As the National Assessment Governing Board marks its 20th anniversary, it looks back at its stewardship of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) with understandable pride. NAEP existed for 20 years before the Board was established to provide an independent governance structure for the assessment. During its first two decades, NAEP tested only national and regional samples of students. Its reports were generally considered technically excellent. But while they may have been groundbreaking in the assessment field, they were little noticed and played virtually no role in shaping educational policy or practice. NAEP received little political heat in exchange for casting modest educational light--a tacit trade making NAEP non-controversial and inconsequential. For the past 20 years, the Board has been second-guessed often, but never criticized for politically motivated decisions. The Governing Board's political purity explains why the Board was eventually given the job of developing the Voluntary National Tests (VNT). This paper takes a look at the history of the National Assessment Governing Board and the Voluntary National Tests. Appendices include: (1) Archived Information for Voluntary National Tests; (2) Sec. 447. Prohibition on Federally Sponsored Testing; and (3) Tables about Draft Scenarios for the Proposed Voluntary National Test and (4) Implementation and Other Issues.