National Assessment Governing Board Reviews NAEP, NCES Activities, and IES Redesign
National Assessment Governing Board Reviews NAEP, NCES Activities, and IES Redesign
 
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December 2025

NAGB Accepting Nominations Through October 31 for Six Appointed Positions

The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), the independent, nonpartisan board responsible for setting policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and communicating its results, held its most recent quarterly board meeting on November 20 and 21. The agenda focused on updates from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and ongoing efforts to redesign the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

Matthew Soldner, acting director of IES and the acting commissioner for NCES, provided an overview of current NCES activities. He reported that core NCES data collections—including the Common Core of Data, the Private School Survey, and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System—are continuing as scheduled. In addition, several data releases are currently in pre-release stages, including the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study, the National Teacher and Principal Survey, and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies Program: Kindergarten cohort.

Amber Northern, senior adviser to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, shared updates on her work to reform IES. She highlighted the stakeholder engagement conducted through a request for information (RFI) on redesigning IES and summarized feedback relevant to NCES statistical activities and NAEP. Northern emphasized three priority areas for improvement: functionality, efficiency, and integration.

For NAEP specifically, discussions included upgrading the assessment platform to function across all browsers and operating systems, exploring the potential use of artificial intelligence to develop and pilot assessment items, and updating the NAEP data dashboard tool to better serve multiple audiences.

For NCES statistical activities, Northern highlighted several topics: options to shift NCES’s current slate of surveys to coordinated frames and coordinated operations, while looking toward continuous improvement and cost considerations particularly for NCES longitudinal studies; automated data validation; and integration of NCES data with other federal agencies, including through the National Secure Data Service.

The NAGB agenda also included discussion on potential updates to NAEP sampling given changes in K-12 education, the development of Next Generation NAEP, and state perspectives on the use of artificial intelligence for test item development and testing.