[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 82 (Wednesday, April 29, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23791-23792]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-09956]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


National Assessment Governing Board Quarterly Board Meeting

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

ACTION: Announcement of open and closed meetings.

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SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the agenda for the May 14-16, 2015 
Quarterly Meeting of the National Assessment Governing Board (hereafter 
referred to as Governing Board). This notice provides information to 
members of the public who may be interested in attending the meeting or 
providing written comments on the meeting. The notice of this meeting 
is required under Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee 
Act (FACA).

DATES: The Quarterly Board meeting will be held on the following dates:

 May 14, 2015 from 11:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
 May 15, 2015 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
 May 16, 2015 from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

ADDRESSES: 

May 14: Assessment Development Committee--Hotel Indigo: 400 Brown 
Street, Columbus, Indiana
May 14: Executive Committee--Columbus Visitor's Center, 501 5th Street, 
Columbus, Indiana
May 15: Full Board: The Commons, 300 Washington Street, Columbus, 
Indiana.
Committee Meetings:
May 15: Assessment Development Committee--The Commons
May 15: Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology: Zaharakos, 329 
Washington Street, Columbus, Indiana.
May 15: Reporting and Dissemination Committee--Columbus Visitors Center
May 16: Nominations Committee--The Commons
May 16: Full Board--The Commons

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Munira Mwalimu, Executive Officer, 800 
North Capitol Street NW., Suite 825, Washington, DC 20002, telephone: 
(202) 357-6938, fax: (202) 357-6945.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Statutory Authority and Function: The 
National Assessment Governing Board is established under Title III--
National Assessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act, Public 
Law 107-279. Information on the Board and its work can be found at 
www.nagb.gov.
    The Board is established to formulate policy 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, improving the form and use of NAEP, developing guidelines 
for reporting and disseminating results, and releasing initial NAEP 
results to the public.

Detailed Meeting Agenda: May 14-16, 2015

May 14: Committee Meetings

Assessment Development Committee: Open Session: 11:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Executive Committee: Open Session: 4:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m.; Closed Session: 
5:00 p.m.-5:45 p.m.

May 15: Full Board and Committee Meetings

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

Committee Meetings

Assessment Development Committee (ADC): Open Session: 10:15 a.m.-12:30 
p.m.
Reporting and Dissemination Committee (R&D): Open Session: 10:15 a.m.-
12:30 p.m.
Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology (COSDAM): Open Session: 
10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m.; Closed Session: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

May 16: Full Board and Committee Meetings

Nominations Committee: Closed Session: 7:30 a.m.-8:15 a.m.
Full Board: Closed Session: 8:30 a.m.-9:45 a.m. Open Session 10:00 
a.m.-11:00 a.m.

    On May 14, 2015, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., the Assessment 
Development Committee will meet in open session to review NAEP 
contextual variables. The Executive Committee will convene in open 
session on May 14, 2015 from 4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and thereafter in 
closed session from 5:00 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. During the closed session, 
the Executive Committee will receive and discuss cost estimates on 
various options for implementing NAEP's Assessment Schedule for 2014-
2024 and will discuss NAEP's budgetary needs for the President's FY 
2017 budget. The implications of the cost estimates and funds in 
support of the NAEP Assessment Schedule and future NAEP activities will 
also be discussed. This 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 Sec.  552b of Title 5 U.S.C.
    On May 15, 2015, 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 May 15-16, 2015 
Board meeting agenda and meeting minutes from the March 2015 Quarterly 
Board meeting. This session will be followed by the Chairman's remarks 
and welcome remarks from Dale Nowlin, Governing Board member and Glenda 
Ritz, Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction. Thereafter, the 
full Board will receive update reports from the Deputy Executive 
Director of the Governing Board, the Acting Director of the Institute 
of Education Sciences, and the Acting Commissioner of the National 
Center for Education Statistics. The Board will recess for Committee 
meetings from 10:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
    The Assessment Development Committee and the Reporting and 
Dissemination Committee will meet in open sessions from 10:15 a.m. to 
12:30 p.m. The Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology (COSDAM) 
will meet in open session from 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and thereafter 
in closed session from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. During the closed 
session COSDAM will discuss information regarding analyses of the 2014 
grade 8 Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) assessment, and 
discuss secure NAEP TEL data. This part of the meeting must be 
conducted in closed session because the analysis involves the use of 
secure data for the NAEP TEL assessment. Public disclosure of secure 
data would significantly impede implementation of the NAEP assessment 
program if conducted in open session. Such matters are protected by 
exemption 9(B) of Sec.  552b of Title 5 U.S.C.

[[Page 23792]]

    Following the Committee meetings, the Board will convene in open 
session from 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. to discuss the Governing Board's 
Strategic Planning Initiative. This session will be followed by 
discussions on the NAEP Assessment Literacy Initiative led by the Work 
Group Chair from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. From 4:15 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. the 
Board will discuss a draft resolution on NAEP Trend Reporting.
    The May 15, 2015 session of the Board meeting will adjourn at 5:00 
p.m.
    On May 16, 2015, 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 and begin 
discussion of the process for nominating candidates for terms beginning 
in October 2016. 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 Sec.  552b(c) of Title 5 of the United States 
Code.
    Thereafter, the Board will meet in closed session from 8:30 a.m. to 
9:45 a.m. to review and discuss independent government costs estimates 
for subjects to be assessed under the NAEP Schedule of Assessments. 
During the closed session, the Board will receive and discuss cost 
estimates on various options for implementing NAEP's Assessment 
Schedule through the year 2024 and will discuss NAEP's budgetary needs 
for the President's FY 2017 budget request. The implications of the 
cost estimates and funds in support of the NAEP Assessment Schedule and 
future NAEP activities will also be discussed. This session will be an 
in-depth briefing and discussion to examine cost projections which will 
impact the NAEP schedule through 2024. 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 the Board meeting 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 Sec.  552b of 
Title 5 U.S.C.
    Following the closed session, from 10:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., the 
incoming Executive Director will provide remarks to the full Board in 
open session. The Board will then receive reports from the standing 
committees and take action on a recommendation from the Reporting and 
Dissemination Committee on NAEP Core Contextual Variables. The May 16, 
2015 meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 11:00 a.m.
    Access to Records of the Meeting: Pursuant to FACA requirements, 
the public may also inspect the meeting materials at www.nagb.gov on 
Friday, May 8, 2015 by 9:00 a.m. ET. The official verbatim transcripts 
of the public meeting sessions will be available for public inspection 
no later than 30 calendar days following the meeting.
    Reasonable Accommodations: The meeting site is accessible to 
individuals with disabilities. If you will need an auxiliary aid or 
service to participate in the meeting (e.g., interpreting service, 
assistive listening device, or materials in an alternate format), 
notify the contact person listed in this notice at least two weeks 
before the scheduled meeting date. Although we will attempt to meet a 
request received after that date, we may not be able to make available 
the requested auxiliary aid or service because of insufficient time to 
arrange it.
    Electronic Access to this Document: 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 via the Federal Digital System 
at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you can 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). To use PDF, 
you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the 
site.
    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at: 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

    Authority:  Pub. L. 107-279, Title III--National Assessment of 
Educational Progress Sec.  301.

    Dated: April 23, 2015.
Mary Crovo,
Deputy Executive Director, National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), 
U.S. Department of Education.
[FR Doc. 2015-09956 Filed 4-28-15; 8:45 am]
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