You may already know that back-to-school time means that nominations and applications are being accepted to join the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) a year from now. Here’s why you—and topnotch colleagues and friends—should take this seriously.
NAGB is, quite simply, the most important K–12 policy-making body in America, short of Congress itself. (And unlike Congress of late, it actually makes decisions—almost always collaborative, non-partisan decisions—and gets stuff done.)
No disrespect to the New York Board of Regents, the Tennessee State Board of Education, or a hundred other essential policy bodies at the state level. Here I’m talking about the national level. That’s where the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) matters and where its governing board matters.
NAEP measures and reports what U.S. students know and can do across almost every K–12 subject. It does that in grades four, eight, and twelve, and in the core subjects of math and reading, it reports those results not just for the country as a whole, but also for individual states and a growing number of cities. Not only does it tell us whether our kids are gaining or losing ground, its “basic,” “proficient,” and “advanced” levels are benchmarks against which states and districts (and federal officials) gauge the adequacy and rigor of their own standards and tests. They’re the closest thing the U.S. has to national standards for K–12 education.
But who makes all those decisions? They don’t come from ChatGPT. They don’t come from the U.S. Department of Education bureaucracy (though NCES has essential roles). They don’t come down from some higher power, nor from Congress, the Secretary of Education, or the White House.
They come from NAGB. NAGB decides what will be assessed, how often, how it will be reported, what questions will be on the tests, how they’ll be administered, how to accommodate special-needs students, and maybe most important, where to set those cut-points on the scale that denote proficiency, etc. NAGB is who decides “how good is good enough” in American K–12 education.
What’s more, NAGB has the authority to make such decisions. Unlike the Education Department’s myriad “advisory” and “operational” committees, NAGB is a true governing board. Its statutory powers are extensive, exhaustive even, and (says the law), “In the exercise of its responsibilities, the Assessment Board shall be independent of the Secretary and the other offices and officers of the Department.”
That’s why I say it’s the most important K–12 policy-making body in America.
How this came to be in a multi-chapter story that began a half century ago and took its more-or-less present form in a 1988 statute combined with 2002’s No Child Left Behind act. (You can read all about it in Assessing the Nation’s Report Card: Challenges and Choice for NAEP and a shorter account of the standards-setting saga in “It Felt Like Guerilla Warfare.”)
I took part in some of that, and Secretary Bill Bennett asked me to help him appoint the first round of NAGB members—and then to chair the group myself, which I did for a couple of years at the start (1988–1990). It was a formative moment for the board and for NAEP, including the launch of state-level reporting (optional for states pre-NCLB) and the arduous birth of those “achievement level” lines across NAEP’s age-old “vertical scores.”
It was also an exhilarating time as two dozen individuals came together from all parts of the land, from every sort of political orientation and professional background—practicing educators, elected officials, state and local leaders, members of the “general public”—and forged a coherent, mutually respectful body that almost transcended constituency interests and personal preference in pursuit of a common good. We argued, we debated, we sometimes sparred with NCES management (for they actually operate NAEP), we summoned all manner of experts and advisors, we dug deep, we relied on a small but highly motivated staff—and ultimately, we nearly always found ways to come together with mostly-unanimous decisions about this very important testing program that was now our responsibility.
This work was satisfying, too. As I wrote in my book about NAEP, “Many NAGB alums keep in touch with teach other and with NAEP goings-on. Many look back on their board terms as challenging but gratifying public service that they’re exceptionally proud of. Many also recall their NAGB experience as valuable professional development for themselves and their careers.”
With rare exceptions, NAGB has continued in that mode for more than three decades. But to make that happen, it needs smart, committed, hard-working members who are game to roll up their sleeves, work with their colleagues, and commit a lot of time and effort to a venture for which the main reward is the sense of having done the job as well as it can be done. (Expenses get covered and there’s a very modest honorarium that doesn’t begin to compensate for one’s labor.)
The Secretary of Education appoints NAGB members, but they’re nearly always chosen from among those the board itself nominates. So the first step in joining NAGB is to apply—or get nominated—to the board. That window is open now and will stay open through October. You can read all the particulars here.
Six slots need to be filled by September 2024. They are
- General Public Representative - Parent Leader
- Local School Board Member
- Non-Public School Administrator
- State Legislator - Democrat
- State Legislator - Republican
- Testing and Measurement Expert
If you or someone you know might qualify in one of those roles—and you surely know people who do—please consider applying (or nominating). Yes, it’s hard work. But, especially in our post-pandemic achievement slump, the country has never relied on NAEP as much as it does today.
Besides, as I said at the start, we’re not making small talk. We’re talking about the most important K–12 policy-making body in America. Become part of it.
