I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5015

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish

the model school dropout prevention grant program and the national

school dropout prevention grant program, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 27, 2000

Ms. BERKLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

of 1965 to establish the model school dropout prevention

grant program and the national school dropout prevention grant program, 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 ‘‘National Student

5 Dropout Prevention and Recovery Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Lowering the student dropout rate is one of

2 the most significant challenges facing educators

3 today. Students must stay in school in order to re4 ceive the education they need to succeed in the new

5 economy and contribute fully to American society.

6 (2) The ability of local educational agencies to

7 lower the student dropout rate has been inhibited by

8 the lack of focus at the Federal level and the limited

9 availability of appropriate dropout prevention-fo10 cused curriculum, instruction, professional develop11 ment, and administrative support services.

12 (3) According to the National Dropout Preven13 tion Network, it is at the local and community level

14 where school improvements and change occur that

15 will eventually have an impact on the graduation

16 rate of students. The focus of these efforts should be

17 concentrated on the most successful strategies that

18 research has identified as having an impact on in19 creasing the graduation rate. These strategies

20 encompass—

21 (A) systemic renewal;

22 (B) community collaboration;

23 (C) professional development;

24 (D) family involvement;

25 (E) early childhood education;
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1 (F) reading and writing programs;

2 (G) individualized instruction;

3 (H) instructional technologies;

4 (I) mentoring and tutoring;

5 (J) service learning;

6 (K) learning styles and multiple

7 intelligences;

8 (L) violence prevention and conflict resolu9 tion;

10 (M) career education and workforce readi11 ness;

12 (N) out-of-school experiences; and

13 (O) alternative public schooling.

14 (4) The National Dropout Prevention Network

15 has found that the strategies described in paragraph

16 (3) have been successful in all school levels from K–

17 12 in rural, suburban, or urban centers. When

18 schools or school districts develop a program im19 provement plan that encompasses most or all of

20 these strategies, positive outcomes will result.

21 (5) It is necessary to develop a number of

22 model dropout prevention programs to fully develop

23 the effective strategies listed above into comprehen24 sive dropout prevention programs. These model pro25 grams should be used as examples by schools across
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1 the country that wish to implement similar pro2 grams. Subsequently, a nationwide dropout preven3 tion program, in order to be effective, should be

4 based on these model programs.

5 (6) Dropout prevention and recovery programs

6 which are proven to be successful in lowering drop7 out rates need to be disseminated to school and com8 munity leaders willing to adapt and support these

9 innovative programs in their schools and community.

10 SEC. 3. SCHOOL DROPOUT PREVENTION GRANT PRO11 GRAMS.

12 Part C of title V of the Elementary and Secondary

13 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7261 et seq.) is amend14 ed to read as follows:

15 ‘‘PART C—SCHOOL DROPOUT PREVENTION

16 GRANT PROGRAMS

17 ‘‘Subpart 1—Model School Dropout Prevention Grant

18 Program

19 ‘‘SEC. 5311. AUTHORIZATION.

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of

21 Dropout Prevention and Program Completion shall award

22 grants to public elementary schools, middle schools, and

23 secondary schools that have established and are carrying

24 out school dropout prevention programs to provide those

25 schools with additional resources to develop such programs
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1 further, develop methods to assist other schools to imple2 ment similar programs, and provide for research on the

3 effects of such programs on the student populations of the

4 schools involved.

5 ‘‘(b) DURATION.—A grant under subsection (a) shall

6 be awarded for a period of not more than 5 years. A school

7 that desires to continue to receive funding for the purposes

8 described in subsection (a) shall apply for a grant under

9 the national school dropout prevention grant program

10 under subpart 2.

11 ‘‘SEC. 5312. REQUIRED ACTIVITIES.

12 ‘‘A school that receives a grant under section 5311

13 shall use amounts under the grant to establish and carry

14 out, or further develop, school dropout prevention pro15 grams, intervention programs, and recovery programs, in16 cluding as many of the following activities as possible: sys17 temic renewal, community and family participation, pro18 fessional development, early childhood education, reading

19 and writing programs, alternative public schooling, indi20 vidualized instruction, use of instructional technologies,

21 mentoring and tutoring, service learning, instruction that

22 recognizes that students learn in different ways (com23 monly referred to as ‘learning styles instruction’), violence

24 prevention and conflict resolution, career education and
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1 workforce readiness, out-of-school experiences, and a com2 prehensive plan for dropout prevention.

3 ‘‘SEC. 5313. APPLICATION; SELECTION OF SCHOOLS; FISCAL

4 AGENT.

5 ‘‘(a) APPLICATION.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each school desiring a

7 grant under section 5311 shall submit an applica8 tion, after review by the local educational agency of

9 the school, to the Director at such time, in such

10 manner, and accompanied by such information as

11 the Director may require.

12 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—A school desiring a grant

13 under section 5311 shall submit an application,

14 through the local educational agency of the school

15 under paragraph (1), that contains a description of

16 the current dropout prevention program of the

17 school.

18 ‘‘(b) SELECTION OF SCHOOLS.—

19 ‘‘(1) LIMITATION.—The Director may award

20 grants to not more than 20 schools under section

21 5311. Such schools shall have demonstrated success

22 in establishing and carrying out activities described

23 in section 5312.
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1 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION.—Grants awarded under sec2 tion 5311 shall be allocated among schools that meet

3 the following requirements:

4 ‘‘(A) 4 elementary schools that have estab5 lished and are carrying out early childhood edu6 cation programs.

7 ‘‘(B) 4 secondary schools that have estab8 lished and are carrying out academic interven9 tion programs and mediation programs.

10 ‘‘(C) 4 secondary schools that have estab11 lished and are carrying out intervention pro12 grams and recovery programs.

13 ‘‘(D) 4 schools (either elementary, middle,

14 or secondary) that are located in rural school

15 districts and that have demonstrated success in

16 establishing and carrying out 12 or more of the

17 activities described in section 5312.

18 ‘‘(E) 4 schools (either elementary, middle,

19 or secondary) that are located in urban school

20 districts and that have demonstrated success in

21 establishing and carrying out all of the activi22 ties described in section 5312.

23 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under sec24 tion 5311, the Director shall give priority to schools

25 that have demonstrated success in establishing and
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1 carrying out the highest number of activities de2 scribed in section 5312.

3 ‘‘(c) FISCAL AGENT.—The local educational agency

4 of the school shall act as the fiscal agent for the school

5 and shall accept and administer the grant awarded to the

6 school under section 5311, except that all funds shall be

7 expended at the school level.

8 ‘‘Subpart 2—National School Dropout Prevention

9 Grant Program

10 ‘‘SEC. 5321. AUTHORIZATION.

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning in the third year of

12 the Model School Dropout Prevention Grant Program

13 under subpart 1, the Director of the Office of Dropout

14 Prevention and Program Completion shall award grants

15 to public elementary schools, middle schools, and sec16 ondary schools to enable the schools to implement, or fur17 ther carry out, effective, sustainable, and coordinated

18 school dropout prevention programs.

19 ‘‘(b) DURATION.—A grant under subsection (a) shall

20 be awarded for a period of not less than 2 years but not

21 more than 5 years.

22 ‘‘SEC. 5322. REQUIRED ACTIVITIES.

23 ‘‘A school that receives a grant under section 5321

24 shall use amounts under the grant to establish and carry

25 out, or further develop, school dropout prevention pro-
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1 grams, intervention programs, and recovery programs, in2 cluding as many of the following activities as possible: sys3 temic renewal, community and family participation, pro4 fessional development, early childhood education, reading

5 and writing programs, alternative public schooling, indi6 vidualized instruction, use of instructional technologies,

7 mentoring and tutoring, service learning, instruction that

8 recognizes that students learn in different ways (com9 monly referred to as ‘learning styles instruction’), violence

10 prevention and conflict resolution, career education and

11 workforce readiness, out-of-school experiences, and a com12 prehensive plan for dropout prevention.

13 ‘‘SEC. 5323. APPLICATION; SELECTION OF SCHOOLS; FISCAL

14 AGENT.

15 ‘‘(a) APPLICATION.—Each school desiring a grant

16 under section 5321 shall submit an application, after re17 view by the local educational agency of the school, to the

18 Director at such time, in such manner, and accompanied

19 by such information as the Director may require.

20 ‘‘(b) SELECTION OF SCHOOLS.—The Director shall

21 establish clear and specific selection criteria for awarding

22 grants to schools under section 5321, including the num23 ber of grants to award and the type of schools to be award24 ed grants. Such criteria shall be based on school dropout

25 rates and other relevant factors, such as the quality of
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1 the existing or proposed dropout prevention program, the

2 number of students who are dropouts, the number of stu3 dents who are eligible to receive free or reduced price

4 lunches under the Richard B. Russell National School

5 Lunch Act, the number of students who are below their

6 grade level in basic skills, the number of students who are

7 involved in family court or the juvenile justice system, and

8 the number of students who are teen mothers.

9 ‘‘(c) FISCAL AGENT.—The local educational agency

10 of the school shall act as the fiscal agent for the school

11 and shall accept and administer the grant awarded to the

12 school under section 5321, except that all funds shall be

13 expended at the school level.

14 ‘‘Subpart 3—Additional Requirements for Model and

15 National Dropout Prevention Grant Program

16 ‘‘SEC. 5331. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES.

17 ‘‘Each school that receives a grant under section

18 5311 or 5321, or the local educational agency of the

19 school, shall provide information and technical assistance,

20 including presentations, document-sharing, and joint staff

21 development, to other schools within their school district

22 and to other schools in their State that are desiring to

23 receive grants under section 5311 or 5321, as the case

24 may be.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 5332. SCHOOL DROPOUT RATE CALCULATION.

2 ‘‘For purposes of calculating a school dropout rate

3 under subparts 1 and 2, a school shall use—

4 ‘‘(1) the annual event school dropout rate for

5 students leaving a school in a single year determined

6 in accordance with the National Center for Edu7 cation Statistics’ Common Core of Data, if available;

8 ‘‘(2) the standard method used by the State

9 agency; or

10 ‘‘(3) in other cases, a standard method for cal11 culating the school dropout rate as determined by

12 the Director.

13 ‘‘SEC. 5333. REPORTING AND ACCOUNTABILITY.

14 ‘‘(a) REPORTING.—In order to receive funding under

15 subpart 1 or 2 for a fiscal year after the first fiscal year

16 a school receives funding under subpart 1 or 2, as the

17 case may be, the school shall provide, on an annual basis,

18 to the Director a report regarding the status of the imple19 mentation of activities funded under subpart 1 or 2 and

20 certification of progress from the eligible entity whose

21 strategies the school is implementing.

22 ‘‘(b) ACCOUNTABILITY.—On the basis of the reports

23 submitted under subsection (a), the Director shall evaluate

24 the effect of the activities assisted under subpart 1 or 2,

25 as the case may be, on school dropout prevention com26 pared to a control group, to the extent practicable.
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1 ‘‘Subpart 4—National Clearinghouse on Effective

2 School Dropout Prevention

3 ‘‘SEC. 5341. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL CLEARING4 HOUSE.

5 ‘‘Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment

6 of this part, the Director shall establish a national clear7 inghouse on effective school dropout prevention, interven8 tion programs, and reentry programs. The clearinghouse

9 shall be established through a competitive grant or con10 tract awarded to an organization with a demonstrated ca11 pacity to provide technical assistance and disseminate in12 formation in the area of school dropout prevention, inter13 vention programs, and reentry programs. The clearing14 house shall—

15 ‘‘(1) collect and disseminate to educators, par16 ents, and policymakers information on research, ef17 fective programs, best practices, and available Fed18 eral resources with respect to school dropout preven19 tion, intervention programs, and reentry programs,

20 including dissemination by an electronically acces21 sible database, a worldwide Web site, and a national

22 journal;

23 ‘‘(2) provide technical assistance regarding se24 curing resources with respect to, and designing and

25 implementing, effective and comprehensive school
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1 dropout prevention, intervention programs, and re2 entry programs; and

3 ‘‘(3) provide professional development opportu4 nities through workshops, seminars, and institutes

5 for educators and program providers responsible for

6 planning, implementing, and evaluating comprehen7 sive school dropout prevention, intervention pro8 grams, and recovery programs.

9 ‘‘Subpart 5—Definitions; Authorization of

10 Appropriations

11 ‘‘SEC. 5351. DEFINITIONS.

12 ‘‘In this part:

13 ‘‘(1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means

14 the Director of the Office of Dropout Prevention and

15 Program Completion established under section 218

16 of the General Education Provisions Act.

17 ‘‘(2) INTERVENTION PROGRAMS.—The term

18 ‘intervention programs’ means programs or strate19 gies that are designed to improve academic or per20 sonal problems of students that negatively affect the

21 students’ performance or ability to remain in school

22 and graduate from school with a diploma.

23 ‘‘(3) PREVENTION PROGRAMS.—The term ‘pre24 vention programs’ means programs that anticipate,

25 forestall, or relate to cognitive, social, or personal
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1 problems of students before such problems impair a

2 student’s ability to perform in school.

3 ‘‘(4) RECOVERY PROGRAMS.—The term ‘recov4 ery programs’ means programs or strategies de5 signed to offer another schooling option to an indi6 vidual who has dropped out of school.

7 ‘‘(5) SCHOOL DROPOUT.—The term ‘school

8 dropout’ has the meaning given the term in section

9 4(17) of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of

10 1994.

11 ‘‘SEC. 5352. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

12 ‘‘(a) SUBPART 1.—There are authorized to be appro13 priated to carry out subpart 1 such sums as may be nec14 essary for fiscal year 2001 and for each of the 4 suc15 ceeding fiscal years.

16 ‘‘(b) SUBPART 2.—There are authorized to be appro17 priated to carry out subpart 2 such sums as may be nec18 essary for fiscal year 2003 and for each of the 4 suc19 ceeding fiscal years.

20 ‘‘(c) SUBPART 4.—There are authorized to be appro21 priated to carry out subpart 4 such sums as may be nec22 essary for fiscal year 2001 and for each of the 4 suc23 ceeding fiscal years.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. OFFICE OF DROPOUT PREVENTION AND PROGRAM

2 COMPLETION.

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Title II of the Department of

4 Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3411 et seq.) is

5 amended by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘OFFICE OF DROPOUT PREVENTION AND PROGRAM

7 COMPLETION

8 ‘‘SEC. 218. (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There shall be in

9 the Department of Education an Office of Dropout Pre10 vention and Program Completion (hereafter in this section

11 referred to as the ‘Office’), to be administered by the Di12 rector of the Office of Dropout Prevention and Program

13 Completion. The Director of the Office shall report di14 rectly to the Under Secretary of Education and shall per15 form such additional functions as the Under Secretary

16 may prescribe.

17 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Director of the Office of Dropout

18 Prevention and Program Completion (hereafter in this

19 section referred to as the ‘Director’), through the Office,

20 shall—

21 ‘‘(1) help coordinate Federal, State, and local

22 efforts to lower school dropout rates and increase

23 program completion by elementary, middle, and sec24 ondary school students;
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1 ‘‘(2) recommend Federal policies, objectives,

2 and priorities to lower school dropout rates and in3 crease program completion;

4 ‘‘(3) oversee the implementation of subparts 1

5 and 2 of part C of title V of the Elementary and

6 Secondary Education Act of 1965;

7 ‘‘(4) annually prepare and submit to Congress

8 and the Secretary a national report describing ef9 forts and recommended actions regarding school

10 dropout prevention and program completion;

11 ‘‘(5) recommend action to the Secretary and the

12 President, as appropriate, regarding school dropout

13 prevention and program completion; and

14 ‘‘(6) consult with and assist State and local

15 governments regarding school dropout prevention

16 and program completion.

17 ‘‘(c) SCOPE OF DUTIES.—The scope of the Director’s

18 duties under subsection (b) shall include examination of

19 all Federal and non-Federal efforts related to—

20 ‘‘(1) promoting program completion for children

21 attending elementary, middle, or secondary school;

22 ‘‘(2) programs to obtain a secondary school di23 ploma or its recognized equivalent (including general

24 equivalency diploma (GED) programs); and
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1 ‘‘(3) reentry programs for individuals aged 12

2 to 24 who are out of school.

3 ‘‘(d) DETAILING.—In carrying out the Director’s du4 ties under this section, the Director may request the head

5 of any Federal department or agency to detail personnel

6 who are engaged in school dropout prevention activities

7 to another Federal department or agency in order to im8 plement the National School Dropout Prevention Strat9 egy.’’.

10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con11 tents of the Department of Education Organization Act

12 (20 U.S.C. 3401 note) is amended by inserting after the

13 item relating to section 217 the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 218. Office of Dropout Prevention and Program Completion.’’.

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