More Resources National Assessment  Governing Board

U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced today the appointment of six new members to the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), and the reappointment of one current member.

New members appointed to four-year terms effective October 1 are:

• Dwight Evans, Pennsylvania State Representative (Democrat), of Philadelphia

• Sheila Ford, principal, Horace Mann Elementary School, Washington D.C.

• Katy Harvey, principal, Bethesda, Chevy Chase High School, Bethesda, Md.

• Kim Kovial-Hess, fourth, grade teacher, Fell-Meyer Elementary School, Toledo, Ohio

• Amanda Avalone, eighth-grade teacher, Summit Middle School, Boulder, Colo.

• Raymond Simon, director, Arkansas Department of Education

Paige also reappointed John Stevens, executive director of the Texas Business and Education Coalition, to a four-year term.

These appointments follow Paige's recent selection of Darvin Winick as the new chairman of the governing board. Winick is a Research Fellow in education at the University of Texas and a career organizational consultant who was a founder and president of LWFW, a large, psychology and economics research and consulting firm.

The 26-member governing board formulates policy guidance for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the only national representative and continuing assessment of what students know and can do in various subjects.

The board is responsible for a number of activities, including:

• selecting the subjects to be tested;

• identifying assessment objectives and test specifications;

• ensuring that all items selected for use in the assessment are free from racial, cultural, gender or regional bias; and

• developing appropriate achievement goals.

The independent, bipartisan board was established in 1988. Members are appointed by the Secretary of Education in categories prescribed by law. The board must include governors or former governors, legislators, educators, testing experts and curriculum specialists, as well as business and industry representatives, parents and persons representing the general public.

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