THREE NEW APPOINTEES NAMED TO INDEPENDENT NATIONAL STUDENT ASSESSMENT BOARD

Iowa Governor, Vanderbilt University education researcher and Texas high school principal join the bipartisan National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for "The Nation’s Report Card"

WASHINGTON (May 18, 2005) — Governor Thomas J. Vilsack of Iowa, Vanderbilt University researcher Andrew C. Porter and high school principal Oscar Troncoso of Texas have been appointed to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), the organization announced today.  

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings designated Vilsack and Porter for their respective NAGB posts.  Each will serve through 2008. 

A member of the Executive and Education, Early Childhood and Workforce Committees of the National Governors’ Association, Vilsack has named improving educational opportunities among his Administration’s top priorities.

Past-President of the American Educational Research Association, Porter is the Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Educational Research and Policy at Vanderbilt University. 

Socorro High School principal Oscar Troncoso has been instructional leader of the second largest high school in El Paso since 2003.  He was designated for this position by former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, and will serve a term through 2006.  Troncoso is the only high school principal currently serving on the board.

The 24-member National Assessment Governing Board develops policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as “The Nation’s Report Card,” the only continuing assessment of what America’s students know and can do in various subjects. 

NAGB is involved in a number of activities, including:

• selecting the subjects to be assessed;
• identifying learning objectives for each grade examined;
• identifying appropriate achievement goals; and
• ensuring that all items selected for use in the assessment are free from racial, cultural, gender, or regional bias.

The independent, bipartisan board was established by the Hawkins-Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988 (P.L. 100-297).  NAGB membership is comprised of state governors, legislators, educators, testing experts and curriculum specialists, as well as business and industry representatives, parents, and persons representing the general public.

For more information about the National Assessment Governing Board, its membership, and activities, visit www.nagb.org.