A bill to create a national set of effective voluntary national expectations for mathematics and science education in kindergarten through grade 12, and for other purposes.

Summary: National Mathematics and Science Consistency Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to convene and oversee a panel to produce, for kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12), voluntary national expectations for science and mathematics education, promising practices in teaching such subjects, and sample assessment questions based on the expectations. Requires such expectations to be based on core ideas in mathematics and science education common to all states, and the promising teaching practices to be developed by identifying proven and effective teaching materials or the need for new materials. Requires the panel also to develop and coordinate professional development criteria that would prepare teachers to incorporate such expectations into their teaching.

Requires the Secretary to award grants to states to: (1) develop instructional materials based on the promising practices in teaching mathematics and science; (2) ensure that the infrastructure and technical assistance to provide such instructional materials online and free of charge to school personnel is available; and (3) train K-12 mathematics and science teachers to use the instructional materials and assessment questions in teaching.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Mathematics and Science 
Consistency Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States has fallen behind other 
        industrialized countries in terms of competing in a global 
        economy. This deterioration is due in large part to the 
        diminishing number of well-trained people in the fields of 
        mathematics, science, and technology, as well as the decrease 
        in scientific innovations generated from the United States in 
        recent years.
            (2) Not only did the United States produce fewer graduates 
        in mathematics, science, and engineering in 2002 than it did in 
        1985, but the United States is also generating far fewer 
        college graduates in those fields than other countries. In 
        China, 59 percent of undergraduates receive degrees in science 
        and engineering and in Japan, 66 percent receive such degrees, 
        but in the United States, only 32 percent of undergraduates 
        receive degrees in science and engineering.
            (3) United States students are scoring far behind students 
        in other countries on international mathematics and science 
        assessments. A recent Trends in International Mathematics and 
        Science Study (TIMSS), the largest and most comprehensive 
        comparative international study of education, found that 12th 
        graders in the United States ranked 21st out of 40 
        industrialized countries on general knowledge in mathematics 
        and science. Furthermore, the Programme for International 
        Student Assessment (PISA), an organization that compiles 
        reports on the reading and mathematics skills of 15-year-olds, 
        found that the United States ranked 28th out of 40 nations 
        surveyed in mathematics literacy.
            (4) In the United States, each State has its own set of 
        standards and curriculum for mathematics and science education 
        in kindergarten through grade 12, with its own definition of 
        proficiency for these standards. When each State's definition 
        of proficiency is compared to a national model, less than 40 
        percent of the students in grade 4, and only 17 percent of the 
        students in grade 12, reach the national proficiency level in 
        mathematics. In addition, approximately \1/3\ of the students 
        in grades 4 and 8, and nearly \1/2\ of the students in grade 
        12, do not reach the basic level in science, according to the 
        recent National Assessment of Educational Progress.
            (5) In its report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: 
        Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic 
        Future, the National Academy of Sciences recommends that the 
        Department of Education should collect ``effective K-12 
        materials that would be available free of charge as a voluntary 
        national curriculum that would provide an effective standard 
        for K-12 teachers''. The National Academy of Sciences advocates 
        for the creation of world-class national benchmarks and a 
        national curriculum in order to ensure students are receiving 
        the skills needed to successfully compete in a global economy.

SEC. 3. DEVELOP VOLUNTARY NATIONAL EXPECTATIONS FOR MATHEMATICS AND 
              SCIENCE EDUCATION IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE 12.

    (a) Agreement With the National Academy of Science.--The Secretary 
of Education shall enter into a contract with the National Academy of 
Sciences of the National Academies for the National Academy of Sciences 
to convene and oversee a panel, subject to the requirements of this 
section, that shall produce voluntary national expectations for 
mathematics and science education, accompanied by promising practices 
in teaching mathematics and science and assessment items for each 
expectation, for kindergarten through grade 12, in accordance with 
subsection (c).
    (b) Members of Panel.--
            (1) Member qualifications.--Each member of the panel 
        described in subsection (a) shall have substantial knowledge or 
        experience relating to--
                    (A) education, mathematics, or science policy or 
                programs; or
                    (B) mathematics or science curricula educational 
                content development.
            (2) Composition of panel.--In selecting the members of the 
        panel described in subsection (a), the National Academy of 
        Sciences shall ensure that--
                    (A) each member has the qualifications required 
                under paragraph (1);
                    (B) the panel is broadly representative of 
                scientists, practitioners, educators, parents, and 
                representatives from entities with expertise in 
                education, mathematics, and science;
                    (C) a majority of the members of the panel are 
                parents directly involved in the kindergarten through 
                grade 12 education process; and
                    (D) the members of the panel who are educators and 
                parents proportionately represent--
                            (i) the different demographic areas of the 
                        United States, including urban, suburban, and 
                        rural schools; and
                            (ii) public and private schools.
    (c) Duties of Panel.--The panel described in subsection (a) shall--
            (1) identify the core ideas in mathematics and science 
        common to all States;
            (2) develop a minimum comprehensive set of voluntary 
        national expectations for mathematics and science education, 
        based on the core ideas in mathematics and science common to 
        all States, that are taken, or adapted, from--
                    (A) the State mathematics and science standards, as 
                of the date of enactment of this Act, that are found to 
                be effective; or
                    (B)(i) the most recent National Science Education 
                Standards developed by the National Science Teacher 
                Association; and
                    (ii) the most recent Standards for School 
                Mathematics developed by the National Council of 
                Teachers of Mathematics;
            (3) develop promising practices in teaching mathematics and 
        science by--
                    (A) identifying proven, effective, kindergarten 
                through grade 12 mathematics and science teaching 
                materials that exist as of the date of enactment of 
                this Act; and
                    (B) identifying the need for new mathematics and 
                science teaching materials;
            (4) develop sample assessment questions based on each 
        voluntary national expectation, for teachers to use throughout 
        the school year to guide instruction;
            (5) establish a mechanism for the distribution of the 
        voluntary national expectations, promising practices, sample 
        assessment questions, and other information, identified or 
        developed under this subsection; and
            (6) develop and coordinate professional development 
        criteria that would prepare teachers to incorporate the 
        voluntary national expectations into the teachers' classroom 
        instruction.
    (d) Dissemination.--The Secretary of Education shall--
            (1) disseminate information, in accordance with the 
        recommendations of the panel described in subsection (a), to 
        entities such as State educational agencies; and
            (2) otherwise make the materials collected by the panel 
        available and accessible to local educational agencies and 
        schools.
    (e) Personnel Matters.--
            (1) Compensation of members.--The contract described in 
        subsection (a) shall provide that each member of the panel who 
        is not an officer or employee of the Federal Government shall 
        be compensated at a rate equal to the daily equivalent of the 
        annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level IV of the 
        Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States 
        Code, for each day (including travel time) during which such 
        member is engaged in the performance of the duties of the 
        panel. All members of the panel who are officers or employees 
        of the United States shall serve without compensation in 
        addition to that received for their services as officers or 
        employees of the United States.
            (2) Travel expenses.--The contract described in subsection 
        (a) shall provide that members of the panel shall be allowed 
        travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at 
        rates authorized for employees of agencies under subchapter I 
        of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from 
        their homes or regular places of business in the performance of 
        services for the panel.
    (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary 
for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012.

SEC. 4. GRANTS TO STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.

    (a) In General.--From amounts appropriated under subsection (e) for 
a fiscal year, the Secretary of Education shall award grants, in an 
amount determined under subsection (b), to State educational agencies 
to enable the State educational agencies to carry out all of the 
following:
            (1) Contract with entities that publish educational 
        materials, in order to develop instructional materials based on 
        the promising practices in teaching mathematics and science 
        developed under section 3(c)(3) that effectively teach the 
        voluntary national expectations for mathematics and science 
        education developed under section 3(c)(2).
            (2) Ensure that the State educational agency has the 
        infrastructure and technical assistance necessary to provide 
        all instructional materials online and free of charge to 
        teachers and school faculty and staff.
            (3) Train mathematics and science teachers in kindergarten 
        through grade 12--
                    (A) to effectively use instructional materials to 
                teach the voluntary national expectations for 
                mathematics and science education developed under 
                section 3(c)(2); and
                    (B) to use the assessment questions developed under 
                section 3(c)(5) to steer instruction.
    (b) Formula for Grants.--The Secretary of Education shall award a 
grant for a fiscal year to each State educational agency that submits a 
complete application under subsection (c) in an amount that bears the 
same relation to the amount appropriated for this section for such 
fiscal year, as the number of students served by the State educational 
agency for such fiscal year bears to the total number of students 
served by all State educational agencies that submit complete 
applications for such fiscal year.
    (c) Application.--A State educational agency desiring a grant under 
this section shall submit an application to the Secretary of Education 
at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the 
Secretary may require. The application shall include a description of 
the activities that will be carried out through a grant under this 
section.
    (d) Report.--Not later than 60 days after the last day of the grant 
period, a State educational agency receiving a grant under this section 
shall prepare and submit a report to the Secretary of Education 
describing the results of the grant.
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section a total of $100,000,000 for 
fiscal years 2008 through 2012.

SEC. 5. REPORT.

    Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and 
annually thereafter, the Secretary of Education shall--
            (1) study the effects of the voluntary national 
        expectations for mathematics and science education, and the 
        promising practices in teaching mathematics and science, 
        developed under section 3 on student achievement on the 
        National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Trends in 
        International Mathematics and Science Study, and the Programme 
        for International Student Assessment, for the most recent year 
        available, as compared to the effects of State standards and 
        curricula on student achievement on such assessments; and
            (2) shall prepare and submit a report to Congress on the 
        Secretary's findings.