Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 92 Part 2.djvu/1072

 92 STAT. 2352

PUBLIC LAW 95-561—NOV. 1, 1978 NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS

Grant or cooperative agreement. 20 USC 122 le.

Management. Assessment Policy G)mmittee, establishment and membership.

SEC. 1242. Section 405 of the General Education Provisions Act is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: "(k)(1) In addition to other responsibilities of the Institute under this section, the Institute shall carry out, by grant to or cooperative agreement (subject to the provisions of the Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act of 1977) with a nonprofit education organization, a National Assessment of Educational Progress which shall have as a primary purpose the assessment of the performance of children and young adults in the basic skills of reading, mathematics, and comr;ninication. Sucli a National Assessment shall— " (A) collect and report at least once every five years data assessing the performance of students at various age or grade levels in each of the areas of reading, writing, and mathematics; "(B) report periodically data on changes in knowledge and skills of such students over a period of time; "(C) conduct special assessments of other educational areas, as the need for additional national information arises; and "(D) provide technical assistance to State educational agencies and to local educational agencies on the use of National Assessment objectives, primarily pertaining to the basic skills of reading, mathematics, and communication, and on making comparisons of such assessments with the national profile and change data developed by the National Assessment. "(2)(A) The education organization through which the Institute carries out the National Assessment shall be responsible for overall management of the National Assessment. Such organization shall delegate authority to design and supervise the conduct of the National Assessment to an Assessment Policy Committee established by such organization. The Assessment Policy Committee shall be composed of— "(i) five members appointed by the education organization of whom two members shall be representatives of business and industry and three members shall be representatives of the general public, and "(ii) twelve members appointed by the education organization from the categories of membership specified in subparagraph (B). "(B) Members of the Assessment Policy Committee appointed in accordance with division (ii) of subparagraph (A) shall be— " (i) one chief State school officer; "(ii) two State legislators; "(iii) two school district superintendents; " (iv) one chairman of a State board of education; " (v) one chairman of a local school board; " ^ vi) one Governor of a State; and "(vii) four classroom teachers. "(C) The Director of the Institute shall serve as an ex officio member of the Assessment Policy Committee. The Director shall also appoint a member of the National Council on Education Research to serve as a nonvoting member of the Assessment Policy Committee. "(D) Members appointed in accordance with divisions (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A) shall be appointed for terms of three years, except that (i) in the case of members appointed for fiscal year 1979, one third of the membership shall be appointed for terms of one year each and one third shall be appointed for terms of two years each, and (ii) appointments to fill vacancies shall be for such terms as

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