81 FR 75388 - National Assessment Governing Board Quarterly Board Meeting

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 210 (October 31, 2016)

This notice sets forth the agenda for the November 17-19, 2016 Quarterly Board 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 Sec. 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 210 (Monday, October 31, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75388-75390]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-26194]


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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 November 17-19, 2016 
Quarterly Board 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 Sec.  10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act (FACA).

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

 November 17, 2016 from 12:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
 November 18, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
 November 19, 2016 from 7:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

ADDRESSES: Sheraton Pentagon City, 900 South Orme Street, Arlington, 
Virginia 22204.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Munira Mwalimu, Executive Officer/
Designated Federal Official of the Governing Board, 800 North Capitol 
Street NW., Suite 825, Washington, DC 20002, telephone: (202) 357-6938, 
fax: (202) 357-6945.

[[Page 75389]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Statutory Authority and Function: The Governing Board is 
established under the National Assessment of Educational Progress 
Authorization Act, Title III of Public Law 107-279. Information on the 
Governing Board and its work can be found at www.nagb.gov.
    The Governing Board is established to formulate policy for the 
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The Governing 
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.

November 17-19, 2016 Committee Meetings

    The Governing Board's standing committees will meet to conduct 
regularly scheduled work based on agenda items planned for this 
Quarterly Board Meeting and follow-up items as reported in the 
Governing Board's committee meeting minutes available at http://nagb.gov/what-we-do/board-committee-reports-and-agendas.html.

Detailed Meeting Agenda: November 17-19, 2016

    November 17: Assessment Development Committee (ADC): Closed 
Session: 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Open Session: 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
    November 17: Executive Committee: Open Session: 4:30 p.m. to 5:35 
p.m.; Closed Session: 5:35 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

November 18: Full Governing Board and Committee Meetings

    Full Governing Board: Open Session: 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.; Closed 
Sessions: 12:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.; Open Session: 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
    ADC and Committee on Standards, Design and Methodology (COSDAM): 
Joint Open Session: 10:15 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.; Joint Closed Session: 
11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.;
    ADC: Closed Session: 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
    COSDAM: Open Session: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
    Reporting & Dissemination (R&D) Committee: Open Session 10:15 a.m. 
to 12:30 p.m.

November 19: Full Governing Board and Committee Meetings

    Nominations Committee: Closed Session: 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.
    Full Governing Board: Closed Session: 8:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.; Open 
Session: 10:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
    On Thursday, November 17, 2016, ADC will meet in closed session 
from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. to review secure digital-based tasks in 
mathematics for grade 12 and for science at grades 4 and 8. This 
meeting must be conducted in closed session because the test items are 
secure and have not been released to the public. Public disclosure of 
the secure test items 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(c) of Title 5 of the United 
States Code.
    From 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. the ADC will meet in open session to 
review grade 12 contextual questions for students, teachers, and 
schools in reading and mathematics.
    The Executive Committee will meet in open session on November 17 
from 4:30 p.m. to 5:35 p.m. and thereafter in closed session from 5:35 
p.m. to 6:00 p.m. During the closed session, the Executive Committee 
will be briefed on the development of the NAEP research grants program 
and the forthcoming request for proposals (RFP). This discussion will 
include secure information that will be included in the request for 
proposals which is not yet available to the public. This meeting must 
be conducted in closed session because premature public disclosure of 
this information would likely have an adverse impact on the proposed 
agency action if conducted in open session. Such matters are protected 
by exemption 9(B) of Sec.  552b(c) of Title 5 of the United States 
Code.
    On Friday, November 18, the full Governing Board will meet in open 
session from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. The Governing Board will review 
and approve the November 17-19, 2016 Governing Board meeting agenda and 
meeting minutes from the August 2016 Quarterly Board Meeting. 
Thereafter, the Secretary of Education, John B. King, Jr. will 
administer the oath of office to a new Board member and four 
reappointed members following which he will provide remarks to the 
Governing Board.
    This session will be followed by a report from the Executive 
Director of the Governing Board, William Bushaw, followed by an update 
on National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) work by Holly 
Spurlock, Branch Chief, National Assessment Operations, NCES.
    The Governing Board will recess for committee meetings at 10:00 
a.m. which are scheduled to take place from 10:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
    On November 18, 2016, the ADC will meet in a joint open session 
with COSDAM from 10:15 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Thereafter the two committees 
will meet in a joint closed session from 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. to 
receive a briefing on an embargoed NCES research study involving 2015 
mathematics data from grades 4 and 8 at national and state levels. The 
data and analyses are secure and have not been released to the public. 
Public disclosure of the secure test data and analyses 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(c) of Title 5 of the United States Code.
    Following this joint meeting, ADC will meet in closed session from 
11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to receive a briefing on the history and 
content of the NAEP Long-Term Trend assessments in reading and 
mathematics, which are conducted at ages 9, 13, and 17. The briefing 
will include secure reading and mathematics test items from these three 
age-level assessments that have not been released to the public. This 
meeting must be conducted in closed session because the test items are 
secure and have not been released to the public. Public disclosure of 
the secure test items 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(c) of Title 5 of the United 
States Code.
    On November 18, the COSDAM will meet in open session from 11:30 
a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to conduct regularly scheduled work. On November 17, 
the R&D Committee will meet in open session from 10:15 a.m. to 12:30 
p.m. to conduct regularly scheduled work.
    Following the committee meetings on Friday, November 18, the 
Governing Board will meet in closed session from 12:45 p.m. to 1:45 
p.m. to receive a briefing on the 2015 National Indian Education Study 
in reading and mathematics from James Deaton, NCES. Results from this 
study have not been released to the public. Public disclosure of the 
study results 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(c) of Title 5 of the United 
States Code.
    Following this closed session, the Governing Board will meet in 
closed session from 2:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. to receive a briefing from 
Eunice Greer, NCES, on data from recent NAEP digital-based pilot 
assessments in reading, mathematics, and writing.

[[Page 75390]]

Secure test questions in each subject area as well as embargoed data 
will be presented during this briefing. The test questions and data 
have not been released to the public and the session must be conducted 
in closed session. Public disclosure of the secure test items and 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(c) of Title 5 of the United States Code.
    Thereafter, the Governing Board will take a fifteen-minute break 
and reconvene in open session from 3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. to discuss 
and take action on the Governing Board's Strategic Vision. The 
discussion will be led by the Governing Board's Vice Chair Lucille 
Davy, with a presentation from Lily Clark of the Governing Board staff.
    From 4:15 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Marcella Goodridge-Keiller, Office of 
the General Counsel will provide the annual ethics briefing, and 
William Bushaw, Governing Board Executive Director, and Peggy Carr, 
NCES Acting Commissioner, will provide a briefing on keeping embargoed 
data secure.
    The November 18, 2016 meeting will adjourn at 5:00 p.m.
    On November 19, the Nominations Committee will meet in closed 
session from 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. The committee will receive a 
briefing on nominations received for Governing Board terms beginning in 
October 1, 2017. The Nominations Committee's discussions pertain solely 
to internal personnel rules and practices of an agency and information 
of a personal nature where disclosure would constitute a clearly 
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.
    On November 19, the Governing Board will meet from 8:30a.m. to 9:45 
a.m. to receive a briefing from the National Academy of Sciences on the 
Evaluation of the NAEP Achievement Levels for Mathematics and Reading. 
The evaluation report has not yet been publically released by the 
National Academy of Sciences. Public disclosure of the evaluation 
results would significantly impede implementation of the NAEP 
assessment and reporting program if conducted in open session. Such 
matters are protected by exemption 9(B) of Sec.  552b(c) of Title 5 of 
the United States Code.
    Thereafter, the Governing Board will have a short break and 
reconvene from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. to receive an update on 
committee reports and take action on the R&D recommended release plan 
for the 2016 NAEP Arts assessment. The Governing Board will also take 
action on a joint delegation of authority to COSDAM and the Executive 
Committee for providing an official response to the Evaluation of NAEP 
Achievement Levels.
    Following a short break, from 10:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., the 
Governing Board will meet in open session from 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. 
to receive a briefing on draft Governing Board guidelines for 
Releasing, Reporting, and Disseminating Results.
    The November 19, 2016 meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 11:45 a.m.
    Access to Records of the Meeting: Pursuant to FACA requirements, 
the public may also inspect the meeting materials at www.nagb.gov 
beginning on Thursday, November 17, 2016 by 10:00 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.thefederalregister.org/fdsys. At this site you can view this document, as well 
as all other documents of this Department published in the Federal 
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    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 
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by the Department.

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

    Dated: October 26, 2016.
William J. Bushaw,
Executive Director, National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), U. S. 
Department of Education.
[FR Doc. 2016-26194 Filed 10-28-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P