board will include secure items and 
embargoed assessment data and results that cannot be discussed in an 
open meeting prior to their official release by the Governing Board and 
NCES. Premature disclosure of these results would significantly impede 
implementation of the NAEP assessment program, and is therefore 
protected by exemption 9(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5 United States 
Code.
    Following the closed session, the Board will meet in the following 
open sessions: From 2:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m., the Board will receive an 
update on the NAEP 12th Grade Preparedness Commission from the 
Commission Chair. From 2:45 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., the Board will discuss 
plans for reporting NAEP 12th Grade Academic Preparedness. Following 
this session, from 3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m., the Board will receive a 
presentation on changing demographics in the U.S. student population, 
with implications for NAEP. The May 18, 2012 session of the Board 
meeting is scheduled to conclude at 4:45 p.m.
    On May 19, 2012, the Nominations Committee will meet in closed 
session from 7:30 p.m. to 8:15 a.m. to discuss the slate of candidates 
for Board terms beginning October 1, 2012. The Committee discussions 
pertain solely to internal personnel rules and practices of an agency 
and will discuss 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 of the United States Code.
    On May 19, from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. the full Board will receive a 
briefing on the NAEP 2011 Science Report Card at Grade 8. Thereafter, 
from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., the Board will receive a briefing from NCES on 
the planning, procurement and budgeting process, as an Inside NAEP 
briefing series.
    From 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. the Board will receive Committee 
reports, discuss cross cutting issues raised by committees, and take 
action on Committee recommendations. The May 19, 2012 meeting is 
scheduled to adjourn at 11:30 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 9:00 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: www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html.


    Dated: April 20, 2012.
Munira Mwalimu,
Executive Officer, National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), U.S. 
Department of Education.
[FR Doc. 2012-10006 Filed 4-25-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P