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[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 79 (Monday, April 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21621-21623]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-9576]

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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 April 30, 2010. 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 13-15, 2010

Times:

    May 13: Committee Meetings:
    Assessment Development Committee: Closed Session--9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
    Executive Committee: Open Session--4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Closed 
Session--5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
    May 14:
    Full Board: Open Session--8:15 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.; Closed Session--
12:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.; Open Session--3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
    Committee Meetings:
    Assessment Development Committee: Open Session--9 a.m. to 11:30 
a.m.; Closed Session--11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
    Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology: Open Session--10 
a.m. to 11:30 a.m.; Closed Session--11:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.
    Reporting and Dissemination Committee: Open Session--10 a.m. to 
12:30 p.m.
    May 15:
    Nominations Committee: Closed Session--7:45 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.
    Full Board: Open Session--8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
    Location: Pfister Hotel, 424 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 
53201.

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 May 13, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Assessment Development 
Committee will meet in closed session to review NAEP mathematics items 
for grades 4 and 8 for the 2011 operational assessment and the 2013 
pilot. The Board will be provided with embargoed test items that cannot 
be discussed in an

[[Page 21622]]

open meeting. Premature disclosure of data 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 May 13, from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., the Executive Committee 
will meet in open session and thereafter in closed session from 5:30 
p.m. to 6 p.m. During the closed session on May 13, the Executive 
Committee will receive a briefing from the National Center for 
Education Statistics (NCES) on options for NAEP contracts covering 
assessment years beyond 2010-2011. 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 the NAEP contracts, and is 
therefore protected by exemption 9(B) of section 552b(c) of Title 5 
U.S.C.
    On May 14, the full Board will meet in open session from 8:15 a.m. 
to 9:45 a.m. The Board will review and approve the meeting agenda and 
meeting minutes from the March 2010 Board meeting. This session will be 
followed by welcome remarks from Milwaukee speakers. The Executive 
Director of the Governing Board will then provide a report to the 
Board, followed by updates to the Board from the Director of the 
Institute of Education Sciences and the Deputy Commissioner of the 
National Center for Education Statistics. These sessions will be 
followed by an update on Common Core Standards by the Executive 
Director of the Council of Chief State School Officers.
    The Board will recess for Committee meetings on May 14 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 will meet in open session from 10 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, the Committee will receive a briefing with embargoed 
data regarding student response rates and performance results for 12th 
grade NAEP mathematics items administered in 2009. The Committee will 
also get an update on scoring the 2010 pilot of the NAEP writing 
computer-based assessment. The Board will be provided with embargoed 
data that cannot be discussed in an open meeting prior to their 
official release. Premature disclosure of data 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.
    The Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology (COSDAM) will 
meet in open session from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., followed by a closed 
session from 11:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. During the closed session, Board 
members will review and discuss data on science achievement levels and 
external validity data collected for evaluating the achievement levels. 
COSDAM is scheduled to take action for setting the 2009 Science NAEP 
achievement levels for grades 4, 8, and 12 at the May 2010 meeting. The 
data provided for evaluation of the cut scores at the May 2010 COSDAM 
meeting must be discussed in closed session because the cut scores and 
performance relative to the cut scores are embargoed until the release 
of the Nation's Report Card. The secure data on achievement levels 
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.
    Following the Committee meetings, on May 14, 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 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 
Trial Urban District Assessments Reading Report Card. The Board 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.
    Following this session, the full Board will continue to meet in 
closed session from 1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. to discuss the science 
achievement levels. The Governing Board is scheduled to take action for 
setting the 2009 Science NAEP achievement levels for grades 4, 8, and 
12 at the May 2010 meeting. The data provided for evaluation of the cut 
scores at the May 2010 COSDAM meeting must be discussed in closed 
session because the cut scores and performance relative to the cut 
scores are embargoed until the release of the Nation's Report Card. The 
secure achievement levels results cannot be discussed in an open 
meeting prior to their official release. Premature disclosure of data 
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.
    From 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. the Board will meet in open session to 
discuss the Mathematics Achievement Levels Descriptions for Grade 12 
and the Technology and Engineering Literacy Specifications. From 4 p.m. 
to 5 p.m., the Board will receive a briefing in open session on TUDA 
research from the Executive Director of the Council of the Great City 
Schools. The May 14, 2010 Board meeting is scheduled to conclude at 5 
p.m.
    On May 15, the Nominations Committee will meet in closed session 
from 7:45 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. to discuss the status of final candidates 
being proposed for appointment terms beginning October 1, 2010. 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 May 15 from 8:30 a.m. 
to 9:30 a.m. for an open discussion on topics of interest. From 9:30 
a.m. to 10:30 a.m. the Board will receive Committee reports and take 
action on Committee recommendations. The May 15, 2010 session of the 
Board meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 10:30 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 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),

[[Page 21623]]

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: www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html.

    Dated: April 20, 2010.
Cornelia S. Orr,
Executive Director, National Assessment Governing Board, U.S. 
Department of Education.
[FR Doc. 2010-9576 Filed 4-23-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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