[Federal Register: October 3, 1997 (Volume 62, Number 192)] [Notices] [Page 51838-51839] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr03oc97-57] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Advisory Council on Education Statistics, (ACES) AGENCY: Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of partially closed meetings. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of the forthcoming meetings of the Advisory Council on Education Statistics (ACES). Notice of these meetings are required under Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. This document is intended to notify the general public of their opportunity to attend. DATES: October 9-10, 1997. TIMES: October 9, 1997--Full Council, 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m., (open); 11:30 to 1:15 p.m., (closed); Management Committee, 1:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m., (open); Statistics Committee, 1:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. (open), Strategy/Policy 1:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. (open). October 10, 1997--Full Council 12 noon to 3:00 p.m. (open); Statistics Committee, 8:30 a.m.- 12:00 noon (open); Strategy/Policy Committee, 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon (closed); and Management Committee, 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon (open). LOCATION: The Phoenix Park Hotel, 520 North Capitol Street, NW., Washington, DC 20001. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Barbara Marenus, National Center for Education Statistics, 555 New Jersey Ave. NW., Room 400j, Washington, DC 20208-5530. Telephone (202) 219-1828. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Advisory Council on Education Statistics (ACES) is established under Section 406(c)(1) of the Education Amendments of 1974, Public Law 93-380. The Council is established to review general policies for the operation of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement and is responsible for advising on standards to insure that statistics and analyses disseminated by NCES are of high quality and are not subject to political influence. In addition, ACES is required to advise the Commissioner of NCES and the National Assessment Governing Board on technical and statistical matters related to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). The meetings of the Council are open to the public. The proposed agenda for the full Council includes the following: * A status report from the NCES Commissioner on major Center initiatives; * New member swearing -in; * The presentation of Committee reports; * A discussion on the development of an NCES periodical; * A discussion of strategic issues in technology facing NCES; and * A status report on the NAEP redesign and the development of a new request for proposal (RFP) for NAEP. Since the full Council's discussion on the implementation of the NAEP redesign includes reporting on plans for an upcoming procurement, this session must be closed to the public. The premature release of this information would result in the disclosure of information that would be likely to significantly frustrate implementation of the agency's proposed action. Such matters are protected by exemption (9)(B) of Section 552b (c) of title 5 U.S.C. Individual meetings of the three ACES subcommittees will focus on specific topics: * The agenda for the Management Committee includes discussion on the results from the 1996 Customer Service Survey and plans for the 1997 survey, plans for the development of partnerships with external organizations, and a discussion of ``capacity building'' activities for NCES. * The agenda for the Statistics Committee focuses on the development of a research agenda on the NAEP achievement level setting process. * The agenda for the Strategy/Policy Committee includes discussion of NCES procurement initiatives for 1999 and beyond, a new NCES database for budgeting and planning, and a discussion of design options for the redesign of the Schools and Staffing [[Page 51839]] Survey. Because the discussion will include information on planned procurements, this session must be closed to the public. The public disclosure of this information would be likely to significantly frustrate the implementation of planned agency action if conducted in open session. Such matters are protected by exemption (9)(B) of Section 552b (c) of Title 5 U.S.C. A summary of the activities and related matters, which are informative to the public and consistent with the policy of Title 5 U.S.C. 552b, will be available to the public within 14 days after the meetings. Records are kept of all Council proceedings and are available for public inspection at the Office of the Executive Director, Advisory Council on Education Statistics, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW, room 400J, Washington, DC 20208-7575. Ricky Takai, Acting Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement. [FR Doc. 97-26199 Filed 10-2-97; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4000-01-M