I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3464 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to promote civic 

learning and engagement, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2011 

Mr. HONDA (for himself and Mr. COLE) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants 

to promote civic learning and engagement, and for other 

purposes. 

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 ‘‘Sandra Day O’Connor 

5 Civic Learning Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that the Commissioner 

8 for Education Statistics, in administering the National As9 sessment of Educational Progress, should increase the 

10 sample size of students tested to improve disaggregation 

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1 and analysis of data regarding progress in history and 

2 civics. 

3 SEC. 3. CIVIC LEARNING GRANTS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart 3 of part C of title II 

5 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

6 (20 U.S.C. 6711 et seq.) is amended— 

7 (1) by repealing sections 2341 through 2344 

8 and inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 2341. CIVIC LEARNING GRANTS. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award com11 petitive grants to eligible entities for the development and 

12 implementation of programs to promote civic learning and 

13 engagement. 

14 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity shall use a 

15 grant received under this section to develop and implement 

16 a program to promote civic learning and engagement 

17 through instruction, professional development, and evalua18 tion activities that promote any of the following: 

19 ‘‘(1) Equity through access to funding and pro20 gram benefits, including— 

21 ‘‘(A) programs that meet the needs of stu22 dents with divergent learning styles, students of 

23 varying ethnic, racial, and socio-economic back24 grounds, and students who are English lan25 guage learners; and 

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1 ‘‘(B) resources that serve student popu2 lations that have not traditionally received op3 portunities for high quality, engaging civic 

4 learning, with a special emphasis on inner-city 

5 and rural underserved students. 

6 ‘‘(2) Innovation through design, settings, and 

7 delivery, including service learning, interactive on8 line programming, and other approaches to engaging 

9 students in active learning and civic participation. 

10 ‘‘(3) Scalability through broad, cost-effective 

11 implementation and institutionalization, including— 

12 ‘‘(A) use of the latest technological devel13 opments; 

14 ‘‘(B) an emphasis on programs designed to 

15 address relevant State and National educational 

16 standards; and 

17 ‘‘(C) utilization of low per-participant cost 

18 models of expanding the number of active stu19 dents and teachers. 

20 ‘‘(4) Accountability through assessment and 

21 identification of best practice models, including— 

22 ‘‘(A) independent research and evaluation 

23 to help assess the effects of civic education pro24 grams on students’ knowledge, skills, and traits 

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1 of character essential for the preservation and 

2 improvement of constitutional democracy; 

3 ‘‘(B) identifying techniques that succeed 

4 with traditionally underserved student popu5 lations; and 

6 ‘‘(C) evaluation of teachers’ knowledge and 

7 the adequacy of the teaching facility. 

8 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec9 tion, the term ‘eligible entity’ means a nonprofit edu10 cational organization.’’; and 

11 (2) by redesignating sections 2345 and 2346 as 

12 sections 2342 and 2343, respectively. 

13 (b) CONFORMING CHANGES.— 

14 (1) Section 2342 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 6715), 

15 as redesignated by subsection (a)(2), is amended— 

16 (A) in subsection (a)— 

17 (i) by striking ‘‘organizations de18 scribed in section 2343(a)(3)’’ each place it 

19 appears and inserting ‘‘organizations expe20 rienced in the development of curricula and 

21 programs in civics and government edu22 cation and economic education for students 

23 in elementary schools and secondary 

24 schools in countries other than the United 

25 States’’; and 

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1 (ii) by striking ‘‘use funds made avail2 able under grants or contracts under sec3 tion 2343 to’’; 

4 (B) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘the 

5 Center for Civic Education, the National Coun6 cil on Economic Education, and organizations 

7 described in section 2343(a)(3)’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘an entity specified in subsection (a)’’; 

9 (C) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘de10 scribed in section 2343’’ and inserting ‘‘speci11 fied in subsection (a)’’; and 

12 (D) in subsection (f)(2), by striking ‘‘the 

13 Center for Civic Education, the National Coun14 cil on Economic Education, or organizations de15 scribed in section 2343(a)(3)’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘an entity specified in subsection (a)’’. 

17 (2) The table of contents of such Act (20 

18 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended by striking the 

19 items relating to sections 2341 through 2346 and 

20 inserting the following: 

‘‘2341. Civic learning grants. 

‘‘2342. Cooperative civic education and economic education exchange programs. 

‘‘2343. Authorization of appropriations.’’. 

21 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

22 2343 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 6716), as redesignated by 

23 subsection (a)(2), is amended to read as follows: 

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1 ‘‘SEC. 2343. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated for each of 

3 fiscal years 2013 through 2018— 

4 ‘‘(1) $28,500,000 for grants under section 

5 2341; and 

6 ‘‘(2) $1,500,000 for programs under section 

7 2342.’’. 

Æ 

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