[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 129 (Monday, July 7, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38284-38285]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-15743]


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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 July 28, 2014. 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: July 31-August 2, 2014.

Times

July 31: Committee Meetings

    Assessment Development Committee: Closed Session: 8:30 a.m.-4:00 
p.m.
    Assessment Literacy Work Group: Open Session: 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.
    Executive Committee: Open Session: 4:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Closed 
Session: 5:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m.

August 1: Full Board and Committee Meetings

    Full Board: Open Session: 8:30 a.m.-9:45 a.m.; Closed Session 12:45 
p.m.-1:45 p.m.; Open Session 2:00 p.m.-3:15 p.m.; Closed Session 3:30 
p.m.-5:00 p.m.
    Committee Meetings:
    Reporting and Dissemination Committee (R&D): Open Session: 9:45 
a.m.-12:30 p.m.
    Assessment Development Committee (ADC): Open Session: 9:45 a.m.-
12:30 p.m.
    Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology (COSDAM): Open 
Session: 9:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

August 2: Full Board and Committee Meetings

    Nominations Committee: Closed Session: 7:30 a.m.-8:15 a.m.
    Full Board: Open Session 8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
    Location: The Fairfax at Embassy Row, 2100 Massachusetts Avenue 
NW., Washington DC.

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 302 of 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 interstate and 
national comparisons, developing guidelines for reporting and 
disseminating results, and releasing initial NAEP results to the 
public.
    On July 31, 2014, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. the Assessment 
Development Committee will meet in closed session to review secure NAEP 
test items in grades 4, 8 and 12 for the 2015 operational assessment in 
science. The Committee will review and discuss secure test items that 
cannot be discussed in an open meeting to protect the confidentiality 
of the secure assessment materials. 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.
    The Board's Assessment Literacy Work Group will meet in open 
session on July 31, 2014, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Work Group 
will discuss strategies and timelines related to their work on 
promoting a better understanding of educational tests among parents and 
members of the general public.
    The Board's Executive Committee will convene on July 31, 2014 in 
open session from 4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. to

[[Page 38285]]

review and discuss the July 31-August 2, 2014 Board meeting agenda, 
receive updates on the NAEP budget, assessment schedule, and 
reauthorization, and discuss Board Committee issues and challenges to 
be addressed by the respective Board Committees.
    Following this session, the Executive Committee will meet in closed 
session from 5:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. to receive and discuss costs for 
specific activities under individual and collective current contracts, 
and independent government cost estimates from the National Center for 
Education Statistics (NCES) staff on various options for proposed item 
development, data collection, scoring and analysis, and reporting of 
NAEP for 2014-2018. The implications of the cost estimates and funds in 
support of the NAEP Assessment Schedule and future NAEP activities will 
also be discussed. This part of the meeting must be conducted in closed 
session because public disclosure of this information would likely have 
an adverse financial effect on the NAEP program by providing 
confidential cost details and proprietary contract costs of current 
contractors to the public. Discussion of this information would be 
likely to significantly impede implementation of a proposed agency 
action if conducted in open session. Such matters are protected by 
exemption 9(B) of section 552b of Title 5 U.S.C.
    On August 1, 2014, the full Board will meet in open session from 
8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. The Board will review and approve the August 
2014 Board meeting agenda and meeting minutes from the May 15-17, 2014 
Quarterly Board meeting. This session will be followed by the 
Chairman's remarks. Following these remarks, the Executive Director of 
the Governing Board will provide a report, followed by updates on the 
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and NAEP from the 
Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Thereafter, the 
Board will recess for Committee meetings from 9:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
    The Reporting and Dissemination Committee, Assessment Development 
Committee, and the Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology 
(COSDAM) will meet in open sessions from 9:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
    Following the Committee meetings, the Board will convene in closed 
session from 12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. to receive a briefing and discuss 
the NAEP Report on School Composition and the Black-White Achievement 
Gap. The Board will receive an embargoed briefing on preliminary 
results, which will include assessment data and results that cannot be 
discussed in an open meeting prior to their official approval and 
release by the National Assessment Governing Board. 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.
    On August 1, 2014 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m., the Board will meet 
in open session to engage in a question and answer session with 
representatives from the Common Core State Assessment Consortia. 
Thereafter, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., the Board will meet in closed 
session to discuss and take action on the NAEP Schedule of Assessments. 
The action will require discussions on independent government cost 
estimates that will likely have an impact on the NAEP Schedule of 
Assessments. This part of the meeting must be conducted in closed 
session because public disclosure of this information would likely have 
an adverse financial effect on the NAEP program by providing 
contractors attending an unfair advantage in procurement and contract 
negotiations for NAEP. Discussion of this information would be likely 
to significantly impede implementation of a proposed agency action if 
conducted in open session. Such matters are protected by exemption 9(B) 
of section 552b of Title 5 U.S.C.
    On August 2, 2014, the Nominations Committee will meet in closed 
session from 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. to discuss candidates for the eight 
Board vacancies for terms beginning on October 1, 2015. The Committee's 
discussions pertain solely to internal personnel rules and practices of 
an agency and 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 August 2, 2014, the Board will meet in open session from 8:30 
a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The Board will receive a briefing on an Inside NAEP 
series--Expanding Scales to Improve Achievement from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 
a.m. Following this session, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. the Board 
will receive a briefing on research work on NAEP Contextual Questions.
    Outgoing Board members Brent Houston, Tom Luna, and David Driscoll 
will provide remarks from 10:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. The Board is 
scheduled to receive reports from the standing Committees and take 
action on Committee recommendations from 10:45 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The 
August 2, 2014 meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 12:00 p.m.
    A verbatim transcript of the meeting, 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 20002, 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 http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister.
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free at http://get.adobe.com/reader. 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: July 1, 2014.
Cornelia S. Orr,
Executive Director, National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), U.S. 
Department of Education.
[FR Doc. 2014-15743 Filed 7-3-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P