A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

   FOR RELEASE                            Contact:  Melinda Kitchell    April 28, 1994                                     (202) 401-1008

RILEY APPOINTS MOLONEY TO NATIONAL ASSESSMENT GOVERNING BOARD

U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley today announced the appointment of William J. Moloney to the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB).

Currently superintendent of Calvert County Public Schools in Prince Frederick, Md., Moloney will serve the remainder of a term expiring Sept. 30, 1995. He succeeds a member who resigned.

"As schools and states move toward standards-based learning, regular assessments of student performance will be one barometer of efforts to improve learning," Riley said. "The contributions of the board will continue to be critical to the reliability of the National Assessment as a measure of the progress we're making."

The 24-member board develops policy guidance for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the only continuing and representative assessment of what students know and can do in various subjects.

The board is involved in various activities, including:

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

The independent, bipartisan board was established by the Hawkins-Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988 (P.L. 100-297). The secretary selects members from nominees proposed by NAGB itself 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.