Alternative Routes to Teacher Certification Act of 1998

Summary: Alternative Routes to Teacher Certification Act of 1998 - Amends title V (Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Development) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to add a new part G, Alternative Routes to Teacher Certification, to increase the supply of well-qualified elementary school and secondary school teachers. 
Authorizes appropriations. 
Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award competitive grants to eligible partnerships to recruit, prepare, and retain high quality individuals who plan to enter teaching from another occupational field. 
Sets forth requirements for grant duration and continuation, partnership eligibilty and applications, uses of funds, evaluation, and non-Federal matching funds.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Alternative Routes to Teacher 
Certification Act of 1998''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) If current trends continue, American schools will need 
        to hire more than two million teachers in the next decade to 
        educate an increasing number of students and to replace current 
        teachers who will retire or leave the profession.
            (2) There are highly qualified individuals who serve in 
        other occupations that are interested in pursuing a teaching 
        career; in 1996, ten percent of all teachers at the elementary 
        or secondary level worked in an occupation outside of education 
        in the previous year.
            (3) Schools are having trouble recruiting qualified 
        teachers. Nearly three-quarters of physical science students 
        and one-third of English students in high-poverty schools take 
        classes from unqualified teachers. Urban and rural areas face 
        significant challenges in finding highly qualified teachers.
            (4) In addition, while one-third of American students in 
        1998 are members of minority groups, members of racial and 
        ethnic minorities make up only 13 percent of the teaching 
        force. In 1988, only eight percent of teacher education 
        students enrolled in a national representative sample of 
        college programs were minorities, while one study indicates 
        that more than one third of the alternative route candidates 
        were minorities.
            (5) The same study found that 69 percent of alternatively 
        certified teacher interns that are being trained to teach 
        mathematics would prefer to teach in an urban or city setting, 
        while only 14 percent of university-certified teacher 
        candidates in mathematics chose an urban or city setting.
            (6) Bringing distinctive life experiences and perspectives 
        into the classroom can enrich the instructional curriculum and 
        school climate, and enhance the quality of American education. 
        Alternative routes to certification programs help open the 
        teaching profession to individuals with high subject knowledge 
        and diverse life and professional experiences.
            (7) Alternative routes to certification partnerships will 
        target Federal dollars directly to local school districts that 
        desire to create a program that will attract qualified teachers 
        to areas of high need, which would include a shortage of 
        teachers in a subject-content area.
            (8) Alternative routes to certification programs should 
        help states develop new teacher-licensing policies based on 
        subject-matter knowledge, teaching knowledge, teaching skills, 
        and other performance-based examinations.

SEC. 3. ALTERNATIVE ROUTES TO TEACHER CERTIFICATION.

    Title V of the Higher Education Act of 1965 is amended by adding 
the end the following new part:

         ``PART G--ALTERNATIVE ROUTES TO TEACHER CERTIFICATION

``SEC. 599A. PURPOSE; PARTNERSHIP FUNCTIONS; AUTHORIZATION OF 
              APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``(a) Purpose.--The purpose of this part is to improve the supply 
of well-qualified elementary school and secondary school teachers--
            ``(1) by authorizing support for partnerships that will 
        have a significant impact on increasing the pool of qualified 
        teachers for the purpose of developing alternative routes for 
        preparing and certifying teachers in elementary and secondary 
        schools; and
            ``(2) by awarding grants to innovative programs that 
        recruit, prepare, and retain high quality individuals who plan 
        to enter teaching from another occupational field and seek to 
        become licensed teachers.
    ``(b) Partnership Functions.--A partnership under this part shall--
            ``(1) recruit highly qualified individuals who hold 
        postsecondary degrees in the academic subject area in which 
        they plan to teach or a closely related field and who--
                    ``(A) plan to enter teaching from another 
                occupational field and seek to become licensed 
                teachers, which may include paraprofessionals seeking 
                to achieve full teacher certification; teachers whom 
                the partner local educational agencies have hired under 
                `emergency certification' procedures; or former 
                military personnel, mid-career professionals, or 
                AmeriCorps or Peace Corps volunteers who desire to 
                enter teaching; or
                    ``(B) recent college graduates who (i) have a 
                record of academic distinction, and (ii) hold a 
                bachelor of arts degree in the academic subject area in 
                which they plan to teach or a closely related field;
            ``(2) meet the needs of participating schools in addressing 
        high demand areas; and
            ``(3) encourage States to develop new teacher-licensing 
        policies based on subject-matter knowledge, teaching knowledge, 
        teaching skills, and other performance-based examinations.
    ``(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this part $15,000,000 for fiscal year 1999, 
and such sums as necessary for 4 succeeding fiscal years.

``SEC. 599B. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

    ``(a) Grants by the Secretary.--The Secretary is authorized to 
award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible applicants for the 
purposes of recruiting, preparing, and retaining high quality 
individuals who plan to enter teaching from another occupational field.
    ``(b) Grants Duration; Continuation.--The Secretary shall make 
competitive grants to partnerships, subject to the availability of 
appropriations, for a period not to exceed 5 years, including no more 
than 1 year to be used for planning and preparation. The Secretary may 
make continuation awards only after determining satisfactory progress. 
The Secretary shall conduct an extensive review of progress, with the 
assistance of outside experts, before making a continuation award for 
the 4th year.

``SEC. 599C. GRANT APPLICATIONS AND CONTRACTS.

    ``To receive an award under this subpart, an eligible applicant 
shall submit to the Secretary an application that--
            ``(1) designates a fiscal agent for the partnership;
            ``(2) contains a description of how the partnerships will 
        develop an alternative route to a certification program that 
        leads to an increased pool of highly qualified individuals 
        entering the teaching profession;
            ``(3) contains information on the quality of the program, 
        and how the applicants will ensure that high quality applicants 
        will be recruited and prepared;
            ``(4) contains a description of the assessment that the 
        partnership has undertaken to determine the critical teacher 
        recruitment needs of the local educational agency;
            ``(5) contains a description of recruitment and outreach 
        efforts; number and types of students that will be served under 
        the program, which may include paraprofessionals, `emergency 
        certification' hires; former military personnel, mid-career 
        professionals or returned Peace Corps or AmeriCorps volunteers;
            ``(6) contains a description of--
                    ``(A) how the partnership will use funds to 
                increase the number of recruits with high potential to 
                be effective teachers that participate in its 
                alternative certification program;
                    ``(B) the criteria applicant will use to select 
                students;
                    ``(C) how the partnership will develop and 
                implement performance criteria for program and 
                candidate evaluation;
                    ``(D) how the State agency will develop new 
                teacher-licensing policies based on subject-matter 
                knowledge, teaching knowledge, teaching skills, and 
                other performance-based examinations;
                    ``(E) the activities that will be carried out under 
                the grant, including a description or justification of 
                support services and induction program that will be 
                offered to participating recruits; and
                    ``(F) the commitments by the local educational 
                agency partner to hire qualified individuals who 
                complete the alternative certification program.

``SEC. 599D. USES OF FUNDS.

    ``(a) Required Activities.--In order to increase the pool of highly 
qualified individuals entering the teaching profession by developing 
alternative routes to certification, and to encourage States to develop 
new teacher-licensing policies based on subject-matter knowledge, 
teaching knowledge, teaching skills, and other performance-based 
examinations, each partnership selected to receive a grant under this 
part shall use the grant funds for each of the following purposes:
            ``(1) To develop, design, and implement programs that 
        recruit and train highly qualified individuals to become 
        licensed to teach in elementary and secondary schools.
            ``(2) To undertake an assessment to determine the critical 
        needs of the local educational agency, particularly in terms of 
        teacher recruitment.
            ``(3) To develop outreach and recruitment efforts to 
        attract high quality individuals.
            ``(4) To develop new teacher-licensing policies based on 
        subject-matter knowledge, teaching knowledge, teaching skills, 
        and other performance-based examinations.
            ``(5) To develop an induction program, to include mentoring 
        and support services.

``SEC. 599E. EVALUATION.

    ``The Secretary shall evaluate programs under this part. Such 
evaluation shall include--
            ``(1) an evaluation of the effectiveness of the program in 
        ensuring all teachers have demonstrated subject-matter 
        knowledge, teaching knowledge, and teaching skills necessary to 
        teach effectively in the content area or areas in which he or 
        she will provide instruction;
            ``(2) a comparison of student achievement outcomes between 
        teachers certified through grant alternative program and 
        teachers certified through traditional programs; and
            ``(3) an assessment of increases in the pool of qualified 
        applicants to alleviate teacher shortage in underserved areas, 
        including minority individuals.

``SEC. 599F. DEFINITIONS.

    ``(a) For purposes of this part:
            ``(1) Eligible applicant.--The term `eligible applicant' 
        means a partnership of--
                    ``(A) the State agency responsible for 
                certification of teachers;
                    ``(B) 1 or more local education agencies that--
                            ``(i) are eligible for assistance for title 
                        I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
                        of 1965; and
                            ``(ii) have an enrollment of children 
                        counted under section 1124(c) of that Act that 
                        exceeds 30 percent of the total enrollment of 
                        the district; and
                    ``(C) 1 or more nonprofit organizations, including 
                institutions of higher education, that prepare teachers 
                for their initial entry into the teaching profession.
        Partnerships may also include 2-year colleges, other public and 
        private, nonprofit agencies and organizations that serve, or 
        are located in, communities served by the local education 
        agencies in the partnership, and that have a record of training 
        teachers.
            ``(2) Alternative route to certification.--The term 
        `alternative route to certification' means a program, 
        specifically for individuals who have at least a bachelor's 
        degree, to obtain initial teacher licensure and to teach in 
        elementary and secondary schools, and in which the awarded 
        licenses are equal to licenses issued to teachers who complete 
        a traditional teacher education program route.
            ``(3) Highly qualified individuals.--The term `highly 
        qualified individuals' means individuals who have demonstrated 
        the subject matter knowledge, the ability to attain teaching 
        knowledge, and teaching skills necessary to teach effectively 
        in the content area or areas in which he or she will provide 
        instruction.
    ``(b) Matching Requirement.--The Federal share of the cost of 
activities carried out under a grant shall not exceed 75 percent. The 
non-Federal share of activities may be provided in cash or in kind, and 
may be obtained from any non-Federal public or private source.''.