24938 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 81 / Thursday, April 26, 2012 / Notices 

Order 12372 and the regulations in 34 

CFR part 79. 

Accessible Format: Individuals with 

disabilities can obtain this document in 

an accessible format (e.g., braille, large 

print, audiotape, or computer diskette) 

by contacting the Grants and Contracts 

Services Team, U.S. Department of 

Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., 

room 5075, PCP, Washington, DC 

20202–2550. Telephone: (202) 245– 

7363. If you use a TDD or a TTY, call 

the FRS, toll free, at 1–800–877–8339. 

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. 

Dated: April 20, 2012. 

Sue Swenson, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special 

Education and Rehabilitative Services, 

Delegated the Authority to Perform the 

Functions and Duties of Assistant Secretary 

for Special Education and Rehabilitative 

Services. 

[FR Doc. 2012–10010 Filed 4–25–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

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. 

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 

Munira.Mwalimu@ed.gov 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 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 81 / Thursday, April 26, 2012 / Notices 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 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES