Goodnight Distinguished Professor in Early Literacy Devin Kearns Joins National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Advisory Board

NC State College of Education Goodnight Distinguished Professor in Early Literacy Devin Kearns has been invited to join an advisory committee for the National Center for Education Statistics’ National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Part of the U.S. Department of Education and Institute of Education Sciences, and often referred to as “the nation’s report card,” NAEP provides information about how students are performing academically across the country. 

“I’m grateful to have the opportunity to support the nation’s effort to assure that all children are academically successful. Achieving literacy for all students is one of our nation’s greatest priorities, and I’m honored to be able to work with the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics to make sure we are assessing literacy progress in the most effective possible way,” Kearns said. 

In this role, Kearns will serve a three-year term as part of the 15-member advisory board for reading assessment that provides feedback on item and task development, as well as guidance on development issues not addressed by the NAEP Reading Framework, for the NAEP reading assessments administered to students in grades four, eight and 12. 

Kearns said he looks forward to working with his fellow committee members to ensure these assessments are rigorous, statistically sound, comprehensive of essential literacy skills and accurately measure the reading performance of all students. 

“One important reason I accepted the Goodnight professorship and came to NC State was to support the state’s intensive efforts to improve literacy achievement for all North Carolina children. This work is a natural extension of that goal; I will bring my passion for improving literacy to the national level,” he said.