U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the appointment of five new members to the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB).

New members appointed to four-year terms ending Sept. 30, 2011 are:

• Henry Kranendonk, mathematics curriculum specialist, Milwaukee Mathematics Partnership, Milwaukee;
• Louis M. Fabrizio, director, Division of Accountability Services, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Raleigh;
• Susan Pimentel, standards and curriculum specialist, Hanover, N.H.;
• Steve Paine, state school superintendent, West Virginia Department of Education;
• Warren T. Smith, vice chair, Washington State Board of Education

The 26-member governing board develops policy guidance for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the only continuing assessment of what students know and can do in various subjects at the elementary and secondary school levels. Under the No Child Left Behind law, which requires that states participate every two years in the national assessment's state-level samples for assessing reading and math achievement in grades four and eight, the national assessment has taken on a new role as an independent yardstick of school achievement. States are now able to compare trends on the national assessment with performance on their own state exams.

The board is involved in a number of activities, including:

• Selecting the subjects to be tested;
• Identifying learning objectives for each grade tested;
• Identifying appropriate achievement goals; and
• Ensuring that all items selected for use in the assessment are free from racial, cultural, gender and regional biases.

The secretary appoints members from nominees in categories prescribed by law. The independent, bipartisan board includes 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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