FR Doc 2011-2902[Federal Register: February 9, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 27)]
[Notices]
[Page 7182-7183]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09fe11-39]
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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
Munira.Mwalimu@ed.gov 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]
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