I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1611

To authorize grants to local educational agencies for teacher mentoring 

programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 3, 2003

Mr. HONDA (for himself, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. 

FROST, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Ms. 

HOOLEY of Oregon, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. INSLEE, 

Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. HOLT, Ms. SOLIS, Ms. 

LOFGREN, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. EHLERS, 

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. 

BECERRA, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. CASE, Mr. OWENS, and Mr. ENGEL) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To authorize grants to local educational agencies for teacher 

mentoring programs.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Teacher Mentoring 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) High-quality teaching is essential to improv2 ing the Nation’s educational system. 

3 (2) High teacher turnover rates severely ham4 per the ability to create and maintain a high-quality 

5 teaching and learning environment. 

6 (3) Approximately one-third of the Nation’s 

7 new teachers leave the teaching profession during 

8 their first 3 years of teaching, and almost one-half 

9 leave during their first 5 years of teaching. 

10 (4) Turnover is highest in low-income schools, 

11 where the turnover rate is almost one-third higher 

12 than the corresponding rate for all teachers in all 

13 schools. 

14 (5) Teachers who have left the profession report 

15 that better support for beginning teachers is among 

16 the 5 top policy reforms that would help school sys17 tems retain more teachers. 

18 (6) Teachers without mentoring programs have 

19 been shown to leave the profession at a rate almost 

20 70 percent higher than those with mentoring pro21 grams. 

22 (7) It is in the best interest of the United 

23 States to ensure that all students have access to a 

24 high-quality education through the promotion of 

25 mentoring programs that assist in the development 
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1 of highly qualified teachers, particularly in low-in2 come areas. 

3 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR TEACHER MENTORING PROGRAMS. 

4 (a) GRANTS.—Part C of title II of the Elementary 

5 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6671 

6 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘Subpart 6—Teacher Mentoring Programs 

8 ‘‘SEC. 2371. GRANT PROGRAM. 

9 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—For the purpose of pro10 viding guidance and assistance to new teachers and im11 proving teacher quality, the Secretary may award grants 

12 on a competitive basis to local educational agencies to es13 tablish or implement teacher mentoring programs. 

14 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—The Secretary may not award 

15 a grant under this section to a local educational agency 

16 unless the agency agrees to use the grant to establish or 

17 implement a teacher mentoring program that—

18 ‘‘(1) will establish and implement minimum 

19 qualifications for mentors; 

20 ‘‘(2) will provide training and stipends for men21 tors; 

22 ‘‘(3) will provide mentoring programs for teach23 ers in their first year of teaching; 

24 ‘‘(4) will provide regular and ongoing opportu25 nities for mentors and mentees to observe each oth-
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1 er’s teaching methods in classroom settings during 

2 the school day; 

3 ‘‘(5) will establish an evaluation and account4 ability plan for activities conducted under such grant 

5 that includes rigorous objectives to measure the im6 pact of such activities; and 

7 ‘‘(6) will report to the Secretary on an annual 

8 basis regarding the agency’s progress in meeting the 

9 objectives described in paragraph (5). 

10 ‘‘(c) LOW-PERFORMING SCHOOLS.—The Secretary 

11 may not award a grant under this section to a local edu12 cational agency unless the agency agrees that, in estab13 lishing or implementing a teacher mentoring program with 

14 the grant, the agency will prioritize funding for mentoring 

15 activities at elementary and secondary schools which the 

16 agency identifies under section 1116(b) as failing to make 

17 adequate yearly progress. 

18 ‘‘(d) DURATION.—Each grant awarded under this 

19 section shall be for a period of 3 years. 

20 ‘‘SEC. 2372. LOW-INCOME LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES. 

21 ‘‘(a) PRIORITY.—Of the grants awarded under sec22 tion 2371 for any fiscal year, the Secretary shall award 

23 not less than 50 percent of such grants to low-income local 

24 educational agencies. 
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1 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

2 term ‘low-income local educational agency’ means a local 

3 educational agency for which—

4 ‘‘(1) not less that 30 percent of the children 

5 served by the agency are from families with incomes 

6 below the poverty line; and 

7 ‘‘(2)(A) there is a high percentage of out-of8 field teachers (as that term is defined at section 

9 2102); 

10 ‘‘(B) the number or percentage of unfilled 

11 teaching positions at the schools served by such 

12 agency is higher than the corresponding number or 

13 percentage for not less than 75 percent of all the 

14 local educational agencies in the State; or 

15 ‘‘(C) there is a high teacher turnover rate. 

16 ‘‘SEC. 2373. EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION. 

17 ‘‘In awarding grants under this section, the Secretary 

18 should seek to ensure an equitable geographic distribution 

19 among the regions of the United States and among local 

20 educational agencies located in urban, rural, and suburban 

21 areas. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 2374. APPLICATION. 

23 ‘‘To seek a grant under this section, a local edu24 cational agency shall, at such time and in such manner 
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1 as the Secretary may require, submit an application to the 

2 Secretary containing the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) A plan for establishing a mentor program 

4 described in this subpart. 

5 ‘‘(2) A description of how the activities to be 

6 carried out under the program will improve new 

7 teacher experiences and increase teacher retention 

8 rates. 

9 ‘‘(3) A description of the research on teacher 

10 mentoring that is the basis for the plan. 

11 ‘‘(4) A description of the evaluation and ac12 countability plan to be established. 

13 ‘‘(5) Such other information as the Secretary 

14 may require. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 2375. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

16 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

17 this subpart such sums as may be necessary for each of 

18 fiscal years 2004 through 2009.’’. 

19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con20 tents at section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu21 cation Act of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item 

22 relating to section 2368 the following:

‘‘Subpart 6—Teacher Mentoring Programs 

‘‘Sec. 2371. Grant program. 

‘‘Sec. 2372. Low-income local educational agencies. 

‘‘Sec. 2373. Equitable distribution. 

‘‘Sec. 2374. Application. 

‘‘Sec. 2375. Authorization of appropriations.’’.
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1 (c) REPORT.—Not less than 3 years after the date 

2 of the first award of a grant under the program estab3 lished by the amendments made by this section, the Sec4 retary of Education shall submit a report to the Congress 

5 on the results of such program, including the impact of 

6 mentoring programs assisted under this Act on teacher re7 tention rates.

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