FR Doc E8-2736
[Federal Register: February 13, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 30)]
[Notices]
[Page 8303-8304]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13fe08-59]
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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 Meetings.
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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 (i.e.,
interpreting services, assistive listening devices, materials in
alternative format) should notify Munira Mwalimu at 202-357-6938 or at
Munira.Mwalimu@ed.gov no later than February 22, 2008. 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 6-8, 2008.
Times:
March 6:
Committee Meeting:
Executive Committee: Open Session--4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.; Closed
Session--5:15 p.m. to 6 p.m.
March 7:
Full Board: Open Session--8 a.m. to 9 a.m..; Closed Sessions--9
a.m. to 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. to 2 p.m.; Open Session--2 p.m. to
4:30 p.m.
Committee Meetings:
Assessment Development Committee: Open Session--10 a.m. to 12:30
p.m.;
Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology: Open Session--10
a.m. to 11 a.m.; Closed Session--11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Reporting and Dissemination Committee: Open Session--10 a.m. to
12:30 p.m.
March 8:
Nominations Committee: Closed Session--7:15 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.
Full Board: Closed Session--9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.; Open Session--9:30
a.m. to 11 a.m.
Location: Albuquerque Marriott Hotel, 2101 Louisiana Boulevard,
NE., Albuquerque, NM 87110.
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 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 March 6, the Executive Committee will meet in open session from
4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. and in closed session from 5:15 p.m. to 6 p.m.
During the closed session, the Executive Committee will receive a
briefing from the National Center for Education Statistics on contract
options for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
2008-2012 assessment years, based on funding for Fiscal Years 2008-
2009. The discussion of contract options and costs will address the
implications for congressionally mandated goals and adherence to 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 costs estimates and
contract options, adversely impacting the confidentiality of the
contracting process. The meeting must therefore be conducted in closed
session as disclosure of technical and cost data would significantly
impede implementation of the NAEP contract awards, and is therefore
protected by exemption 9(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
On March 7, the full Board will meet in open session from 8 a.m. to
9 a.m. The Board will approve the agenda and a new Board member will be
administered the Oath of Office. The Governing Board will receive a
report from the Executive Director and hear an update on the work of
the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
On March 7, the full Board will meet in closed session from 9 a.m.
to 9:45 a.m. to receive a briefing on confidential student test results
and secure test questions from the NAEP 2007 Puerto Rico Mathematics
Assessment at grades 4 and 8. The Governing Board will be provided with
confidential test data that has not been released to the public and
cannot be discussed in an open meeting prior to their official release.
The meeting must therefore be conducted in closed session as premature
disclosure of data would significantly impede implementation of the
NAEP program, and is therefore protected by exemption 9(B) of section
552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
On March 7, the Assessment Development Committee and the Reporting
and Dissemination Committee will meet in open session from 10 a.m. to
12:30 p.m. The Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology will meet
in open session from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and in closed session from 11
a.m. to 12:30 p.m. During the closed session, the Committee on
Standards, Design and Methodology will discuss contract options for
setting achievement levels on the 2009 NAEP reading, mathematics and
science. The meeting must be conducted in closed session as the
Committee will discuss confidential procurement options and independent
government cost estimates. Public disclosure of this information, prior
to release of the Request for Proposals would release confidential
information and provide unfair advantage to potential bidders present
at the meeting. This would significantly impede implementation of the
NAEP program, and is therefore protected by exemption 9(B) of section
552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
On March 7, the full Board will meet in closed session from 12:45
p.m. to 2 p.m. to receive a briefing from the National Center of
Education Statistics on results of the 2007 NAEP Writing Report Card.
The Governing Board will be provided with embargoed data on the results
of the 2007 Writing Report Card that cannot be discussed in an open
meeting prior to their official release. The meeting must therefore be
conducted in closed session as premature disclosure of data would
significantly impede implementation of the NAEP program, and is
therefore
[[Page 8304]]
protected by exemption 9(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5 U.S.C.
Upon conclusion of the closed session, from 2 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. on
March 7, the full Board will discuss budgets and matters impacting the
NAEP Schedule of Assessments. The Board will take action on the NAEP
Schedule of Assessments. From 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. the full Board
will discuss Board operations and meeting agendas. The March 7 session
of the Board meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 4:30 p.m.
On March 8, the Nominations Committee will meet in closed session
from 7:15 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. to review and discuss confidential
information regarding nominees received for Board vacancies for terms
beginning on October 1, 2008. The Committee will recommend a final
slate of candidates for Board discussion and action. Following the
Committee meeting, on March 8, the full Board will meet in closed
session from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. to receive and discuss the final list
of nominees to be submitted to the Secretary of Education for Board
appointments. 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 March 8 from 9:30 a.m.
to 11 a.m. to take final action on the list of candidates to be
submitted to the Secretary for appointment, for Board member terms
beginning October 1, 2008, and to receive and take action on Committee
reports. The March 8, 2008 session of the Board meeting will adjourn at
11 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 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard
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 1-888-293-
6498; or in the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.
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 8, 2008.
Charles E. Smith,
Executive Director, National Assessment Governing Board, U.S.
Department of Education.
[FR Doc. E8-2736 Filed 2-12-08; 8:45 am]
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