U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the appointment and re-appointment of six National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) members. The 26-member governing board develops policy guidance for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the only continuing assessment of what students have learned in various subjects.

The following members are being newly appointed to the board:

• Carol D'Amico, president and chief executive officer, Conexus Indiana
• Anitere Flores, state representative, District 114, Florida House of Representatives
• Eileen Weiser, general public representative, Michigan

The following members are being re-appointed to the board:

• David Alukonis, chairman, Hudson School Board in Hudson, New Hampshire
• Andrew Porter, dean, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
• Mary Frances Taymans, executive director, Secondary Schools Department of the National Catholic Educational Association

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 or regional bias.

The independent, bipartisan board was established by the Hawkins-Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988. 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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