I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3535 

To improve outcomes for students in persistently low-performing schools, 

to create a culture of recognizing, rewarding, and replicating educational 

excellence, to authorize school turnaround grants, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 1, 2011 

Mr. POLIS (for himself and Mrs. DAVIS of California) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To improve outcomes for students in persistently low-performing schools, to create a culture of recognizing, rewarding, and replicating educational excellence, to authorize school turnaround grants, 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 ‘‘Achieving Change in 

5 Education Act’’ or the ‘‘ACE Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are to— 


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1 (1) significantly improve outcomes for students 

2 in persistently low-performing schools by— 

3 (A) building the capacity of State edu4 cational agencies and local educational agencies 

5 to improve student academic achievement in 

6 low-performing and persistently low-performing 

7 schools; 

8 (B) supporting States and local edu9 cational agencies in implementing school inter10 vention models; and 

11 (C) targeting State and local supports and 

12 strategies on the persistently lowest-performing 

13 schools in each State; and 

14 (2) create a culture of recognizing, rewarding, 

15 and replicating educational excellence in every State 

16 by— 

17 (A) providing financial and other incen18 tives and rewards to schools that are identified 

19 as reward schools; and 

20 (B) supporting State educational agency 

21 efforts to identify, collect, and disseminate ef22 fective practices for increasing student aca23 demic achievement used by reward schools. 


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1 TITLE I—ADDITIONAL 

2 ACCOUNTABILITY PROVISIONS 

3 SEC. 101. ADDITIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY PROVISIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Elementary and Secondary 

5 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amend6 ed by inserting after section 1116 the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 1116A. REWARD SCHOOLS AND PERSISTENTLY LOW8 PERFORMING SCHOOLS. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 1116 or 

10 any other provision of this part, each State educational 

11 agency that receives funds under this part shall identify 

12 reward schools and persistently low-performing schools in 

13 the State and take the actions described with respect to 

14 those schools, in accordance with this section. 

15 ‘‘(b) IDENTIFICATION OF REWARD SCHOOLS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State educational 

17 agency that receives funds under this part shall an18 nually identify as reward schools public elementary 

19 schools or secondary schools served by the State that 

20 are making significant progress, as determined by 

21 the State educational agency, in closing the achieve22 ment gap and increasing student academic achieve23 ment, student growth, and, at the high school level, 

24 graduation rates, for students in the aggregate and 


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1 for all subgroups of students identified under section 

2 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II). 

3 ‘‘(2) REWARD SCHOOLS.—Each school that is 

4 identified as a reward school under paragraph (1)— 

5 ‘‘(A) is eligible for recognition and rewards 

6 under subsection (e); and 

7 ‘‘(B) may use funds provided under this 

8 part, except for those funds related to serving 

9 special populations under parts C and D of this 

10 title, title III, and title VII, in a comprehensive 

11 and coordinated manner, to design innovative 

12 programs consistent with the requirements of 

13 title IX. 

14 ‘‘(c) IDENTIFICATION OF PERSISTENTLY LOW-PER15 FORMING SCHOOLS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State educational 

17 agency that receives funds under this part shall 

18 identify as a persistently low-performing school, a 

19 public elementary school or secondary school that, 

20 based on the percentage of students scoring at or 

21 above the proficient level of academic achievement in 

22 each of the subjects included in a State’s account23 ability system under section 1111(b)(2) is not mak24 ing progress and— 


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1 ‘‘(A) in the case of a school that is an ele2 mentary school, is in the bottom 5 percent of 

3 the State’s public elementary schools, as ranked 

4 in accordance with paragraph (2); 

5 ‘‘(B) in the case of a school that is a sec6 ondary school and does not award high school 

7 diplomas, is in the bottom 5 percent of the 

8 State’s public secondary schools that do not 

9 award a high school diploma, as ranked in ac10 cordance with paragraph (2); or 

11 ‘‘(C) in the case of a secondary school that 

12 does award high school diplomas, is in the bot13 tom 5 percent of the State’s public secondary 

14 schools that award high school diplomas, as 

15 ranked in accordance with paragraph (3), or 

16 has a graduation rate below 60 percent, or 

17 both. 

18 ‘‘(2) SCHOOLS THAT DO NOT AWARD HIGH

19 SCHOOL DIPLOMAS.—To determine if a school that 

20 does not award a high school diploma is a persist21 ently low-performing school, the State educational 

22 agency shall, not less frequently than once every 3 

23 years, rank all such public elementary schools and 

24 secondary schools served by the State on the basis 

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1 jects of students who score at least at the proficient 

2 level of academic achievement on the assessments 

3 that were most recently administered and included 

4 in the State accountability system required under 

5 section 1111(b)(2). 

6 ‘‘(3) SCHOOLS THAT AWARD HIGH SCHOOL DI7 PLOMAS.—To determine if a school that awards a 

8 high school diploma is a persistently low-performing 

9 school, the State educational agency shall, not less 

10 frequently than once every 3 years, rank all such 

11 schools on the basis of— 

12 ‘‘(A) the combined or averaged percentages 

13 across subjects of students who score at least at 

14 the proficient level of achievement on the read15 ing or language arts and mathematics assess16 ments required by section 1111(b)(3) that were 

17 most recently administered; and 

18 ‘‘(B) a graduation rate approved by the 

19 Secretary, with such rate given weight equal in 

20 determining the ranking to the weight of the 

21 factor described in subparagraph (A). 

22 ‘‘(4) SCHOOLS MAKING PROGRESS.—The State 

23 educational agency shall not identify as a persist24 ently low-performing school a school that is making 

25 significant progress as defined by the State, subject 


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1 to any limitations specified by the Secretary in regu2 lations. 

3 ‘‘(5) NO IDENTIFICATION OF CERTAIN

4 SCHOOLS.—The State may choose not to identify 

5 those schools in which the total number of students 

6 assessed is below the minimum group size used by 

7 the State to ensure the validity and reliability of 

8 State academic assessments described in section 

9 1111(b)(3) or to protect the privacy of individual 

10 students. 

11 ‘‘(6) SCHOOL INTERVENTION MODELS.—Each 

12 local educational agency that serves a school identi13 fied as a persistently low-performing school under 

14 this subsection shall select and implement 1 of the 

15 6 school intervention models described in section 205 

16 of the Achieving Change in Education Act in such 

17 school, and provide for family and community en18 gagement in the choice and implementation of the 

19 model selected in each case. 

20 ‘‘(d) NOTIFICATION.—Each State educational agency 

21 that receives funds under this part shall ensure that each 

22 local educational agency annually notifies the staff, par23 ents and students of each persistently low-performing 

24 school served by the local educational agency of this des25 ignation. 


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1 ‘‘(e) FUNDS FOR REWARD SCHOOLS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) ALLOTMENTS; ALLOCATION TO STATES.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— 

4 ‘‘(i) ALLOTMENT.—In accordance 

5 with clause (ii), the Secretary shall allot 

6 among each of the 50 States, the District 

7 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

8 Rico, and the Secretary of the Interior for 

9 programs under this subsection in schools 

10 operated or funded by the Bureau of In11 dian Affairs, the total amount made avail12 able to carry out this subsection under 

13 paragraph (5) for any fiscal year, to carry 

14 out activities under this subsection. 

15 ‘‘(ii) DETERMINATION OF ALLOT16 MENTS.—The Secretary shall use the 

17 amount made available under clause (i) for 

18 a fiscal year to award a grant to each enti19 ty described in clause (i) in an amount 

20 that bears the same relation to such 

21 amount made available under clause (i) as 

22 the amount the entity received under this 

23 part for the preceding fiscal year bears to 

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1 scribed in clause (i) under this part for the 

2 preceding fiscal year. 

3 ‘‘(B) REALLOTMENT.—If an entity de4 scribed in subparagraph (A)(i) does not receive 

5 funds under this subsection, the Secretary shall 

6 reallot those funds to other entities described in 

7 subparagraph (A)(i) in the same proportion in 

8 which funds are allotted under subparagraph 

9 (A). 

10 ‘‘(2) STATE APPLICATION.—Each State edu11 cational agency desiring to receive a grant under 

12 this subsection shall submit an application to the 

13 Secretary at such time, in such manner, and con14 taining such information as the Secretary may re15 quire. At a minimum, each application shall in16 clude— 

17 ‘‘(A) a description of how the State edu18 cational agency will distribute funds under this 

19 program, by formula or through a competitive 

20 process, to local educational agencies serving re21 ward schools identified under subsection (b); 

22 ‘‘(B) a description of how the State edu23 cational agency will take into account poverty 

24 rates within local educational agencies and 


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1 schools proposed to be served when distributing 

2 funds under this program; 

3 ‘‘(C) an assurance that the State edu4 cational agency will provide significant rewards 

5 and incentives under this subsection that are 

6 large enough to motivate changes in behavior by 

7 schools throughout the State; 

8 ‘‘(D) a description of how the State edu9 cational agency will identify, collect, and dis10 seminate information on effective practices for 

11 increasing student achievement that are used by 

12 the reward schools and how the State will cre13 ate communities of practice among reward 

14 schools, in order to share best practices and 

15 replicate successful strategies to assist lower16 performing schools and local educational agen17 cies; and 

18 ‘‘(E) a description of how the State will 

19 create mentoring partnerships between reward 

20 schools and other schools, including persistently 

21 low-performing schools, and local educational 

22 agencies in the State. 

23 ‘‘(3) STATE USE OF FUNDS.— 

24 ‘‘(A) STATE RESERVATION.—A State edu25 cational agency that receives a grant under 


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1 paragraph (1) shall use not less than 90 per2 cent of the grant funds to make subgrants in 

3 accordance to paragraph (4) to local edu4 cational agencies serving reward schools to 

5 carry out the activities described in paragraph 

6 (4). 

7 ‘‘(B) STATE ACTIVITIES.—A State edu8 cational agency that receives a grant under 

9 paragraph (1) shall use any portion of its grant 

10 funds that it does not use under subparagraph 

11 (A) to carry out the following activities: 

12 ‘‘(i) Identifying, collecting, and dis13 seminating information on effective prac14 tices that are used by reward schools to in15 crease student achievement. 

16 ‘‘(ii) Supporting mentoring partner17 ships between reward schools and other 

18 schools, and local educational agencies, 

19 which may include persistently low-per20 forming schools. 

21 ‘‘(iii) Creating communities of prac22 tice among reward schools. 

23 ‘‘(iv) Administration of this sub24 section. 


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1 ‘‘(4) SUBGRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL

2 AGENCIES.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State educational 

4 agency shall make 1-year subgrants to local 

5 educational agencies serving reward schools. 

6 ‘‘(B) ACTIVITIES.—A local educational 

7 agency that receives a subgrant under this sub8 section shall use the funds— 

9 ‘‘(i) to provide tangible rewards for 

10 principals, teachers, and other staff in re11 ward schools; 

12 ‘‘(ii) to provide financial rewards to 

13 reward schools, which may be used at the 

14 school’s discretion, including for financial 

15 rewards or to improve or enrich the 

16 school’s or local educational agency’s pro17 gram; and 

18 ‘‘(iii) to provide reward schools with 

19 increased flexibility in making budgeting 

20 and staffing decisions, by— 

21 ‘‘(I) providing reward schools 

22 with priority in receiving Federal or 

23 State funds; 

24 ‘‘(II) reducing reporting require25 ments of reward schools; or 


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1 ‘‘(III) taking other actions to 

2 provide reward schools with greater 

3 autonomy. 

4 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

5 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

6 this subsection $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2013 

7 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 

8 5 succeeding fiscal years.’’. 

9 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

10 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

11 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

12 to section 1116 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 1116A. Reward schools and persistently low-performing schools.’’. 

13 TITLE II—SCHOOL 

14 TURNAROUND GRANTS 

15 SEC. 201. RESERVATION AND ALLOTMENTS. 

16 (a) RESERVATION FOR ACTIVITIES OF NATIONAL

17 SIGNIFICANCE.—From the amount appropriated under 

18 section 207 for a fiscal year, the Secretary may reserve 

19 not more than 10 percent to carry out activities of national 

20 significance, such as— 

21 (1) building State and local educational agency 

22 turnaround capacity, including— 

23 (A) through technical assistance and sup24 port; 


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1 (B) identification and dissemination of 

2 best practices; and 

3 (C) facilitating the creation and operation 

4 of communities of practice; 

5 (2) supporting the use of school quality review 

6 teams by making grants to State educational agen7 cies, consortia of such agencies, or partnerships of 

8 State educational agencies or State consortia and 

9 public or private nonprofit organizations to develop 

10 and implement school quality review teams that re11 view and provide support and technical assistance to 

12 local educational agencies and schools; 

13 (3) identifying and disseminating practices that 

14 are effective in rural areas such as rural turnaround 

15 practices, making available targeted technical assist16 ance in rural areas, and expanding the availability 

17 and capacity of turnaround partners that operate in 

18 rural areas; 

19 (4) identifying schools that are effectively im20 plementing school intervention models and other ef21 fective strategies to improve schools, and making in22 formation on those schools available to State edu23 cational agencies, local educational agencies, and 

24 schools in a manner that facilitates replication of ef25 fective practices; and 


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1 (5) other activities designed to support State 

2 and local efforts to turn around persistently low-per3 forming schools. 

4 (b) ALLOTMENT TO STATES.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

6 (A) ALLOTMENT.—In accordance with sub7 paragraph (B), the Secretary shall allot among 

8 each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, 

9 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the outlying 

10 areas, and the Secretary of the Interior for pro11 grams under this title in schools operated or 

12 funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the 

13 amount made available to carry out this title 

14 under section 207 for a fiscal year and not re15 served under subsection (a), to carry out activi16 ties under this title. 

17 (B) DETERMINATION OF ALLOTMENTS.— 

18 The Secretary shall use the amount made avail19 able under subparagraph (A) for a fiscal year 

20 to award a grant to each entity described in 

21 subparagraph (A) in an amount that bears the 

22 same relation to such amount made available 

23 under subparagraph (A) as the amount the en24 tity received under part A of title I of the Ele25 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 


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1 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.) for the preceding fis2 cal year bears to the amount received by all the 

3 entities described in subparagraph (A) under 

4 such part for the preceding fiscal year. 

5 (2) REALLOTMENT.—If an entity described in 

6 paragraph (1)(A) does not receive funds under this 

7 title, the Secretary shall reallot those funds to other 

8 entities described in paragraph (1)(A) in the same 

9 proportion in which funds are allotted under para10 graph (1). 

11 SEC. 202. APPLICATION. 

12 For a State to be eligible to receive a grant under 

13 section 201(b), the State educational agency shall submit 

14 an application to the Secretary at such time, in such man15 ner, and containing such information as the Secretary may 

16 reasonably require. At a minimum, each application shall 

17 include— 

18 (1) a copy of the application form and instruc19 tions that the State will use in making competitive 

20 subgrants under this title; 

21 (2) the criteria the State educational agency 

22 will use to determine whether each eligible applicant 

23 applying for a subgrant under section 204— 


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1 (A) has analyzed the needs of each school 

2 the eligible applicant seeks to serve and has se3 lected an appropriate intervention model; 

4 (B) has the capacity to implement fully 

5 and effectively the selected school intervention 

6 model; and 

7 (C) has submitted a budget that includes 

8 sufficient funds to implement fully and effec9 tively the selected school intervention model; 

10 (3) a description of how the State educational 

11 agency will set priorities for subgrants if the State 

12 educational agency does not have sufficient funds to 

13 support all persistently low-performing schools that 

14 eligible applicants have applied to serve; 

15 (4) the criteria the State educational agency 

16 will use to determine the quality of applications the 

17 State educational agency receives; 

18 (5) a description of how the State educational 

19 agency will— 

20 (A) monitor each subgrantee to ensure 

21 that the subgrantee is fully and effectively im22 plementing the selected school intervention 

23 model and is improving student achievement 

24 and making progress on leading indicators; and 


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1 (B) communicate, in a timely fashion, to 

2 each subgrantee about the— 

3 (i) State’s expectations for the sub4 grantee to make progress on leading indi5 cators; and 

6 (ii) consequences the State may im7 pose if the subgrantee fails to make such 

8 progress; 

9 (6) a description of how the State educational 

10 agency, in accordance with section 203(b)(1), will 

11 use the funds it reserves at the State level to provide 

12 technical assistance and other support to sub13 grantees; and 

14 (7) a description of how the State will— 

15 (A) help develop pipelines of teachers and 

16 leaders trained for turnaround schools; 

17 (B) collect and report data that informs 

18 the work of subgrantees; 

19 (C) encourage the clustering of turnaround 

20 schools; and 

21 (D) build capacity in the State educational 

22 agency for assisting turnaround schools. 

23 SEC. 203. STATE USE OF FUNDS. 

24 (a) STATE RESERVATION.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para2 graph (2), a State that receives a grant under sec3 tion 201(b) shall use not less than 90 percent of the 

4 grant funds to make competitive subgrants to eligi5 ble applicants under section 204 to carry out the 

6 purposes of this title. 

7 (2) EXCEPTION FOR SCHOOL TAKEN OVER BY

8 THE STATE.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a 

9 State may, subject to regulations of the Secretary, 

10 reserve from the amount to be used to make sub11 grants under paragraph (1) such funds as are nec12 essary to implement a school intervention model, ei13 ther directly or through a turnaround partner des14 ignated by the State, in a school that has been taken 

15 over by the State. 

16 (b) STATE ACTIVITIES.—A State that receives a 

17 grant under section 201(b) shall use any portion of the 

18 grant funds that the State educational agency does not 

19 use to make subgrants under subsection (a) to carry out 

20 activities designed to build State capacity to support 

21 school improvement. These activities may include— 

22 (1) providing technical assistance and other 

23 support, either directly, or through the creation of a 

24 school turnaround office, or through turnaround 

25 partners, to eligible applicants, which may include 


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1 the use of school quality review teams or regular site 

2 visits to monitor the implementation of selected 

3 models; 

4 (2) evaluating State and local implementation 

5 of school intervention models and other improvement 

6 activities, and using the results to improve State 

7 strategies for supporting and providing flexibility for 

8 targeted schools; 

9 (3) providing subgrants to turnaround partners 

10 to enable the turnaround partners to increase their 

11 capacity to help turn around schools; 

12 (4) developing pipelines of teachers and leaders 

13 trained for turnaround schools; 

14 (5) collecting and reporting data that informs 

15 the work of subgrantees; 

16 (6) supporting collaborations or coalitions of 

17 turnaround schools; and 

18 (7) building capacity in the State educational 

19 agency for assisting turnaround schools. 

20 SEC. 204. SUBGRANTS TO ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS. 

21 (a) DURATION.—A State educational agency— 

22 (1) shall award subgrants under this section for 

23 a period of not more than 3 years; and 

24 (2) may extend a subgrant awarded under this 

25 section for an additional 2-year period if the State 


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1 educational agency determines that schools served by 

2 the eligible applicant are making sufficient progress, 

3 as described in subsection (f). 

4 (b) APPLICATION.—In order to receive a subgrant 

5 under this section, an eligible applicant shall submit an 

6 application to the State educational agency at such time, 

7 in such form, and including such information as the State 

8 educational agency may reasonably require. Each applica9 tion shall include, at a minimum— 

10 (1) a description of the process the applicant 

11 has used for selecting an appropriate school inter12 vention model for each school to be served (which 

13 process shall include family and community input as 

14 to which of the school intervention models is most 

15 likely to improve student achievement), including in16 formation on the magnitude and intensity of the 

17 challenges facing the school and its students and the 

18 capacity of the school to improve student perform19 ance, and has considered such information in select20 ing the model; 

21 (2) the school intervention model to be used in 

22 each school to be served and the timeline for imple23 menting the selected school intervention model in 

24 each school to be served; 


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1 (3) a detailed budget covering the grant period, 

2 including planned expenditures at the school level 

3 and by the eligible applicant for activities supporting 

4 full and effective implementation of the selected 

5 intervention model; 

6 (4) a description of how the eligible applicant 

7 will— 

8 (A) design and implement interventions 

9 consistent with the requirements of the selected 

10 school intervention model, including how the ap11 plicant will use appropriate leading indicators 

12 and student achievement measures to monitor 

13 the effectiveness of implementation; 

14 (B) use a rigorous review process to re15 cruit, screen, and select turnaround partners 

16 with which the local educational agency will 

17 partner; 

18 (C) align other Federal, State, and local 

19 resources with the interventions; 

20 (D) modify practices and policies, if nec21 essary, to provide site-based operational flexi22 bility that enables full and effective implemen23 tation of the selected school intervention model; 

24 (E) collect and use data on an ongoing 

25 basis to adjust implementation of the school 


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1 intervention model during implementation 

2 (while maintaining consistency with the require3 ments of section 205) in order to achieve the 

4 desired outcomes; 

5 (F) ensure that the implementation of the 

6 school intervention model addresses the needs 

7 of all subgroups described in section 

8 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II) of the Elementary and 

9 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

10 6311(b)(2)(C)(v)(II)) in each school to be 

11 served; and 

12 (G) sustain successful reforms and prac13 tices after the funding period ends; 

14 (5) a description of the technical assistance and 

15 other support that the eligible applicant will provide 

16 to ensure effective implementation of intervention 

17 models in eligible schools, which may include— 

18 (A) assistance in data analysis; 

19 (B) recruiting staff; 

20 (C) teacher evaluation; 

21 (D) professional development; 

22 (E) coordination of services to address stu23 dents’ social, emotional, and health needs; 


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1 (F) facilitating the creation and operation 

2 of professional learning communities and com3 munities of practice; and 

4 (G) progress monitoring; and 

5 (6) an assurance that each school the applicant 

6 proposes to serve will receive all of the State and 

7 local funds it would have received in the absence of 

8 these funds. 

9 (c) AUTHORITY.—A State educational agency shall 

10 use not less than 90 percent of a grant received under 

11 section 201(b) to make subgrants, on a competitive basis, 

12 to eligible applicants. 

13 (d) CRITERIA.—Subgrants awarded under this sec14 tion shall be of sufficient size to enable subgrantees to im15 plement the selected intervention model fully and effec16 tively. 

17 (e) PRIORITY.—In making subgrants under this sec18 tion, a State educational agency shall give priority to an 

19 eligible applicant if the applicant— 

20 (1) demonstrates that it has a sufficient pool of 

21 effective educators within or outside the local edu22 cational agency to staff low-performing schools and 

23 a comprehensive plan to recruit retain, reward, and 

24 improve staff using comprehensive evaluation sys25 tems; 


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1 (2) demonstrates the support of school manage2 ment, teachers, community partners, and public 

3 stakeholders to implement strategies described in 

4 section 205; 

5 (3) demonstrates school leaders have sufficient 

6 flexibility in making budgeting, staffing, and pro7 gram decisions; and 

8 (4) demonstrates the ability to collect, report, 

9 and use data to inform decisionmaking and to target 

10 resources at the school level. 

11 (f) ACCOUNTABILITY.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible applicant that 

13 receives a subgrant under this section shall dem14 onstrate sufficient progress annually, as defined by 

15 the State, on the core academic indicators and lead16 ing indicators described in subsection (g). 

17 (2) ADDITIONAL TWO-YEAR GRANT PERIOD FOR

18 SUFFICIENT PROGRESS.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara20 graph (B), an eligible applicant that makes suf21 ficient progress on core indicators described in 

22 subsection (g) and leading indicators described 

23 in subsection (g) shall be eligible for an exten24 sion of the applicant’s subgrant for an addi25 tional 2-year period. 


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1 (B) DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY.—In 

2 determining whether an eligible applicant is eli3 gible for an extension under subparagraph (A), 

4 the Secretary shall give less weight to the 

5 progress made by the applicant on leading indi6 cators described in subsection (g) than on the 

7 progress made by the applicant on core indica8 tors described in subsection (g). 

9 (3) INSUFFICIENT PROGRESS.—An eligible ap10 plicant that does not make sufficient progress, as 

11 described under paragraph (1) and determined by 

12 the State educational agency, shall be required to— 

13 (A) modify their existing school interven14 tion model; 

15 (B) restart the school using the restart 

16 model described in section 205(a)(2); or 

17 (C) close the school using the school clo18 sure model described in section 205(a)(3). 

19 (g) REPORTING.—Each eligible applicant that re20 ceives a subgrant under this section shall— 

21 (1) comply with the reporting and account22 ability requirements of part A of title I of the Ele23 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

24 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.) for each of the schools the eli25 gible applicant serves with subgrant funds; and 


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1 (2) monitor and report data, on an annual 

2 basis, to the State educational agency involved, that 

3 includes, with respect to students served by the ap4 plicant with grant funds received under this sec5 tion— 

6 (A) core academic indicators, such as— 

7 (i) percentage of students at or above 

8 each proficiency level on State assessments 

9 in reading or language arts and mathe10 matics; 

11 (ii) student progress toward core aca12 demic benchmarks, including academic lon13 gitudinal growth, as determined under the 

14 State’s accountability system; 

15 (iii) average scale scores on State as16 sessments in reading or language arts and 

17 in mathematics; 

18 (iv) percentage of English language 

19 learner students who attain English lan20 guage proficiency on the State’s summative 

21 language assessments; 

22 (v) graduation rates; 

23 (vi) college enrollment rates, including 

24 data for all students and for all subgroups 

25 of students identified under section 


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1 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II) of the Elementary 

2 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

3 U.S.C. 6311(b)(2)(C)(v)(II)); 

4 (vii) dropout rates; and 

5 (viii) reduction in the percentage of 

6 students in the bottom level of achievement 

7 on State assessments in reading or lan8 guage arts and mathematics, including 

9 data for all students and all subgroups of 

10 students identified under such section 

11 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II); and 

12 (B) leading indicators such as— 

13 (i) student attendance rates; 

14 (ii) number and percentage of stu15 dents completing advanced coursework; 

16 (iii) student participation rates on 

17 State assessments in reading or language 

18 arts and mathematics; 

19 (iv) discipline incident rates; 

20 (v) teacher attendance rates; and 

21 (vi) distribution of teachers by per22 formance level on the applicant’s teacher 

23 evaluation system; and 

24 (h) LOCAL ACTIVITIES.—An eligible applicant that 

25 receives a subgrant under this section— 


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1 (1) shall use the subgrant funds to— 

2 (A) implement 1 or more of the school 

3 intervention models described in section 205 in 

4 persistently low-performing schools; and 

5 (B) identify and address issues that may 

6 contribute to low academic achievement in such 

7 schools; and 

8 (2) may use such funds to— 

9 (A) provide comprehensive services to ad10 dress the issues identified pursuant to para11 graph (1)(B) and meet the full range of student 

12 needs; and 

13 (B) carry out local educational agency-level 

14 activities that directly support the implementa15 tion of the school intervention model selected 

16 for implementation, such as— 

17 (i) carrying out pre-implementation 

18 activities at the school or local educational 

19 agency level during the school year prior to 

20 the school year in which the local edu21 cational agency will fully implement the 

22 school intervention model; 

23 (ii) recruiting effective teachers and 

24 principals for the schools at which the local 


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1 educational agency will fully implement the 

2 school intervention model; 

3 (iii) implementing a rigorous process 

4 to evaluate the quality of charter manage5 ment organizations or education manage6 ment organizations applying to operate re7 start schools as described in section 205; 

8 or 

9 (iv) developing rigorous, transparent, 

10 and equitable teacher and principal evalua11 tion systems. 

12 SEC. 205. SCHOOL INTERVENTION MODELS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible applicant that re14 ceives a subgrant under section 204 shall select and imple15 ment any 1 of the following 6 school intervention models: 

16 (1) TRANSFORMATION MODEL.—A trans17 formation model is 1 in which the local educational 

18 agency— 

19 (A) if the principal has led the school for 

20 2 or more years, replaces the principal with a 

21 new principal who has demonstrated effective22 ness as an educator and leader; 

23 (B) uses rigorous, transparent, and equi24 table evaluation systems to— 


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1 (i) identify and reward school leaders, 

2 teachers, and other staff who, in imple3 menting the model, increase student 

4 achievement and, if applicable, high school 

5 graduation rates; and 

6 (ii) identify and remove school lead7 ers, teachers, and other staff who, after 

8 ample opportunities have been provided for 

9 such individuals to improve their profes10 sional practice— 

11 (I) do not increase student 

12 achievement; 

13 (II) if applicable, do not increase 

14 high school graduation rates; and 

15 (III) have not demonstrated ef16 fectiveness according to the local edu17 cational agency’s evaluation system; 

18 (C) provides staff with ongoing, high-qual19 ity, job-embedded professional development that 

20 is aligned with the school’s instructional pro21 gram and evaluation system and facilitates ef22 fective teaching and learning, and supports the 

23 implementation of school-reform strategies; 

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1 motion and career growth, and more flexible 

2 work conditions that are designed to recruit, 

3 place, and retain staff with the skills necessary 

4 to meet the needs of the students in the school; 

5 (E) uses data to identify and implement a 

6 research-based instructional program that is 

7 aligned with State challenging academic content 

8 standards and challenging student academic 

9 achievement standards; 

10 (F) in the case of a secondary school, pro11 vides graduation and postsecondary planning 

12 and transition supports; 

13 (G) promotes the continuous use of stu14 dent data to provide instruction that meets the 

15 academic needs of individual students, which 

16 may include, in elementary school, individual 

17 students’ levels of school readiness; 

18 (H) establishes schedules and strategies 

19 that provide significantly increased learning 

20 time, which may include expanding the day or 

21 year for all students in the school or expanding 

22 the school program to offer full-day kinder23 garten or a high-quality preschool program; 

24 (I) provides ongoing mechanisms for family 

25 and community engagement; 


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1 (J) gives the school sufficient operational 

2 flexibility in programming, staffing, budgeting, 

3 and scheduling to fully implement a comprehen4 sive strategy designed to substantially improve 

5 student achievement and, if applicable, increase 

6 the graduation rate; 

7 (K) ensures that the school receives ongo8 ing, intensive technical assistance and related 

9 support from the local educational agency, the 

10 State educational agency, or a designated exter11 nal lead partner organization; and 

12 (L) provides appropriate social-emotional 

13 and community-oriented services and supports 

14 for students and, at the discretion of the local 

15 educational agency, uses not more than 10 per16 cent of the funds available for such school 

17 under this part to provide services to meet 

18 those needs. 

19 (2) RESTART MODEL.—A restart model is 1 in 

20 which the local educational agency— 

21 (A) converts a school or closes and reopens 

22 the school— 

23 (i) under a charter school operator, a 

24 charter management organization, or an 

25 education management organization; or 


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1 (ii) as an autonomous or redesigned 

2 school; 

3 (B) implements a rigorous review process 

4 to select such a charter management organiza5 tion or education management organization, as 

6 applicable, which includes an assurance from 

7 such organization that it will make significant 

8 changes in the leadership and staffing of the 

9 school; and 

10 (C) enrolls in the school, within the grades 

11 it serves, any former student who wishes to at12 tend the school. 

13 (3) SCHOOL CLOSURE.—A school closure model 

14 is 1 in which the local educational agency— 

15 (A) closes a school and enrolls the students 

16 who attended such school in other schools 

17 served by the local educational agency that are 

18 higher performing, provided the other schools 

19 are within reasonable proximity to the closed 

20 school; and 

21 (B) provides information, in a timely fash22 ion, in the appropriate language, and prior to 

23 closing the school, to children who attended 

24 such closed school and their parents, about 


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1 high-quality educational options and transition 

2 and support services. 

3 (4) TURNAROUND MODEL.—A turnaround 

4 model is 1 in which the local educational agency— 

5 (A) if the principal has led the school for 

6 2 or more years, replaces the principal with a 

7 new principal who has demonstrated effective8 ness as an educator and leader; 

9 (B) gives the new principal sufficient oper10 ational flexibility (including over staffing, the 

11 school day and school calendar, and budgeting) 

12 to fully implement a comprehensive approach to 

13 improve student outcomes; 

14 (C) using comprehensive evaluation sys15 tems, including the use of student achievement 

16 data to measure the effectiveness of staff who 

17 can work within the turnaround environment to 

18 meet the needs of students— 

19 (i) screens all existing staff and re20 tains not more than 50 percent of such 

21 staff; and 

22 (ii) requires the principal to justify 

23 personnel decisions, such as hiring, dis24 missal, and providing rewards, based on 

25 results of such evaluations; 


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1 (D) provides staff with ongoing, high-qual2 ity, job-embedded professional development that 

3 is aligned with the school’s instructional pro4 gram, facilitates effective teaching and learning, 

5 and supports the implementation of school-re6 form strategies; 

7 (E) adopts a new governance structure for 

8 the school, which may include requiring the 

9 school to report to a new turnaround office in 

10 the local educational agency or State edu11 cational agency, hire a turnaround leader who 

12 reports directly to the superintendent or chief 

13 academic officer, or enter into a multi-year 

14 agreement with the local educational agency or 

15 State educational agency to obtain added flexi16 bility in exchange for greater accountability; 

17 (F) uses data to identify and implement a 

18 research-based instructional program and pro19 motes the continuous use of data to evaluate 

20 school improvement strategies and to inform 

21 the differentiated instruction in order to meet 

22 the academic needs of individual students; 

23 (G) establishes schedules and strategies 

24 that provide increased learning time, which may 

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1 quality preschool program, using a longer 

2 school day, week, or year schedule to signifi3 cantly increase the total number of school hours 

4 to include additional time for— 

5 (i) instruction in core academic sub6 jects, including English, reading or lan7 guage arts, mathematics, science, foreign 

8 languages, civics and government, econom9 ics, arts, history, and geography; 

10 (ii) instruction in other subjects and 

11 enrichment activities that contribute to a 

12 well-rounded education, including physical 

13 education, service learning, and experien14 tial and work-based learning opportunities 

15 that are provided by partnering, as appro16 priate, with other organizations; and 

17 (iii) teachers to collaborate, plan, and 

18 engage in professional development within 

19 and across grades and subjects; 

20 (H) provides ongoing mechanisms for fam21 ily and community engagement; 

22 (I) provides appropriate social-emotional 

23 and community-oriented services and supports 

24 for students; and 


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1 (J) may include any of the strategies de2 scribed in paragraph (1). 

3 (5) SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT MODEL.—A school 

4 engagement model is 1 in which the local edu5 cational agency— 

6 (A) if the principal has led the school for 

7 2 or more years, replaces the principal with a 

8 new principal who has demonstrated effective9 ness as an educator and leader; 

10 (B) establishes a year-round academic cal11 endar or increases the number of school days 

12 per year by at least 10 percent and increases 

13 learning time by at least 10 percent; 

14 (C) establishes an evidence-based student 

15 engagement system, to be approved by the 

16 State educational agency, that includes— 

17 (i) attendance and truancy improve18 ment and tracking approaches for all stu19 dents; 

20 (ii) evidence-based behavior identifica21 tion needs for all students, and evidence22 based behavior intervention and improve23 ment approaches for students as needed, 

24 which may include a multi-tier system of 

25 supports; and 


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1 (iii) grade-level literacy improvement 

2 interventions for all non-proficient students 

3 provided after-school by a supplemental 

4 education services provider; 

5 (D) if the school is a high school, the 

6 school must establish— 

7 (i) course credit recovery or mainte8 nance and tracking strategies for all stu9 dents; 

10 (ii) dropout recovery activities for all 

11 students who have dropped out; and 

12 (iii) concurrent enrollment opportuni13 ties for all students; 

14 (E) uses rigorous, transparent, and equi15 table evaluation systems to— 

16 (i) identify and reward school leaders, 

17 teachers, and other staff who, in imple18 menting the model, increase student 

19 achievement and high school graduation 

20 rates; and 

21 (ii) identify and remove those school 

22 leaders, teachers, and other staff who, 

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1 sional practice, do not improve student 

2 achievement; 

3 (F) provides ongoing, high-quality profes4 sional development to staff that is aligned with 

5 the school’s instructional program, facilitates 

6 effective teaching and learning, and supports 

7 the implementation of school-reform strategies; 

8 (G) implements strategies, such as finan9 cial incentives, increased opportunities for pro10 motion and career growth, and more flexible 

11 work conditions, that are designed to recruit, 

12 place, and retain staff with the skills that are 

13 necessary to meet the needs of the students in 

14 the school; 

15 (H) gives the school sufficient operational 

16 flexibility in programming, staffing, budgeting, 

17 and scheduling to fully implement a comprehen18 sive strategy that is designed to substantially 

19 improve student achievement and, if applicable, 

20 increase the graduation rate; 

21 (I) uses data to identify and implement a 

22 research-based instructional program that is 

23 aligned with State academic standards; and 

24 (J) promotes the continuous use of student 

25 data to provide instruction that meets the acaVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:43 Dec 02, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3535.IH H3535

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1 demic needs of individual students, which may 

2 include, in elementary schools, individual stu3 dents’ levels of school readiness. 

4 (6) EXPANDED SCHOOL CHOICE OPTION.—An 

5 expanded school choice model is one in which the 

6 local educational agency— 

7 (A) closes the school; 

8 (B) transfers students from the persist9 ently low-performing school that has been 

10 closed to 1 or more existing high-performing 

11 charter schools or high-performing traditional 

12 schools in the same or another local educational 

13 agency, upon an agreement or memorandum of 

14 understanding between the agency that served 

15 the closed school and the agency to which the 

16 students are transferred; and 

17 (C) expands the capacity of the high-per18 forming school or schools selected under sub19 paragraph (B) by transferring to such schools 

20 its allotment awarded under section 204 to be 

21 used for staffing and other student support, in22 cluding transportation to the high-performing 

23 school. 

24 (b) FLEXIBILITY.—Notwithstanding any other provi25 sion of this section, in carrying out a school intervention 


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1 model under this section, a local educational agency may 

2 continue to build on or complete actions it took in the 3 

3 years before the school year in which it begins to fully 

4 implement that model, including retaining a school prin5 cipal hired within that period to implement a turnaround 

6 plan in that school. 

7 SEC. 206. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this title— 

9 (1) ELIGIBLE APPLICANT.—The term ‘‘eligible 

10 applicant’’ means— 

11 (A) a local educational agency that receives 

12 funds under part A of title I of the Elementary 

13 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

14 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.) and serves at least 1 per15 sistently low-performing school; or 

16 (B) a local educational agency described in 

17 subparagraph (A) in partnership with a turn18 around partner. 

19 (2) ESEA TERMS.—Except as otherwise pro20 vided, any term used that is defined in section 9101 

21 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

22 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801) shall have the meaning given 

23 the term in such section. 


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1 (3) HIGH-PERFORMING.—The term ‘‘high-per2 forming’’ when used in relation to school means a 

3 school ranking— 

4 (A) in the top 25 percent in the State at 

5 student academic longitudinal growth; or 

6 (B) in the absence of such a State meas7 urement, in the top 25 percent in progress to8 ward core academic benchmarks, as determined 

9 under the State’s accountability system. 

10 (4) MULTI-TIER SYSTEM OF SUPPORTS.—The 

11 term ‘‘multi-tier system of supports’’ means a com12 prehensive system of differentiated supports that in13 cludes evidence-based instruction, universal screen14 ing, progress monitoring, formative assessment, and 

15 research-based interventions matched to student 

16 needs, and educational decisionmaking using student 

17 outcome data. 

18 (5) TURNAROUND PARTNER.—The term ‘‘turn19 around partner’’ means a public or private nonprofit 

20 organization that has a successful record of imple21 menting or supporting school intervention models. 

22 SEC. 207. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

23 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

24 this title $600,000,000 for fiscal year 2013 and such sums 


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1 as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal 

2 years. 

Æ 


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