Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 102 Part 1.djvu/386

 102 STAT. 348

Reports.

Contracts.

Reports.

PUBLIC LAW 100-297—APR. 28, 1988

"(C) The Board shall have final authority on the appropriateness of cognitive items. "(D) The Board shall take steps to ensure that all items selected for use in the National Assessment are free from racial, cultural, gender, or regional bias. "(E) Each learning area assessment shall have goal statements devised through a national consensus approach, providing for active participation of teachers, curriculum specialists, local school administrators, parents and concerned members of the general public. "(F) The Secretary shall report to the Board at regular intervals of the Department's action to implement the decisions of the Board. "(G) Any activity of the Board or of the organization described in paragraph (1), shall be subject to the provisions of this subsection. "(7)(A) Not to exceed 10 percent of the funds available for this subsection may be used for administrative expenses (including staff, consultants and contracts authorized by the Board) and to carry out the functions described in paragraph (6)(A). "(B) For the purposes of its administrative functions, the Board shall have the authorities authorized by the Federal Advisory Committee Act and shall be subject to the open meeting provisions of that law. "(8)(A) Participation in the National and Regional Assessments by State and local educational agencies shall be voluntary. "(B) Participation in assessments made on a State basis shall be voluntary. The Secretary shall enter into an agreement with any State which desires to carry out an assessment for the State under this subsection. Each such agreement shall contain provisions designed to assure— "(i) that the State will participate in the assessment; "(ii) that the State will pay from non-Federal sources the nonFederal share of participation; and "(iii) that the State agrees with the terms and conditions specified in subsection (a)(2)(C)(iv). "(C)(i) For each fiscal year, the non-Federal share for the purpose of clause (ii) of subparagraph (B) shall be the cost of conducting the assessment in the State including the cost of administering the assessment at the school level for all schools in the State sample and the cost of coordination within the>6tate. "(ii) The non-Federal share of payments under this paragraph may be in cash or in kind. "(9)(A) The Commissioner shall provide for continuing reviews of the National Assessment, including validation studies by the National Center for Education Statistics and solicitation of public comment on the conduct and usefulness of the National Assessment. The Secretary shall report to the Congress, the President, and the Nation on the findings and recommendations of such reviews. The Commissioner shall consider the findings and recommendations in designing the competition to select the organization through which the Office carries out the National Assessment. "(B) The Commissioner shall, not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of the National Assessment of Educational Progress Improvement Act, publish a report setting forth plans for the collection of data for the 1990 assessment and plans for including other subject areas in the 1992 and later assessments. The report shall include methods by which the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress may be reported so that the results

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