To direct the Secretary of Education to make grants to high-need local educational agencies to establish teaching residency programs.

Summary: Preparing Excellent Teachers Act of 2007 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to make competitive, three-year, matching grants to high-need local educational agencies (LEAs) to establish and support teacher residency programs under which residents engage in rigorous master's level coursework at a college or university with which the LEA has an agreement while undertaking a guided teaching apprenticeship alongside a mentor teacher.

Requires mentor teachers to have at least five years of teaching experience at a school in the high-need LEA and a master's degree in education or teaching.

Requires program participants to attain full state teaching certification prior to completing the program and accept placement for at least five academic years thereafter in a school chosen by the high-need LEA.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preparing Excellent Teachers Act of 
2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The shortage of qualified teachers in the United States 
        has reached critical levels.
            (2) Education experts agree that looming teacher retirement 
        and shortages of effective teachers in low-performing schools 
        create a great demand for quality teachers.
            (3) Nearly 50 percent of new teachers leave in the first 5 
        years.
            (4) These numbers have a direct impact on the quality of 
        the education of the children of the United States.
            (5) Inexperienced teachers are less effective than teachers 
        with several years of experience. Successful teacher 
        preparation programs, providing ongoing support, can make 
        novice teachers effective more rapidly. The majority of new 
        teachers lack such support, and so leave the profession before 
        becoming effective.
            (6) Teacher candidates must see expert practices modeled 
        and must then practice them with ongoing mentoring support. 
        Teacher preparation often fails to provide the opportunity to 
        learn under the direct supervision of expert teachers working 
        in schools that effectively serve high-need students. Student 
        teaching is too often conducted in classrooms that do not model 
        effective practice, or in classrooms that do not serve high-
        need students, and the lessons learned do not generalize to 
        effective teaching in high-need schools.
            (7) It is critical to develop programs that increase the 
        probability recruits will succeed and stay in the high-need 
        classrooms where they are needed. Because many teacher 
        candidates choose to teach where they grew up or went to 
        college, it is important to have strong programs in hard-to-
        staff urban and rural locations. Teacher residency programs 
        effectively build teacher supply, since they recruit and 
        prepare candidates in the districts that sponsor them. Teacher 
        residency programs have demonstrated the capacity to recruit, 
        prepare, retain, and provide effective support for teachers in 
        high-need schools.

SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR TEACHER RESIDENCY PROGRAMS.

    (a) In General.--Part C of title II of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965 is amended by adding at the end the following:

                ``Subpart 6--Teacher Residency Programs

``SEC. 2371. GRANTS FOR TEACHER RESIDENCY PROGRAMS.

    ``(a) In General.--From amounts made available to carry out this 
section, the Secretary shall make grants to high-need local educational 
agencies to assist such agencies to establish and support teacher 
residency programs. Such agencies are encouraged to work with non-
profit community-based organizations that have experience in teacher 
residency programs.
    ``(b) Teacher Residency Programs.--
            ``(1) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term 
        `teacher residency program' means a school-based teacher 
        preparation program in which a prospective teacher--
                    ``(A) teaches alongside a teacher of record (who is 
                designated as the mentor teacher) for at least 1 
                academic year;
                    ``(B) receives coursework in the teaching of the 
                content area in which the teacher will become certified 
                to teach;
                    ``(C) receives instruction in planning, content, 
                pedagogy, student learning, and assessment, management 
                of the classroom environment, and professional 
                responsibilities, including interaction with families 
                and colleagues and use of assessment data to modify and 
                improve instruction;
                    ``(D) attains full State certification to teach 
                prior to completion of the program; and
                    ``(E) receives a midpoint review.
            ``(2) Design.--To receive assistance under this section, a 
        teacher residency program shall be designed to meet the 
        following characteristics of successful programs:
                    ``(A) Teacher residency programs integrate pedagogy 
                and classroom practice by partnering with institutions 
                of higher education to ensure residents engage in 
                rigorous master's level coursework while undertaking a 
                guided teaching apprenticeship. Lessons learned from 
                the residency program will be used to inform teacher 
                training at the institution of higher education.
                    ``(B) Residents teach alongside an experienced 
                mentor teacher. Experienced mentor teachers complement 
                the residency program so that classroom clinical 
                practice is tightly aligned with coursework. 
                Experienced mentor teachers may receive additional 
                compensation for participating in the program.
                    ``(C) Experienced mentor teachers shall have extra 
                responsibilities as teacher leaders of the teacher 
                residency program, as mentors for residents, and as 
                teacher coaches during the induction of novice 
                teachers. These responsibilities include establishing, 
                within the program, a learning community in which all 
                individuals are expected to continually improve their 
                capacity to advance student learning.
                    ``(D) The director of the teacher residency program 
                shall establish and publish clear criteria for 
                selection of experienced mentor teachers based on 
                measures of teacher effectiveness and the appropriate 
                subject area knowledge. Evaluation of teacher 
                effectiveness shall be based on observation of domains 
                including each of the following:
                            ``(i) Planning and preparation, including 
                        demonstrated knowledge of content, pedagogy, 
                        and assessment, including the use of formative 
                        assessment to improve student learning.
                            ``(ii) Appropriate instruction that engages 
                        students with different learning styles.
                            ``(iii) Collaboration with colleagues to 
                        improve instruction.
                            ``(iv) Appropriate and fair analysis of 
                        gains in student learning. When feasible, this 
                        shall include valid and reliable objective 
                        measure of the influence of teachers on the 
                        rate of student academic progress.
                    ``(E) Teacher residency programs group teacher 
                candidates in cohorts to facilitate professional 
                collaboration among residents.
                    ``(F) Teacher residency programs admissions goals 
                and priorities are developed in concert with the hiring 
                objectives of the local educational agency, which 
                commits to hire graduates from the residency program. 
                Residents learn to teach in the same district in which 
                they will work, learning the instructional initiatives 
                and curriculum of the district.
                    ``(G) Teacher residency programs support residents 
                once they are hired as teachers of record. Residencies 
                continue to provide professional development and 
                networking opportunities to support residents through 
                their first years of teaching.
            ``(3) Experienced mentor teacher defined.--In this section, 
        the term `experienced mentor teacher' means a teacher who--
                    ``(A) has at least five years teaching experience 
                teaching in a school in the high-need local educational 
                agency that is the recipient of a grant under this 
                section; and
                    ``(B) has a masters degree in education or 
                teaching.
    ``(c) Persons Eligible To Participate.--To be eligible to 
participate in a teacher residency program under this section, a mid-
career professional or recent college graduate shall become enrolled 
simultaneously in a masters degree program in education or teaching in 
a university or college that--
            ``(1) has entered into a written agreement relating to such 
        program with the high-need local educational agency that is the 
        recipient of a grant under this section; and
            ``(2) is accredited by the Council of Higher Education 
        Accreditation and the accrediting agency in the State in which 
        the high-need local educational agency is located, if any.
    ``(d) Participants To Receive Practical Experience.--A participant 
in a teacher residency program under this section shall, under the 
supervision of an experienced mentor teacher, complete not fewer than 
ten months teaching a class containing not more than 30 students in a 
school chosen by the high-need local educational agency that is the 
recipient of a grant under this section.
    ``(e) Participant To Agree To Be Placed in a School.--A participant 
in a teacher residency program under this section shall agree in 
writing to be placed, after successfully completing the program, as a 
teacher in a school chosen by the high-need local educational agency. 
Such placement shall be for a period of at least 5 academic years 
beginning with the academic year that begins after the participant 
successfully completes the program. The school chosen for the placement 
shall be in a high-need, underserved area. A participant who fails to 
complete the period of the placement (or the first 5 academic years of 
the placement, if the period is more than 5 academic years) is required 
to pay back the cost of the training.
    ``(f) Amount, Number, and Distribution of Grants.--
            ``(1) Amount.--A grant under this section shall be for a 
        period of three years, and shall include $2,500,000 for the 
        first year, $1,500,000 for the second year, and $1,000,000 for 
        the third year.
            ``(2) Number.--The Secretary may not make more than ten 
        such grants each fiscal year, beginning with fiscal year 2008.
            ``(3) Distribution.--A high-need local educational agency 
        may receive not more than one grant in each fiscal year.
    ``(g) Application.--To receive a grant under this section, a high-
need local educational agency shall submit to the Secretary an 
application at such time, in such manner, and containing such 
information as the Secretary may prescribe.
    ``(h) Selection.--The Secretary shall award grants under this 
section on a competitive basis.
    ``(i) Evaluation.--Of the amounts appropriated to carry out this 
section, the Secretary shall reserve up to 5 percent for an evaluation 
of the effectiveness of the program established under this section, in 
relation to the effectiveness of other programs that prepare teachers 
for employment with high-need schools and high-need local educational 
agencies, including, where feasible, value-added measures of learning 
gains of students taught by graduates of each teacher residency 
Program, to be conducted by the Institute of Education Sciences, the 
National Science Foundation, or the National Academy of Sciences, at 
the direction of the Secretary. Not later than 5 years after the date 
of the enactment of this section, the Secretary shall make the results 
of the evaluation public.
    ``(j) Matching Funds.--A high-need local educational agency that 
receives a grant under this section shall provide matching funds in an 
amount equal to 50 percent of grant funds provided to the agency under 
this section to carry out the activities supported by the grant, which 
may be provided by community partners, institutions of higher 
education, or others.
    ``(k) High-Need Local Educational Agency Defined.--In this section, 
the term `high-need local educational agency' means a local educational 
agency--
            ``(1) that is among the highest 20 percent of local 
        educational agencies in the State in terms of percentage of 
        students from families with incomes below the poverty line (as 
        defined in section 9101(33) of the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801(33)));
            ``(2) that is among the lowest 20 percent of local 
        educational agencies in the State on assessments required under 
        part A of title I, or, where feasible, the lowest 20 percent of 
        local educational agencies in the State in terms of measures of 
        teaching effectiveness; and
            ``(3) for which there is a high percentage of classes 
        taught by teachers not teaching in the academic subjects or 
        grade levels that the teachers were prepared to teach.
    ``(l) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 
through 2012 to carry out this section. Amounts appropriated are 
authorized to remain available until expended, and may be used by the 
Secretary to make additional grants, in accordance with this section, 
in a fiscal year beginning with fiscal year 2013.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents for that Act is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 2368 the 
following:
                ``subpart 6--teacher residency programs
``Sec. 2371. Grants for teacher residency programs.''.