I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4875

To provide for improvement of Federal education research, evaluation,

information, and dissemination.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 18, 2000

Mr. CASTLE (for himself, Mr. GOODLING, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. BOEHNER,

Mr. DEMINT, and Mr. ISAKSON) introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To provide for improvement of Federal education research,

evaluation, information, and dissemination.

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Scientifically Based Education Research, Statistics,

6 Evaluation, and Information Act of 2000’’.

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

8 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Definitions.

Sec. 3. Academy authorization of appropriations.
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TITLE I—NATIONAL ACADEMY FOR EDUCATION RESEARCH,

STATISTICS, EVALUATION, AND INFORMATION

Sec. 101. National Academy for Education Research, Statistics, Evaluation,

and Information.

Sec. 102. National Board for Education Research, Statistics, Evaluation, and

Information.

Sec. 103. National Education Library and Clearinghouse Office.

TITLE II—NATIONAL CENTERS FOR EDUCATION RESEARCH,

EVALUATION, AND STATISTICS; NATIONAL ASSESSMENT GOVERNING BOARD

Subtitle A—National Centers for Education Research, Evaluation, and

Statistics

CHAPTER 1—NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION RESEARCH

Sec. 201. Declaration of policy.

Sec. 202. Establishment.

Sec. 203. Commissioner; senior scientist; staff.

Sec. 204. Duties.

Sec. 205. Committee on Education Research.

Sec. 206. Report.

Sec. 207. Authority to publish.

Sec. 208. Standards for conduct and evaluation of research.

CHAPTER 2—NATIONAL CENTER FOR PROGRAM EVALUATION

Sec. 211. Establishment.

Sec. 212. Commissioner; staff.

Sec. 213. Duties.

Sec. 214. Independent review panels.

CHAPTER 3—NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS

Sec. 221. Short title.

Sec. 222. Findings; purpose.

Sec. 223. Establishment.

Sec. 224. Commissioner; deputy commissioner and associate commissioners;

staff.

Sec. 225. Duties.

Sec. 226. Performance of duties.

Sec. 227. Reports.

Sec. 228. Advisory Council for Education Statistics.

Sec. 229. Confidentiality.

Sec. 230. Dissemination.

Sec. 231. Cooperative education statistics systems.

Subtitle B—National Assessment Governing Board and National Assessment

of Educational Progress

CHAPTER 1—NATIONAL ASSESSMENT GOVERNING BOARD

Sec. 251. National Assessment Governing Board.

Sec. 252. National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Sec. 253. Prohibition on federally sponsored testing.
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TITLE III—ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF

EDUCATION

Sec. 301. Office of Planning, Performance Management, and Technical Assistance.

Sec. 302. Authorization of appropriations.

TITLE IV—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Sec. 401. Transition provisions.

Sec. 402. Repeals.

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

2 Except as otherwise provided in this Act, in this Act:

3 (1) SCIENTIFICALLY VALID RESEARCH.—The

4 term ‘‘scientifically valid research’’ includes applied

5 research, basic research, and field-initiated research

6 whose rationale, design, and interpretation is sound7 ly developed in terms of established scientific re8 search and that is conducted in accordance with sci9 entifically based quantitative research standards and

10 qualitative research standards as defined in this Act.

11 (2) BASIC RESEARCH.—The term ‘‘basic

12 research’’—

13 (A) means research to gain fundamental

14 knowledge or understanding of phenomena and

15 observable facts without specific application to16 ward processes or products; and

17 (B) includes original investigations for the

18 advancement of scientific knowledge in the field

19 of education.
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1 (3) APPLIED RESEARCH.—The term ‘‘applied

2 research’’ means research to gain knowledge or un3 derstanding necessary for determining the means by

4 which a recognized and specific need may be met

5 and is specifically directed to discovery of new sci6 entific knowledge which has as its specific objective

7 the improvement of basic academic skills.

8 (4) FIELD-INITIATED RESEARCH.—The term

9 ‘‘field-initiated research’’ means basic research or

10 applied research in which topics and methods of

11 study are generated by investigators, including

12 teachers and other practitioners, and which conform

13 to scientifically valid research.

14 (5) SCIENTIFICALLY BASED QUANTITATIVE RE15 SEARCH STANDARDS.—The term ‘‘scientifically

16 based quantitative research standards’’—

17 (A) means the application of rigorous, sys18 temic, and objective procedures to obtain valid

19 knowledge relevant to education activities and

20 programs; and

21 (B) includes research that—

22 (i) employs systematic, empirical

23 methods that draw on observation or ex24 periment;
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1 (ii) involves rigorous data analyses

2 that are adequate to test the stated

3 hypotheses and justify the general conclu4 sions drawn;

5 (iii) relies on measurements or obser6 vational methods that provide valid data

7 across evaluators and observers and across

8 multiple measurements and observations

9 and across studies by the same or different

10 investigators;

11 (iv) is evaluated using experimental

12 designs in which individuals, entities, pro13 grams, or activities are assigned to dif14 ferent conditions with appropriate controls

15 to evaluate the effects of the condition of

16 interest through random assignment ex17 periments, or other designs to the extent

18 such designs contain within-condition or

19 across-condition controls;

20 (v) ensure experimental studies are

21 presented in sufficient detail and clarity to

22 allow for replication, or at a minimum

23 offer the opportunity to build systemati24 cally on its findings; and
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1 (vi) has been accepted by a peer-re2 viewed journal or approved by a panel of

3 independent experts through a comparably

4 rigorous, objective, and scientific review.

5 (6) SCIENTIFICALLY BASED QUALITATIVE RE6 SEARCH STANDARDS.—The term ‘‘scientifically

7 based qualitative research standards’’—

8 (A) means the systematic collection and

9 analysis of data often associated with traditions

10 of inquiry historically based in the humanities,

11 such as narrative analysis; and

12 (B) includes research that—

13 (i) uses some combination of partici14 pant observation, in-depth interviewing and

15 document collection;

16 (ii) is intended to explore issues and

17 hypotheses whose underlying dynamics and

18 factors are not sufficiently well refined, un19 derstood, or amenable to experimental con20 trol to permit adequate study through

21 quantitative research.

22 (iii) may include case studies,

23 ethnographies, life histories, multi-site case

24 studies, and participatory action research;
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1 (iv) uses approaches to assess the ex2 perimental knowledge acquired to assure

3 that the findings are scientifically valid

4 and replicable; and

5 (v) has been accepted by a peer-review

6 journal or approved by a panel of inde7 pendent experts through a comparably rig8 orous, objective, and scientific review.

9 (7) SOUND PROGRAM EVALUATION.—The term

10 ‘‘sound program evaluation’’—

11 (A) means program evaluation that—

12 (i) adheres to the highest possible

13 standards of quality with respect to re14 search design, statistical analysis and the

15 dissemination of findings;

16 (ii) provides an adequate under17 standing of the programs being evaluated,

18 and examine program implementation, pro19 gram impacts and the relationships be20 tween these factors;

21 (iii) provides impact estimates that

22 truly reflect what was caused by the pro23 gram;

24 (iv) produces or leads to findings that

25 are broadly generalizable; and
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1 (v) uses valid and reliable measures to

2 document program implementation and im3 pacts;

4 (B) includes only those program evalua5 tions that—

6 (i) use qualitative and quantitative

7 methodologies that are judged by the social

8 science and evaluation research commu9 nities to be of the highest quality.;

10 (ii) in order to study program impacts

11 use, whenever possible, some form of a

12 classical experimental design with random

13 assignment, in order;

14 (iii) when experimental designs are

15 not feasible in order to study program im16 pacts, use the strongest possible quasi-ex17 perimental alternative, basing it on longi18 tudinal data; and

19 (iv) in order to study program imple20 mentation, use a combination of qualitative

21 and quantitative methods.

22 (8) DEVELOPMENT.—The term ‘‘development’’

23 is the systematic use of knowledge or understanding

24 gained from the findings of basic research and ap25 plied research that may prove useful in the prepara-
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1 tion of materials, new methods of instruction and

2 practices in teaching, which may lead to the im3 provement of the academic skills of students, and

4 that are replicable in different educational settings.

5 (9) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT6 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com7 mittees’’ means the Committee on Education and

8 the Workforce of the House of Representatives and

9 the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and

10 Pensions of the Senate.

11 (10) BOARD.—Except as provided in subtitle B

12 of title II or title III, the term ‘‘Board’’ means the

13 National Board for Education Research, Statistics,

14 Evaluation, and Information.

15 (11) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’

16 means the Department of Education.

17 (12) DIRECTOR.—Except as provided in title

18 III of this Act, the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Di19 rector of the National Academy for Education Re20 search, Evaluation, Statistics, and Information ap21 pointed under section 101 of this Act.

22 (13) DISSEMINATION.—The term ‘‘dissemina23 tion’’ means the communication and transfer,

24 through the provision of technical assistance, elec25 tronic transfer, and other means, of the results of
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1 scientifically valid research, in forms that are under2 standable, easily accessible and usable or adaptable

3 for use in the improvement of educational practice

4 by teachers, administrators, librarians, other practi5 tioners, researchers, policymakers, and the public.

6 (14) ACADEMY.—The term ‘‘Academy’’ means

7 the National Academy for Education Research, Sta8 tistics, Evaluation, and Information established by

9 section 101 of this Act.

10 (15) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—

11 The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the

12 same meaning given such term in section 101(a) of

13 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

14 1001(a)).

15 (16) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term

16 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the same meaning

17 given such term in section 14101(18) of the Elemen18 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

19 U.S.C 8801(18)).

20 (17) STATE; UNITED STATES.—The terms

21 ‘‘State’’ and ‘‘United States’’—

22 (A) except as provided in subparagraph

23 (B), mean each of the 50 States, the District

24 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto

25 Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Is-
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1 lands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern

2 Mariana Islands; and

3 (B) for purposes of chapter 3 of subtitle A

4 of title II of this Act, mean each of the 50

5 States, the District of Columbia, and the Com6 monwealth of Puerto Rico.

7 (18) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term

8 ‘‘State educational agency’’ has the same meaning

9 given such term in section 14101(28) of the Elemen10 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

11 U.S.C. 8801(28)).

12 (19) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The term

13 ‘‘technical assistance’’ means assistance in identi14 fying, selecting, or designing solutions based on

15 standards scientifically valid research, or applied re16 search to address educational problems, planning,

17 and design that leads to adapting such knowledge to

18 school practice, training to implement such solu19 tions, and other assistance necessary to encourage

20 adoption or application of such research.

21 SEC. 3. ACADEMY AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi23 sion of law, the greater of 0.75 percent or $276,485,000

24 of the amount available to carry out discretionary pro25 grams for the Department of Education, for each of the
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1 fiscal years 2002 through 2006, shall be made available

2 to carry out titles I and II for each such fiscal year, of

3 which—

4 (1) 14 percent, but no less than $39,000,000,

5 shall be made available for the Director to carry out

6 title I, except for section 103;

7 (2) 8 percent, but no less than $22,800,000,

8 shall be made available to carry out section 103 of

9 title I;

10 (3) 31 percent, but no less than $84,800,000,

11 shall be made available to the Commissioner of Re12 search to carry out chapter I of title II;

13 (4) 8 percent, but no less than $21,900,000

14 shall be made available to the Commissioner of Eval15 uation to carry out chapter 2 of title II;

16 (5) 25 percent, but no less than $40,000,000,

17 shall be made available to the Commissioner of Sta18 tistics to carry out chapter 3 of title II;

19 (6) 1 percent, but no less than $4,000,000,

20 shall be made available to the National Assessment

21 Governing Board to carry out section 251 of subtitle

22 B of title II; and

23 (7) 13 percent, but no less than $36,000,000,

24 shall be made available to the National Assessment

25 Governing Board to carry out the National Assess-
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1 ment for Educational Progress in section 252 of

2 subtitle B of title II.

3 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts made available under

4 subsection (a) shall remain available until expended.

5 TITLE I—NATIONAL ACADEMY

6 FOR EDUCATION RESEARCH,

7 STATISTICS, EVALUATION,

8 AND INFORMATION

9 SEC. 101. NATIONAL ACADEMY FOR EDUCATION RE10 SEARCH, STATISTICS, EVALUATION, AND IN11 FORMATION.

12 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the ex13 ecutive branch an independent agency to be known as the

14 National Academy for Education Research, Statistics,

15 Evaluation, and Information. The Academy shall have a

16 board of directors and shall be administered in accordance

17 with the provisions of this Act under the supervision and

18 direction of a Director.

19 (b) MISSION.—The Academy is charged by Congress

20 to ensure all research, evaluation, statistics, and dissemi21 nation activities supported by Federal funds through the

22 Academy conform to high standards of quality, integrity,

23 and accuracy, and are free from ideological agendas and

24 undue political influence, in order to provide parents, edu25 cators, students, researchers, policymakers, and the gen-
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1 eral public, with reliable information about the condition

2 and progress of education in the United States, edu3 cational practices that improve academic achievement, and

4 the effectiveness of Federal education programs.

5 (c) DIRECTOR.—The Director of the Academy shall

6 be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and

7 consent of the Senate, and shall serve for a term of six

8 years, beginning on the date of appointment.

9 (d) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Director shall be selected

10 from individuals who are highly qualified authorities in the

11 fields of research, statistics, evaluation methodology, edu12 cation, as well as management within such areas, and has

13 a demonstrated capacity for sustained productivity and

14 leadership in these areas.

15 (e) PERSONNEL.—Consistent with title 5, United

16 States Code, the Director may appoint and fix the pay

17 of such staff as the Director determines to be necessary

18 to carry out the functions of the Academy which may in19 clude, as reasonably required by the Director, the hiring

20 of certain scientific or technical employees for limited peri21 ods of time, without regard to the provisions of title 5,

22 United States Code, governing appointment in the com23 petitive service, and the provisions of chapter 51 and sub24 chapter III of chapter 53 of such title relating to classi25 fication and General Schedule pay rates.
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1 (f) RESPONSIBILITIES OF DIRECTOR.—It shall be the

2 responsibility of the Director to—

3 (1) approve the broad policy and agenda of the

4 Academy, including, the general areas of research to

5 be carried out by the National Center of Education

6 Research, as developed by the Board pursuant to

7 section 102(b);

8 (2) oversee and coordinate, as appropriate, the

9 activities carried out under the Academy;

10 (3) ensure the methodology applied in con11 ducting research, evaluation, and statistical analysis

12 is consistent with the relevant standards and defini13 tions of such activities under this Act;

14 (4) oversee and delegate to the appropriate

15 Center large-scale development activities;

16 (5) determine which, if any, additional program

17 evaluations shall be conducted by the Center for

18 Program Evaluation, in addition to those specified

19 under section 213;

20 (6) coordinate evaluation activities of this title

21 with the Secretary of Education;

22 (7) oversee dissemination activities of the Acad23 emy;

24 (8) appoint members of the boards and commit25 tees within the Academy in accordance with this Act
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1 with the exception of the Board appointed under sec2 tion 102;

3 (9) oversee the orderly transition of activities

4 from the Department of Education to the Academy;

5 and

6 (10) carry out other activities pursuant to this

7 Act.

8 (g) INTERAGENCY ACCESS.—The Director of the

9 Academy shall coordinate with the Secretary of Education

10 to ensure that the Department of Education and each of

11 the Centers within the Academy use common sources of

12 data in standardized formats. To the extent possible such

13 program data should be maintained and updated in a loca14 tion accessible to the Department and each such Center

15 within the Academy.

16 (h) PUBLIC ACCESS.—The Director shall ensure that

17 the Commissioner of each Center establishes and main18 tains a regular schedule of data releases for all of the in19 formation it collects in order to carry out the missions of

20 the Centers. Data collected for statistical, research, and

21 evaluation purposes shall be archived in electronic format

22 and made accessible to the public in a timely fashion.

23 (i) CONFIDENTIALITY.—All collection, maintenance,

24 use, and dissemination of data by the Academy shall con25 form with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974
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1 and the confidentiality requirements under section 229 of

2 this Act.

3 (j) NO REVIEW.—No report issued by the Academy

4 shall be subject to review by any other Federal office or

5 agency.

6 SEC. 102. NATIONAL BOARD FOR EDUCATION RESEARCH,

7 STATISTICS, EVALUATION, AND INFORMA8 TION.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The board of directors of the

10 Academy shall be known as the ‘‘National Board for Edu11 cation Research, Statistics, Evaluation, and Information’’.

12 (b) GENERAL FUNCTIONS.—The responsibility of the

13 Board shall be to—

14 (1) develop a proposal, for submission to the

15 Director, of broad policy and an agenda of the Acad16 emy, including, the general areas of research to be

17 carried out by the National Center for Education

18 Research established under section 202(a);

19 (2) review and regularly evaluate the work of

20 the Academy to ensure that research, evaluation,

21 and statistical analysis is consistent with standards

22 and definitions of such activities under this Act;

23 (3) ensure activities carried out under the

24 Academy are not subject to partisan or political in25 fluence; and
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1 (4) provide advice and expertise to the Director

2 on general policies with respect to the duties of the

3 Academy; and

4 (5) carry out other duties and responsibilities

5 pursuant to this Act.

6 (c) COMPOSITION OF BOARD.—

7 (1) VOTING MEMBERS.—The Board shall be

8 composed of 19 voting members of whom—

9 (A) 1 member shall be the Commissioner

10 for Education Research appointed under section

11 203(a);

12 (B) 1 member shall be the Commissioner

13 for Program Evaluation appointed under sec14 tion 212(a);

15 (C) 1 member shall be the Commissioner

16 for Education Statistics appointed under sec17 tion 224(a);

18 (D) 1 member shall be the Secretary of

19 Education;

20 (E) 1 member shall be the Director of the

21 National Institute of Child Health and Human

22 Development;

23 (F) 1 member shall be the Director of the

24 Census;
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1 (G) 1 member shall be the Commissioner

2 of Labor Statistics;

3 (H) 1 member shall be the President of the

4 National Academy of Sciences;

5 (I) 3 members shall be appointed by the

6 President;

7 (J) 4 members shall be appointed by the

8 Speaker of the House, 2 such members shall be

9 selected from recommendations made by the

10 majority leader of the House and 2 such mem11 bers shall be selected from recommendations

12 made by the minority leader of the House; and

13 (K) 4 members shall be appointed by the

14 President pro tempore of the Senate, of whom

15 2 such members shall be selected from rec16 ommendations made by the majority leader of

17 the Senate and 2 such members shall be se18 lected from recommendations made by the mi19 nority leader of the Senate.

20 (2) APPOINTED MEMBERSHIP.—Individuals ap21 pointed under subparagraphs (I), (J), and (K) of

22 paragraph (1), shall include individuals from each of

23 the following groups—

24 (A) educators, including classroom teach25 ers, principals, and other school administrators;
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1 (B) parents;

2 (C) business leaders; and

3 (D) researchers.

4 (3) TERMS.—Members of the Board appointed

5 under subparagraphs (I), (J), and (K) of paragraph

6 (1), shall, as designated by a random selection proc7 ess at the time of appointment, be as follows:

8 (A) 5 years for each of 4 members of the

9 Board;

10 (B) 4 years for each of 4 members of the

11 Board; and

12 (C) 3 years for each of 3 members of the

13 Board.

14 (4) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the Board

15 shall not affect its powers, but shall be filled in the

16 same manner as the original appointment.

17 (5) CHAIRPERSON.—The Board shall annually

18 elect a Chairperson from among the members of the

19 Board.

20 (6) COMPENSATION.—Except as provided in the

21 following sentence, members of the Board shall serve

22 without pay. Members of the Board who are officers

23 or employees of the United States may not receive

24 additional pay, allowances, or benefits by reason of

25 their service on the Board.
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1 (7) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The members of the

2 Board shall receive travel expenses, including per

3 diem in lieu of subsistence, in accordance with sub4 chapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States

5 Code.

6 (8) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND STAFF.—

7 (A) IN GENERAL—The Board shall have

8 an Executive Director who shall be appointed

9 by the Board.

10 (B) STAFF.—Consistent with title 5,

11 United States Code, the Executive Director

12 may appoint and fix the pay of such staff as

13 the Executive Director determines to be nec14 essary to carry out the functions of the Board

15 which may include, as reasonably required by

16 the Executive Director, the hiring of certain sci17 entific or technical employees for limited peri18 ods of time, without regard to the provisions of

19 title 5, United States Code, governing appoint20 ment in the competitive service, and the provi21 sions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chap22 ter 53 of such title relating to classification and

23 General Schedule pay rates.

24 (9) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet not less

25 than 4 times each year. The Board shall hold addi-
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1 tional meetings at the call of the Chairperson of the

2 Board or upon the request in writing of 6 members

3 of the Board.

4 (10) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of

5 the Board shall constitute a quorum.

6 SEC. 103. NATIONAL EDUCATION LIBRARY AND CLEARING7 HOUSE OFFICE.

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established, within

9 the Academy a National Education Library and Clearing10 house Office (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Library’’)

11 which shall be headed by a Deputy Director appointed by

12 the Director.

13 (b) GENERAL DUTIES.—The duties of the Library

14 shall be to collect, assess, and archive all products and

15 publications developed through or supported by the Acad16 emy, as well as other relevant and useful educational re17 lated research information, projects, and publications de18 veloped by the Department of Education, other Federal

19 agencies, or other entities, and make such information ac20 cessible in a user-friendly, timely, and efficient manner,

21 including through the Internet, to schools, educators, par22 ents, administrators, policymakers, entities responsible for

23 carrying out technical assistance through the Department

24 of Education, and the general public.
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1 (c) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out

2 the duties under subsection (b), the Deputy Director

3 shall—

4 (1) ensure that information disseminated under

5 this section is completed in a cost-effective, non6 duplicative manner which may be through the estab7 lishment or continuation of individual clearing8 houses, to the extent determined appropriate by the

9 Deputy Director; and

10 (2) ensure that all information disseminated re11 flects the best information available from research

12 and practice which, at a minimum, shall include in13 formation in the core academic areas, including

14 reading, writing, mathematics, and science.
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1 TITLE II—NATIONAL CENTERS

2 FOR EDUCATION RESEARCH,

3 EVALUATION, AND STATIS4 TICS; NATIONAL ASSESSMENT

5 GOVERNING BOARD

6 Subtitle A—National Centers for

7 Education Research, Evalua8 tion, and Statistics

9 CHAPTER 1—NATIONAL CENTER FOR

10 EDUCATION RESEARCH

11 SEC. 201. DECLARATION OF POLICY.

12 The Congress declares the following:

13 (1) It is the policy of the United States that

14 education is the primary responsibility of the States

15 and the people.

16 (2) The role of the Federal Government is to

17 supplement education efforts at the State and the

18 local levels, especially in areas where students are

19 most disadvantaged.

20 (3) In particular, the Federal Government has

21 a responsibility to conduct scientifically valid re22 search that will benefit public education generally.

23 (4) Education research must be conducted with

24 a minimum of political influence and with utmost in25 tegrity and free from ideological agendas.
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1 SEC. 202. ESTABLISHMENT.

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT—There is established, within

3 the National Academy for Education Research, Evalua4 tion, Statistics, and Information established under title I

5 of this Act, a National Center for Education Research

6 (hereafter in this chapter referred to as the ‘‘Center’’).

7 (b) MISSION—The mission of the Center shall be to

8 provide national leadership in—

9 (1) expanding fundamental knowledge and un10 derstanding of education, particularly to improve the

11 teaching and learning of reading, writing, mathe12 matics, science, and other academic subjects;

13 (2) using accepted practices of scientific inquiry

14 to obtain knowledge, comprehension or under15 standing of the truth of a particular educational the16 ory, practice or condition; and

17 (3) promoting scientifically valid research find18 ings that can provide the basis for improving aca19 demic instruction and learning in the classroom.

20 SEC. 203. COMMISSIONER; SENIOR SCIENTIST; STAFF.

21 (a) COMMISSIONER.—The Center shall be headed by

22 a Commissioner of Education Research (hereafter in this

23 chapter referred to as the ‘‘Commissioner’’) who shall be

24 appointed by the President and who—

25 (1) shall have substantial knowledge of pro26 grams assisted by the Center, including a high level
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1 of expertise in the field of research and research

2 management;

3 (2) shall be paid in accordance with section

4 5315 of title 5, United States Code; and

5 (3) shall serve a term of six years, with the

6 terms to expire every sixth July 1, beginning in

7 2001.

8 (b) SENIOR SCIENTIST.—The Commissioner shall ap9 point a Senior Scientist to serve as the senior research

10 expert in the Center to advise the Commissioner and staff

11 of the Center on—

12 (1) scientific and technical standards to govern

13 the activities of the Center and the research it sup14 ports;

15 (2) the planning and design of programs of re16 search to be supported by the Center;

17 (3) the quality and rigor of research supported

18 by the Center; and

19 (4) other matters related to ensuring high qual20 ity in the activities of the Center.

21 (c) STAFF.—Consistent with title 5, United States

22 Code, the Commissioner may appoint and fix the pay of

23 such staff as the Commissioner determines to be necessary

24 to carry out the functions of the Center which may in25 clude, as reasonably required by the Commissioner, the
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1 hiring of certain scientific or technical employees for lim2 ited periods of time, without regard to the provisions of

3 title 5, United States Code, governing appointment in the

4 competitive service, and the provisions of chapter 51 and

5 subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title relating to classi6 fication and General Schedule pay rates.

7 SEC. 204. DUTIES.

8 (a) GENERAL DUTIES—The duties of the Commis9 sioner are—

10 (1) to maintain published peer review standards

11 and standards for the conduct and evaluation of all

12 research, development, and dissemination carried out

13 under the auspices of the Center pursuant to the

14 provisions of this chapter;

15 (2) to approve and carry out the specific long16 term priorities as developed by the Committee for

17 Education Research established under section 205

18 based upon the general priorities set forth by the

19 National Academy for Education Research, Evalua20 tion, Statistics, and Information;

21 (3) to develop a research plan, based upon the

22 priorities described in paragraph (2), which shall be

23 carried out pursuant to paragraph (4), and as

24 deemed appropriate by the Commissioner, be up25 dated and modified to reflect findings from the eval-
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1 uative summaries conducted under subsection (b),

2 the Regional Board Reports described under 208 of

3 the Department of Education Organization Act (20

4 U.S.C. 3419) (as amended by section 301 of this

5 Act), and other appropriate information;

6 (4) to enter into contracts, grants, or coopera7 tive agreements in accordance with section 208(b),

8 at an amount and for a length of time determined

9 to be appropriate by the Commissioner, with eligible

10 research grantees, to carry out scientifically valid re11 search that—

12 (A) is performance-based and subject to

13 objective and measurable indicators, including

14 timelines, that are used to assess the progress

15 and performance of such research;

16 (B) meets the standards of research and

17 peer review described in section 208(a); and

18 (C) includes both basic research and ap19 plied research and which shall include research

20 conducted through field-initiated studies and

21 which may include ongoing research initiatives

22 that may be conducted through research and

23 development centers;

24 (5) to promote the coordination of scientifically

25 valid research within the Federal Government, and
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1 otherwise assist and foster such research, including

2 through active participation in interagency research

3 initiatives;

4 (6) to ensure research conducted by the Center

5 is applicable to education practice and policy;

6 (7) to synthesize and disseminate, in coordina7 tion with the National Education Library and Clear8 inghouse Office, the findings and results of edu9 cation research conducted or supported by the Cen10 ter; and

11 (8) to prepare and submit an annual report, as

12 described in section 206, which shall, along with the

13 research priorities, be made available to the public

14 through such means as the Internet.

15 (b) EVALUATIVE SUMMARIES OF RESEARCH PRIOR16 ITIES.—In addition to the duties described in subsection

17 (a), the Center shall also oversee and support the conduct

18 of an evaluative summary of the primary education pri19 ority areas of each of the National Research and Develop20 ment Centers described in subsection (e), which—

21 (1) to the extent determined appropriate by the

22 Commissioner, shall be carried out through national

23 research and development centers;

24 (2) shall be completed not later than 1 year

25 after the date of the enactment of this Act; and
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1 (3) shall be submitted to the Commissioner and

2 the Committee on Educational Research established

3 under section 205 to provide assistance on devel4 oping and implementing the research plan described

5 in subsection (a)(3).

6 (c) EVALUATIVE SUMMARY.—Each evaluative sum7 mary undertaken pursuant to subsection (b) shall—

8 (1) include a detailed description of the findings

9 of the main research and development activities in

10 each of the priority areas of such Center;

11 (2) describe how such new knowledge or under12 standing extends or otherwise relates to what had

13 been previously known or understood;

14 (3) describe the implications of such new knowl15 edge or understanding for educational practice and

16 school reform;

17 (4) include any development, reform, and other

18 assistance activities which have utilized such knowl19 edge or understanding and the effects of such ef20 forts;

21 (5) include a classification of all major research

22 conducted within each such priority area, including

23 all research conducted using Federal funds, into one

24 of not more than 4 classifications which shall be ini25 tially developed by the Commissioner within 3
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1 months after the date on which such first Commis2 sioner is appointed, which provides a user-friendly

3 mechanism for parents, educators, policymakers, and

4 the general public to determine the type, reliability,

5 and utility of specific research in accordance with

6 scientifically valid research; and

7 (6) include an analysis of the major program

8 activities of the Center in the categories of basic re9 search, applied research, or development, and wheth10 er such research meets scientifically based quan11 titative research standards or scientifically based

12 qualitative standards, as defined in this Act.

13 (d) TRANSITION.—For purposes of carrying out the

14 evaluative summaries pursuant to subsection (b) and to

15 carry out any other duties deemed appropriate by the

16 Commissioner, consistent with this chapter, the Commis17 sion shall extend any cooperative agreement, grant or con18 tract made to a National Research and Development Cen19 ter (as such Center was in existence on the day before

20 the date of the enactment of this Act), for a period of

21 not more than two years, after which the Commissioner,

22 based upon the priorities of the Center and the research

23 plan developed under subsection (a)(3), and the extent to

24 which the work of the Center has met the standards of

25 scientifically valid research, shall—
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•HR 4875 IH

1 (1) extend or renegotiate such grant, contract

2 or cooperative agreement with such Center for a pe3 riod not to extend beyond fiscal year 2005; or

4 (2) terminate or prohibit the renewal such

5 grant, contract or cooperative agreement.

6 (e) ELIGIBLE RESEARCH GRANTEE.—In this section,

7 the term ‘‘eligible research grantee’’ means a private or

8 public, for profit, or nonprofit research organization, insti9 tution, agency, institution of higher education, individual,

10 or a consortium thereof, including, but not limited to, na11 tional research and development centers and regional edu12 cation laboratories for research, development, dissemina13 tion, and technical assistance with the ability or capacity

14 to carry out scientifically valid research.

15 SEC. 205. COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION RESEARCH.

16 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established, within

17 the Center, a Committee for Education Research (here18 after in this chapter referred to as the ‘‘Committee’’).

19 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—

20 (1) QUALIFICATIONS.—The members of the

21 Committee shall be individuals who, by virtue of

22 their training, experience, and background are able

23 to contribute to the mission of the Center described

24 in section 202(b).
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1 (2) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—A voting member

2 of the Committee shall be considered a special Gov3 ernment employee for the purposes of the Ethics in

4 Government Act of 1978.

5 (c) APPOINTMENTS.—The Committee shall consist of

6 7 members appointed by the Director of the Academy. A

7 majority of members of the Committee shall be experts

8 in scientifically valid research, including at least one ex9 pert in the field of education and at least one expert in

10 an academic discipline other than education.

11 (d) CHAIRPERSON.—The Committee shall select, on

12 an annual basis, a Chairperson from among its appointed

13 members.

14 (e) TERMS OF OFFICE—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para16 graphs (2) and (3), the term of office of each voting

17 member of the Committee shall be not more than 6

18 years.

19 (2) VACANCIES.—Any individual appointed to

20 fill a vacancy occurring on the Committee prior to

21 the expiration of the term for which the predecessor

22 of the individual was appointed shall be appointed

23 for the remainder of the term. A vacancy shall be

24 filled in the same manner in which the original ap25 pointment was made.
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1 (3) MEMBERS FIRST APPOINTED.—The terms

2 of office of the members of the Committee who first

3 take office after the date of the enactment of this

4 Act shall, as designated by a random selection proc5 ess at the time of appointment, be as follows:

6 (A) 3 years for each of 2 members of the

7 Committee.

8 (B) 4 years for each of 2 members of the

9 Committee.

10 (C) 6 years for each of 3 members of the

11 Committee.

12 (f) MEETINGS OF COMMITTEE.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall meet

14 at least quarterly at the call of the Chairperson and

15 when at least one-third of the members of the Com16 mittee make a written request to meet.

17 (2) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of

18 the Committee shall constitute a quorum.

19 (3) OPEN MEETINGS.—The Government in the

20 Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b) shall apply to meet21 ings of the Board.

22 (g) FUNCTIONS.—It shall be the responsibility of the

23 Committee—

24 (1) to develop a limited number of specific,

25 long-term priorities to focus and guide the Center’s
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1 program of research, based upon the general prior2 ities of the Academy;

3 (2) in collaboration with the Commissioner, to

4 determine an appropriate strategy for funding re5 search activities;

6 (3) to comment on and review the standards of

7 research described in section 208;

8 (4) to review the dissemination activities of the

9 Academy to ensure that scientifically valid research

10 is being effectively disseminated to schools and

11 teachers; and

12 (5) to review regularly, evaluate, and publicly

13 comment upon—

14 (A) the research activities of the Center;

15 and

16 (B) the state of the quality of Federal edu17 cation research.

18 (h) ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF COM19 MITTEE.—It shall also be the responsibility of the

20 Committee—

21 (1) to provide advice and assistance to the

22 Commissioner in carrying out coordination activities

23 with other related agencies;
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1 (2) to recommend ways for strengthening active

2 partnerships among researchers, educational practi3 tioners, librarians, and policymakers;

4 (3)(A) to solicit advice and information from

5 the educational field, to define research needs and

6 suggestions for research topics;

7 (B) to involve educational practitioners, particu8 larly teachers, in carrying out subparagraph (A);

9 and

10 (4) to provide recommendations for how re11 search conducted by the Center translates findings

12 into workable, adaptable models for use in policy

13 and in practice across different settings, and rec14 ommendations for other forms of dissemination.

15 (i) POWERS OF COMMITTEE.—In carrying out its

16 functions, powers, and responsibilities, the Committee—

17 (1) shall, without regard to the provisions of

18 title 5, United States Code, relating to the appoint19 ment and compensation of officers or employees of

20 the United States, appoint an executive director who

21 shall assist in carrying out and managing the activi22 ties of the Committee and perform such other func23 tions the Committee determines to be necessary and

24 appropriate;
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•HR 4875 IH

1 (2) shall appoint not more than five employees

2 to carry out the duties of the Committee;

3 (3) may arrange for the detail of staff per4 sonnel and utilize the services and facilities of any

5 department or agency of the Federal Government;

6 (4) may enter into contracts, or make other ar7 rangements as may be necessary to carry out its

8 functions;

9 (5) may review and comment on any grant, con10 tract, or cooperative agreement made or entered into

11 by the Center;

12 (6) may, to the extent otherwise permitted by

13 law, obtain directly from any Federal department or

14 agency such information as the Committee deems

15 necessary to carry out its responsibilities; and

16 (7) shall establish such rules and procedures to

17 govern its operations as it considers appropriate, to

18 the extent otherwise permitted by law.

19 SEC. 206. REPORT.

20 Not later than December 31 of each year, the Com21 missioner shall transmit to the President, the appropriate

22 congressional committees and be made widely available to

23 the public through such means as the Internet, a report

24 that contains—
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1 (1) a description of the activities carried out by

2 and through the Center during the prior fiscal year;

3 (2) a detailed summary of each grant, contract,

4 and cooperative agreement funded during the prior

5 fiscal year, including, at a minimum, the amount of

6 funds, duration, recipient, purpose, goal, and object

7 of the funds in meeting the mission of the Center,

8 the products completed through such funds, and an

9 evaluation of the use of such funds, which shall be

10 available in a user-friendly electronic database;

11 (3) a description of how the activities of the

12 Center comply with scientifically valid research con13 sistent with the provisions of this chapter and have

14 otherwise contributed to the mission of the Center as

15 described under section 202(b); and

16 (4) such additional comments, recommenda17 tions, and materials as the Director of the Academy

18 considers appropriate.

19 SEC. 207. AUTHORITY TO PUBLISH.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner is authorized

21 to prepare and publish such information, reports, and doc22 uments as may be of value in carrying out the purposes

23 of this chapter and are consistent with the purpose and

24 mission of the Center as described in section 202(b).
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1 (b) QUALITY ASSURANCE.—In carrying out such au2 thority, the Director shall ensure all such information and

3 reports—

4 (1) are subjected to rigorous peer review prior

5 to being published or otherwise made available by

6 the Academy; and

7 (2) include the names of its peer reviewers;

8 (3) are based upon standards described in sec9 tion 208;

10 (4) are categorized by the level of research the

11 program or practice has achieved as described in

12 section 204(b); and

13 (5) include information on the amount of Fed14 eral assistance provided.

15 SEC. 208. STANDARDS FOR CONDUCT AND EVALUATION OF

16 RESEARCH.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out its duties under

18 this chapter, the Center shall—

19 (1) ensure all research conducted under the di20 rection of the Center follows the standards of valid

21 scientific research;

22 (2) ensure that the findings of all research con23 ducted under the direction of the Center are pub24 lished in a recognized, peer-reviewed journal;
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1 (3) develop such other standards as may be

2 necessary to govern the conduct and evaluation of all

3 research, development, and dissemination activities

4 carried out by the Center to assure that such activi5 ties meet the highest standards of professional excel6 lence;

7 (4) review the procedures utilized by the Na8 tional Institutes of Health, the National Science

9 Foundation, and other Federal departments or agen10 cies engaged in research and development and also

11 actively solicit recommendations from research orga12 nizations and members of the general public in the

13 development of such other standard described in

14 paragraph (3); and

15 (5) require research to comply with Federal

16 guidelines relating to research misconduct.

17 (b) AWARDING OF FUNDS.—In the case of research

18 that is carried out through grants, contracts, or coopera19 tive agreements, the Center, at a minimum, shall—

20 (1) require that a process of open competition

21 be used in awarding or entering into all grants, con22 tracts, and cooperative agreements under this chap23 ter;

24 (2) require that a system of peer review of

25 highly qualified individuals with an in-depth knowl-
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1 edge of the subject to be investigated be utilized by

2 the Academy—

3 (A) for reviewing and evaluating all appli4 cations for grants and cooperative agreements

5 and bids for those contracts which exceed

6 $100,000; and

7 (B) for evaluating and assessing the per8 formance of all recipients of grants from and

9 cooperative agreements and contracts with the

10 Center;

11 (3) describe the general procedures which shall

12 be used by each peer review panel in its operations;

13 (4) describe the procedures which shall be uti14 lized in evaluating applications for grants, proposed

15 cooperative agreements, and contract bids and speci16 fy the criteria and factors which shall be considered

17 in making such evaluations; and

18 (5) require that the performance of all recipi19 ents of grants from and contracts and cooperative

20 agreements with the Center shall be periodically

21 evaluated, both during and at the conclusion of their

22 receipt of assistance.
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1 CHAPTER 2—NATIONAL CENTER FOR

2 PROGRAM EVALUATION

3 SEC. 211. ESTABLISHMENT.

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT—There is established, within

5 the National Academy for Education Research, Evalua6 tion, Statistics, and Information established under title I

7 of this Act, a National Center for Program Evaluation

8 (hereafter in this chapter referred to as the ‘‘Center’’).

9 (b) MISSION—The mission of the Center shall be to

10 conduct evaluations of Federal education programs to de11 termine the impact of such programs, especially on stu12 dent outcomes.

13 SEC. 212. COMMISSIONER; STAFF.

14 (a) COMMISSIONER.—The Center shall be headed by

15 a Commissioner for Program Evaluation (hereafter in this

16 chapter referred to as the ‘‘Commissioner’’) who shall be

17 appointed by the President and who—

18 (1) should possess a demonstrated capacity for

19 sustained productivity and leadership in program

20 evaluation and development, and should be an indi21 vidual who is technically competent in conducting

22 sound program evaluations;

23 (2) shall oversee all evaluation and development

24 activities of the Center, the awarding of contracts,

25 the development of evaluation methodology, report-
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1 ing the findings of evaluations to the public and

2 Congress, and other duties essential to carrying out

3 the mission of the Center; and

4 (3) shall serve a term of six years.

5 (b) STAFF.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Consistent with title 5,

7 United States Code, the Commissioner may appoint

8 and fix the pay of such staff as the Commissioner

9 determines to be necessary to carry out the func10 tions of the Center which may include, as reasonably

11 required by the Commissioner, the hiring of certain

12 scientific or technical employees for limited periods

13 of time, without regard to the provisions of title 5,

14 United States Code, governing appointment in the

15 competitive service, and the provisions of chapter 51

16 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title relat17 ing to classification and General Schedule pay rates.

18 (2) REAPPOINTMENT.—The Commissioner may

19 reappoint an employee described in paragraph (1)

20 for 1 additional term not to exceed three years if de21 termined necessary by the Commissioner.

22 SEC. 213. DUTIES.

23 (a) GENERAL DUTIES.—

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The duties of the Center

25 are—
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1 (A) to evaluate programs under title I of

2 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

3 of 1965;

4 (B) to evaluate other Federal education

5 programs, as determined by the Director of the

6 Academy;

7 (C) to evaluate education programs, on a

8 contractual basis for other Federal or State

9 agencies; and

10 (D) to oversee all contracting and per11 sonnel activities of the Center.

12 (2) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—Each eval13 uation conducted by the Center pursuant to para14 graph (1) shall adhere to the highest possible stand15 ards of quality for conducting sound program eval16 uation with respect to research design, statistical

17 analysis, and the dissemination of findings as de18 scribed in section 2(7) of this Act.

19 (b) ADMINISTRATION OF EVALUATIONS UNDER

20 TITLE I OF THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDU21 CATION ACT OF 1965.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Center shall administer

23 all operations and contracts associated with evalua24 tions authorized by part E of title I of the Elemen25 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20
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1 U.S.C. 6491 et seq.) and administered by the De2 partment of Education as of the date of the enact3 ment of this Act. These evaluations are to include—

4 (A) the national assessment of title I of

5 such Act in accordance with paragraph (3);

6 (B) a longitudinal evaluation of the effec7 tiveness of school interventions in accordance

8 with paragraph (4); and

9 (C) national longitudinal surveys of

10 schools.

11 (2) QUALITY STANDARDS.—Each evaluation ad12 ministered under this subsection shall conform to

13 the extent possible to the sound program evaluation

14 standards defined under section 2(7). The Commis15 sioner shall determine if evaluation designs and

16 methodology are sound, the extent to which it is rea17 sonable for the evaluation to conform to such stand18 ards, and implement any necessary changes.

19 (3) NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF TITLE I.—The

20 national assessment of title I of the Elementary and

21 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301

22 et seq.) shall examine in accordance with the stand23 ards under paragraph (2)—

24 (A) the impact of the programs carried out

25 under part A of title I of the Elementary and
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•HR 4875 IH

1 Secondary Education Act of 1965 upon increas2 ing student academic achievement;

3 (B) the impact of State standards, assess4 ments, and accountability systems developed

5 under part A of title I of the Elementary and

6 Secondary Education Act of 1965 on improving

7 student achievement and on the quality of edu8 cation programs and instruction at the local

9 level;

10 (C) the effectiveness of schoolwide pro11 grams and targeted assistance programs, as

12 compared to one another, upon improving stu13 dent academic achievement;

14 (D) the effectiveness of different com15 prehensive school reform models funded under

16 title I of the Elementary and Secondary Edu17 cation Act of 1965 on improving achievement of

18 disadvantaged students;

19 (E) the cost-effectiveness of interventions

20 funded under part A of title I of the Elemen21 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;

22 (F) the effects of school choice on the aca23 demic achievement of educationally disadvan24 taged students attending schools in need of im25 provement as defined under part A of title I of
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1 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

2 of 1965;

3 (G) the impact of the professional develop4 ment activities supported under title I of the

5 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

6 1965 on instruction and student performance;

7 (H) the extent to which the resources pro8 vided under title I of the Elementary and Sec9 ondary Education Act of 1965 are targeted to

10 disadvantaged students; and

11 (I) the effectiveness of Federal administra12 tion, including monitoring and technical assist13 ance.

14 (4) NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF EF15 FECTIVENESS OF SCHOOL INTERVENTIONS.—The

16 Center shall carry out the ongoing longitudinal study

17 of schools administered by the Secretary of Edu18 cation and ensure that it provides the Congress and

19 educators described in part A of title I of the Ele20 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

21 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.) with the following:

22 (A) An accurate description and analysis

23 of its short-term and long-term effectiveness

24 upon academic performance.
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1 (B) A measure of the cost-effectiveness of

2 title I of such Act in improving student aca3 demic achievement.

4 (C) A measure of the extent to which the

5 changes made to part A of title I of the Ele6 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

7 since 1994 have resulted in increased student

8 academic achievement.

9 (D) An analysis of educational practices or

10 model programs which are the most effective in

11 improving the achievement of disadvantaged

12 children.

13 (E) An analysis of the cost-effectiveness of

14 different interventions used to improve the

15 achievement of disadvantaged children.

16 (F) A stratified sample of school partici17 pating in programs under title I of such Act

18 and shall ensure that different types of models

19 or strategies for delivering schools services are

20 analyzed, such as—

21 (i) schoolwide and targeted services

22 under title I of such Act; and

23 (ii) comprehensive school reform mod24 els.
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1 (G) An analysis of cohorts of students

2 within the stratified sample of schools for at

3 least five years which study, when the cohorts

4 are taken as a whole, provides a picture of such

5 program’s effectiveness over the elementary and

6 secondary grades.

7 (H) An analysis that includes, to the ex8 tent possible, students who transfer to different

9 schools during the course of the study.

10 (I) An analysis of the effect of the summer

11 break on maintaining and building on achieve12 ment gains from one year to the next, and the

13 effect of summer school on narrowing achieve14 ment gaps.

15 SEC. 214. INDEPENDENT REVIEW PANELS.

16 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Commissioner may es17 tablish 1 or more independent review panels (hereafter in

18 this section referred to as ‘‘panels’’) for each evaluation,

19 or a set of evaluations, described in section 213, in order

20 to assist the Center in carrying out the evaluation under

21 such section. In carrying out each such evaluation, the

22 Center and the panel shall consult with the appropriate

23 program office within the Department of Education.

24 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each panel shall consist of

2 not more than 15 members, and shall be selected by

3 the Director in consultation with the Commissioner

4 and shall include—

5 (A) individuals who are specialists in sta6 tistics, evaluation, research and assessment, of

7 which, in order to ensure diversity, the majority

8 shall represent disciplines or programs outside

9 of the field of education;

10 (B) 2 chief State school officers who shall

11 not be members of the same political party;

12 (C) 2 school district superintendents who

13 shall not be members of the same political

14 party; and

15 (D) other individuals with expertise who

16 would contribute to the overall rigor and quality

17 of the program evaluation.

18 (c) TERMS OF OFFICE.—The term of office of each

19 member of a panel shall be for the duration of the evalua20 tion the member is appointed to oversee.

21 (d) POWERS.—Each panel shall—

22 (1) ensure that the evaluations are sound, ask

23 meaningful and important questions, and are timely;

24 (2) oversee the evaluation as carried out by the

25 Center or its contractors; and
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1 (3) ensure that each evaluation is reviewed

2 within 3 months of its completion by 3 independent

3 experts in program evaluation to evaluate and com4 ment on the degree to which it complies with sound

5 program evaluation standards.

6 Such comments received under paragraph (3) shall be

7 printed with the final version of the findings of the evalua8 tion, along with any response by the Commissioner of the

9 Center.

10 CHAPTER 3—NATIONAL CENTER FOR

11 EDUCATION STATISTICS

12 SEC 221. SHORT TITLE.

13 This chapter may be cited as the ‘‘National Edu14 cation Statistics Act of 2000’’.

15 SEC. 222. FINDINGS; PURPOSE.

16 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:

17 (1) A Department of Education was established

18 in 1867 ‘‘for the purpose of collecting such statistics

19 and facts as shall show the condition and progress

20 of education in the several States and territories,

21 and of diffusing such information respecting the or22 ganization and management of schools and school

23 systems and methods of teaching as shall aid the

24 people of the United States in the establishment and

25 maintenance of efficient school systems, and other-
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1 wise promote the cause of education throughout the

2 United States’’.

3 (2) Today, while the role of the current Depart4 ment of Education is much broader, the National

5 Center for Education Statistics continues to perform

6 those crucial original purposes.

7 (3) It is paramount that the collecting, ana8 lyzing, and reporting of information and statistics be

9 done in a manner that is objective and free of par10 tisan and political influence, and that such activities

11 can be most effectively carried out by a National

12 Center for Education Statistics that is located with13 in an independent National Academy for Education

14 Research, Statistics, Evaluation, and Information in15 sulated from the Department of Education.

16 (4) The availability of valid, reliable and timely

17 data, delivered in widely accessible formats, provides

18 policymakers, educators, parents, and the public

19 with information for making key decisions about

20 education in their States and local school districts.

21 (5) As schools, school districts, States, the De22 partment of Education, and the Academy continue

23 to move to performance-based systems, in which ac24 countability and improvement efforts are driven by

25 student and school outcomes, comprehensive and ac-
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1 curate information and data on such outcomes be2 come increasingly important.

3 (6) Recent technological advances permit more

4 efficient and effective strategies for the collection,

5 analysis, reporting and dissemination, and

6 warehousing of data, thereby enhancing the timeli7 ness and usability of the data by the public.

8 (7) Entering the 21st century, the National

9 Center for Education Statistics must be able to de10 sign and undertake, effectively and efficiently, statis11 tical activities that will aid in the reform of the Na12 tion’s educational systems.

13 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this chapter is to en14 sure the continuation of an effective mechanism, free of

15 partisan and political influence, for collecting and report16 ing statistics and information showing the condition and

17 progress of education in the United States and other na18 tions in order to promote and accelerate the improvement

19 of American education.

20 SEC. 223. ESTABLISHMENT.

21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established, within

22 the Academy established under title I of this Act, a Na23 tional Center for Education Statistics (hereafter in this

24 chapter referred to as the ‘‘Center’’).

25 (b) MISSION—The mission of the Center shall be—
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1 (1) to collect and analyze education information

2 and statistics under this Act in a manner that meets

3 the highest methodological standards;

4 (2) to report education information and statis5 tics under this Act in a timely manner; and

6 (3) to collect, analyze, and report education in7 formation and statistics under this Act in a manner

8 that—

9 (A) is objective and free of partisan and

10 political influence; and

11 (B) is relevant and useful to practitioners,

12 researchers, policymakers, and the public.

13 SEC. 224. COMMISSIONER; DEPUTY COMMISSIONER AND

14 ASSOCIATE COMMISSIONERS; STAFF.

15 (a) COMMISSIONER.—The Center shall be headed by

16 a Commissioner for Education Statistics (hereafter in this

17 chapter referred to as the ‘‘Commissioner’’) who shall be

18 appointed by the President and who—

19 (1) shall have substantial knowledge of pro20 grams assisted by the Center;

21 (2) shall be paid in accordance with section

22 5315 of title 5, United States Code; and

23 (3) shall serve a term of six years, with the

24 terms to expire every sixth July 1, beginning in

25 2001.
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1 (b) DEPUTY COMMISSIONER AND ASSOCIATE COM2 MISSIONERS.—The Commissioner may appoint a Deputy

3 Commissioner and such Associate Commissioners as the

4 Commissioner determines are necessary and appropriate.

5 (c) STAFF.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner may ap7 point, for terms not to exceed three years (without

8 regard to the provisions of title 5, United States

9 Code, governing appointment in the competitive

10 service) such statistical experts of the Center as the

11 Commissioner considers necessary to accomplish the

12 Center’s mission, provided that—

13 (A) prior to the appointment of any such

14 employee, public notice is given of the avail15 ability of such position and an opportunity is

16 provided for qualified individuals to apply and

17 compete for such position;

18 (B) the appointment of such employee is

19 necessary to provide the Center with scientific

20 and technical expertise which could not other21 wise be obtained by the Center through the

22 competitive service; and

23 (C) the total number of such employees

24 does not exceed 10 percent of the number of

25 full-time professional employees of the Center.
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1 (2) REAPPOINTMENT OF EMPLOYEES—The

2 Commissioner may reappoint employees described in

3 paragraph (1) upon presentation of clear and con4 vincing evidence of need, for one additional term not

5 to exceed three years. All such employees shall work

6 on activities of the Center and shall not be reas7 signed to other duties outside the Center during

8 their term.

9 SEC. 225. DUTIES.

10 (a) GENERAL DUTIES.—The duties of the Center are

11 to collect, analyze, and disseminate statistics and other in12 formation related to education in the United States and

13 in other nations, including—

14 (1) collecting, acquiring, compiling (where ap15 propriate, on a State by State basis), and dissemi16 nating full and complete statistics on the condition

17 and progress of education, at the preschool, elemen18 tary, secondary, and postsecondary, and adult levels

19 in the United States, including data on—

20 (A) State and local education reform ac21 tivities;

22 (B) student achievement at all levels of

23 education;

24 (C) secondary school completions, drop25 outs, and adult literacy;
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1 (D) educational access to and opportunity

2 for postsecondary education, including data on

3 financial aid to postsecondary students;

4 (E) teaching, including data on course-tak5 ing, instruction, the conditions of the education

6 workplace, and the supply of, and demand for,

7 teachers, which may include data on the propor8 tions of women and men, cross-tabulated by

9 race or ethnicity, teaching in subjects in which

10 such individuals have been historically under11 represented;

12 (F) the learning and teaching environment,

13 including data on libraries;

14 (G) the incidence, frequency, seriousness,

15 and nature of violence affecting students, school

16 personnel, and other individuals participating in

17 school activities, as well as other indices of

18 school safety;

19 (H) the financing and management of edu20 cation, including data on revenues and expendi21 tures;

22 (I) the social and economic status of chil23 dren relative to academic achievement; and

24 (J) technology in the classroom;
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1 (2) conducting and publishing reports and anal2 yses of the meaning and significance of such statis3 tics;

4 (3) conducting longitudinal studies, as well as

5 regular and special surveys and data collections, nec6 essary to report on the condition and progress of

7 education;

8 (4) collecting, analyzing, cross-tabulating, and

9 reporting, to the extent feasible, so as to provide in10 formation by gender, race, socioeconomic status, lim11 ited-English proficiency, and other population char12 acteristics when such disaggregated information

13 would facilitate educational and policy decision14 making;

15 (5) assisting public and private educational

16 agencies, organizations, and institutions in improv17 ing and automating statistical and data collection

18 activities; and

19 (6) acquiring and disseminating data on edu20 cational activities and student achievement (such as

21 the Third International Math and Science Study) in

22 the United States compared with foreign nations.

23 (b) PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT.—The Commis24 sioner shall make customer service a priority and shall en25 sure a high level of customer satisfaction through—
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1 (1) establishing and improving feedback mecha2 nisms in order to anticipate customer needs;

3 (2) disseminating information in a timely fash4 ion, and in formats that are easily accessible and us5 able by researchers, practitioners, and the general

6 public;

7 (3) utilizing the most modern technology and

8 other methods available, including arrangements to

9 use data collected electronically by States and local

10 educational agencies, to ensure the efficient collec11 tion and timely distribution of information, including

12 data and reports;

13 (4) establishing, and measuring the Center’s

14 performance against, a set of indicators for the qual15 ity of data collected, analyzed, and reported by the

16 Center;

17 (5) continuously improving the management

18 strategies and practices of the Center; and

19 (6) making data available to the public in an

20 expeditious fashion.

21 (c) TRAINING PROGRAM.—The Commissioner may

22 establish a program to train employees of public and pri23 vate educational agencies, organizations, and institutions

24 in the use of the Center’s standard statistical procedures

25 and concepts and may establish a fellows program to ap-
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1 point such employees as temporary fellows at the Center

2 in order to assist the Center in carrying out its duties.

3 SEC. 226. PERFORMANCE OF DUTIES.

4 (a) GRANTS, CONTRACTS, AND COOPERATIVE

5 AGREEMENTS.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the duties of

7 the Center under this chapter, the Commissioner

8 may award grants, and enter into contracts and co9 operative agreements.

10 (2) DURATION.—Notwithstanding any other

11 provision of law, the grants, contracts, and coopera12 tive agreements under this section may be awarded,

13 on a competitive basis, for a period of not more than

14 five years, and may be renewed at the discretion of

15 the Commissioner for an additional period of not

16 more than five years.

17 (b) GATHERING INFORMATION.—

18 (1) AUTHORITY OVER IMPLEMENTATION OF

19 DATA COLLECTION.—Except with respect to the Na20 tional Assessment of Educational Progress carried

21 out under subtitle B of this title, the Commissioner

22 shall have final authority within the Academy with

23 respect to decisions regarding the implementation of

24 data collection activities, including the appropriate25 ness of specific collection methodologies.
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1 (2) SAMPLING.—The Commissioner may use

2 the statistical method known as sampling to carry

3 out the purpose of this chapter.

4 (3) SOURCE OF INFORMATION.—The Commis5 sioner may, as the Commissioner considers appro6 priate, use information collected—

7 (A) from States, local educational agencies,

8 public and private schools, preschools, institu9 tions of higher education, libraries, administra10 tors, teachers, students, the general public, and

11 such other individuals, organizations, agencies,

12 and institutions as the Commissioner may con13 sider appropriate (including information col14 lected by States and local educational agencies

15 for their own use);

16 (B) by other offices within the Academy

17 and by other Federal departments, agencies,

18 and instrumentalities.

19 (4) COLLECTION.—The Commissioner may—

20 (A) enter into interagency agreements for

21 the collection of statistics;

22 (B) arrange with any agency, organization,

23 or institution for the collection of statistics; and
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1 (C) assign employees of the Center to any

2 such agency, organization, or institution to as3 sist in such collection.

4 (5) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND COORDINA5 TION.—In order to maximize the effectiveness of

6 Federal efforts to serve the educational needs of

7 children and youth, the Commissioner shall—

8 (A) provide technical assistance to the De9 partment of Education offices that gather data

10 for statistical purposes; and

11 (B) coordinate closely with other Depart12 ment of Education offices in the collection of

13 data.

14 (6) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT.—To assure

15 adequate notification, the Commissioner shall notify

16 the sources of information and others identified in

17 paragraph (3) of—

18 (A) the hardware and software require19 ments for electronic submission of data in a

20 reasonable amount of time in advance of new

21 collection activities for which electronic submis22 sion will be required, but not less than six

23 months prior thereto; and

24 (B) any new requirements for data collec25 tion and submissions in a reasonable amount of
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1 time prior to the period for which the new data

2 collection is required, but not less than six

3 months prior thereto.

4 SEC. 227. REPORTS.

5 (a) REPORT ON CONDITION AND PROGRESS OF EDU6 CATION.—The Commissioner shall, not later than June 1,

7 2001, and each succeeding June 1 thereafter, submit to

8 the President and the appropriate congressional commit9 tees, a statistical report on the condition and progress of

10 education in the United States.

11 (b) STATISTICAL REPORTS.—The Commissioner shall

12 issue regular statistical reports to the President and the

13 appropriate congressional committees on such education

14 topics as the Commissioner determines to be appropriate.

15 (c) SPECIAL REPORTS.—The Commissioner may,

16 whenever the Commissioner considers it appropriate, issue

17 special reports on particular education topics.

18 (d) PROCEDURES FOR ISSUANCE OF REPORTS.—The

19 Commissioner shall establish procedures to ensure that the

20 reports issued under this section are relevant, of high

21 quality, useful to customers, subject to rigorous peer re22 view, produced in a timely fashion, and free from any po23 litical influence.
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1 SEC. 228. ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS.

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established, within

3 the Center, an Advisory Council for Education Statistics

4 (hereafter in this chapter referred to as the ‘‘Council’’).

5 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—

6 (1) COMPOSITION.—The Council shall be com7 posed of—

8 (A) 18 voting members who are users of

9 education data and who are appointed by the

10 Director of the Academy on the basis of their

11 experience and eminence within the field of edu12 cation, of whom at least—

13 (i) three shall be practicing educators;

14 (ii) three shall be education policy15 makers;

16 (iii) three shall be professional stat17 isticians;

18 (iv) three shall be education research19 ers; and

20 (v) three shall be experts in edu21 cational measurement;

22 (B) three individuals representing the gen23 eral public, appointed by the Director of the

24 Academy;
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1 (C) the Director of the Census and the

2 Commissioner of Labor Statistics, as voting, ex

3 officio members; and

4 (D) the Commissioner for Education Sta5 tistics and the Director of the Academy, as non6 voting, ex officio members.

7 (2) PRESIDING OFFICER.—The Commissioner

8 shall appoint the presiding officer of the Council

9 from among the voting members of the Council.

10 (3) TERMS.—Members of the Council appointed

11 under paragraph (1)(A) shall be appointed for three12 year terms, except that, in the case of initial ap13 pointments, the Secretary shall make appointments

14 for shorter terms to the extent necessary to avoid

15 the expiration of the terms of more than six mem16 bers in the same calendar year.

17 (4) MEETINGS.—

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Council shall meet

19 in public session at the call of the presiding of20 ficer, except that the Council shall meet—

21 (i) at least two times during each cal22 endar year; and

23 (ii) in addition, whenever ten voting

24 members request in writing that the pre25 siding officer call a meeting.
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1 (B) QUORUM.—Eleven voting members of

2 the Council shall constitute a quorum.

3 (c) STAFF.—The Council shall appoint a staff of not

4 more than six individuals with technical expertise to en5 able the Council to carry out its duties.

6 (d) DUTIES.—The Council shall—

7 (1) review and advise the Commissioner on—

8 (A) general policies for the operation and

9 activities of the Center;

10 (B) standards to ensure that statistics and

11 other information disseminated by the Center

12 are of high quality and are not subject to par13 tisan or political influence;

14 (C) standards for peer review of statistical

15 research;

16 (D) the development of the data quality in17 dicators under section 225(b)(4); and

18 (E) the extent to which the data collected

19 and reported by the Center respond to customer

20 needs;

21 (2) annually submit to the Board, the Presi22 dent, and the appropriate congressional committees

23 a report on the quality and usefulness of data col24 lected and reported by the Center, and on any other

25 issues requiring public attention; and
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1 (3) advise the Commissioner on technical and

2 statistical matters related to activities over which the

3 Center has responsibility.

4 SEC. 229. CONFIDENTIALITY.

5 (a) CONFIDENTIALITY STANDARDS.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Center shall develop

7 and enforce standards designed to protect the con8 fidentiality of persons in the collection, reporting,

9 and publication of data under this chapter. This sec10 tion shall not be construed to protect the confiden11 tiality of information about institutions, organiza12 tions, and agencies that receive grants from, or have

13 contracts or cooperative agreements with, the Fed14 eral Government.

15 (2) PROHIBITION.—No person may—

16 (A) use any individually identifiable infor17 mation furnished under this chapter for any

18 purpose other than a statistical purpose;

19 (B) make any publication whereby the data

20 furnished by any particular person under this

21 chapter can be identified; or

22 (C) permit anyone other than the individ23 uals authorized by the Commissioner to exam24 ine the individual reports.

25 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—No department, bureau,

2 agency, officer, or employee of the Federal Govern3 ment, except the Commissioner in carrying out the

4 purposes of this chapter, shall require, for any rea5 son, copies of reports that have been filed under this

6 chapter with the Center or retained by any indi7 vidual respondent. Copies of such reports that have

8 been so filed or retained with the Center or any of

9 the Center’s employees, contractors, or agents shall

10 be immune from legal process, and shall not, without

11 the consent of the individual concerned, be admitted

12 as evidence or used for any purpose in any action,

13 suit, or other judicial or administrative proceeding.

14 This paragraph shall apply only to individually iden15 tifiable information.

16 (2) EMPLOYEE OR STAFF VIOLATIONS.—Who17 ever, being or having been an employee or staff

18 member of the Center, having taken or subscribed

19 the oath of office, or having sworn to observe the

20 limitations imposed by subsection (a)(2) of this sec21 tion, knowingly publishes or communicates any indi22 vidually identifiable information, the disclosure of

23 which is prohibited by subsection (a)(2) of this sec24 tion, and that comes into such employee or staff’s

25 possession by reason of employment (or otherwise
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1 providing services) under this chapter, shall be found

2 guilty of a class E felony and imprisoned for not

3 more than five years, or fined as specified in section

4 3571 of title 18, United States Code, or both.

5 (3) TEMPORARY STAFF.—The Commissioner

6 may utilize temporary staff, including employees of

7 Federal, State, or local agencies or instrumentalities

8 (including local educational agencies), and employees

9 of private organizations to assist the Center in per10 forming the Center’s responsibilities, but only if such

11 temporary staff are sworn to observe the limitations

12 imposed by this section.

13 (4) INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS.—No collec14 tion of information or data acquisition activity un15 dertaken by the Center shall be subject to any re16 view, coordination, or approval procedure except as

17 required by the Director of the Office of Manage18 ment and Budget under the rules and regulations

19 established pursuant to chapter 35 of title 44,

20 United States Code, except such collection of infor21 mation or data acquisition activity may be subject to

22 review or coordination if the Commissioner deter23 mines that such review or coordination is beneficial.

24 (5) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this

25 section—
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1 (A) the term ‘‘individually identifiable in2 formation’’ means any record, response form,

3 completed survey, or aggregation thereof from

4 which information about particular individuals

5 may be revealed; and

6 (B) the term ‘‘report’’ means a response

7 provided by or about an individual to an inquiry

8 from the Center and does not include a statis9 tical aggregation from which individually identi10 fiable information cannot be revealed.

11 (6) VIOLATIONS.—Any person who uses any

12 data provided by the Center, in conjunction with any

13 other information or technique, to identify any indi14 vidual student, teacher, administrator, or other indi15 vidual and who knowingly discloses, publishes, or

16 uses such data for a purpose other than a statistical

17 purpose, or who otherwise violates subparagraph (A)

18 or (B) of subsection (a)(2) of this section, shall be

19 found guilty of a class E felony and imprisoned for

20 not more than five years, or fined as specified in sec21 tion 3571 of title 18, United States Code, or both.

22 (7) ACCESS TO REPORTS OR RECORDS.—Noth23 ing in this section shall restrict the right of the Di24 rector, the Comptroller General of the United

25 States, the Director of the Congressional Budget Of-
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1 fice, and the Librarian of Congress, to gain access

2 to any reports or other records, including informa3 tion identifying individuals, in the Center’s posses4 sion, except that the same restrictions on disclosure

5 that apply under paragraphs (1) and (6) shall apply

6 to such individuals.

7 SEC. 230. DISSEMINATION.

8 (a) GENERAL REQUESTS.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Center may furnish

10 transcripts or copies of tables and other statistical

11 records and make special statistical compilations and

12 surveys for State and local officials, public and pri13 vate organizations, and individuals.

14 (2) COMPILATIONS.—The Center shall provide

15 State and local educational agencies opportunities to

16 suggest the development of particular compilations

17 of statistics, surveys, and analyses that would assist

18 those educational agencies.

19 (b) CONGRESSIONAL REQUESTS.—The Center shall

20 furnish such special statistical compilations and surveys

21 as the appropriate congressional committees, may request.

22 (c) JOINT STATISTICAL PROJECTS.—The Commis23 sioner may engage in joint statistical projects related to

24 the purposes of this chapter, or other statistical purposes

25 authorized by law, with nonprofit organizations or agen-
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1 cies, and the cost of such projects shall be shared equi2 tably, as determined by the Commissioner.

3 (d) FEES.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Statistical compilations and

5 surveys under this section, other than those carried

6 out pursuant to subsections (b) and (c) of this sec7 tion, may be made subject to the payment of the ac8 tual or estimated cost of such work.

9 (2) FUNDS RECEIVED.—All funds received in

10 payment for work or services described in this sub11 section may be used to pay directly the costs of such

12 work or services, to repay appropriations that ini13 tially bore all or part of such costs, or to refund ex14 cess sums when necessary.

15 (e) ACCESS.—

16 (1) OTHER AGENCIES.—The Center shall, con17 sistent with section 229, cooperate with other Fed18 eral agencies having a need for educational data in

19 providing access to educational data received by the

20 Center.

21 (2) INTERESTED PARTIES.—The Center shall,

22 in accordance with such terms and conditions as the

23 Commissioner may prescribe, provide all interested

24 parties, including public and private agencies, par25 ents and other individuals, direct access, in the most
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1 appropriate form (including, where possible, elec2 tronically), to data collected by the Center for the

3 purposes of research and acquiring statistical infor4 mation.

5 SEC. 231. COOPERATIVE EDUCATION STATISTICS SYSTEMS.

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Commissioner may es7 tablish one or more national cooperative education statis8 tics systems for the purpose of producing and maintaining,

9 with the cooperation of the States, comparable and uni10 form information and data on early childhood education,

11 elementary and secondary education, adult education and

12 libraries, that are useful for policymaking at the Federal,

13 State, and local levels. In carrying out this section, the

14 Commissioner may provide technical assistance, and make

15 grants and enter into contracts and cooperative agree16 ments.

17 (b) POSTSECONDARY GROUPS.—

18 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Commissioner may

19 establish one or more groups composed of individ20 uals representing postsecondary education agencies

21 and all sectors of postsecondary education institu22 tions to provide advice and recommendations for

23 producing postsecondary education data that are

24 useful for policymakers, including Congress, at the

25 Federal, State, and local levels. Such groups shall
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1 include both providers and users of postsecondary

2 education data, and shall make recommendations for

3 the use of appropriate technologies in collection and

4 dissemination of data, and advise on how data col5 lection requirements can be made more efficient and

6 cost effective for institutions.

7 (2) ADMINISTRATION.—In carrying out this

8 section, the Commissioner may provide technical as9 sistance, and make grants and enter into contracts

10 and cooperative agreements.

11 Subtitle B—National Assessment

12 Governing Board and National

13 Assessment of Educational

14 Progress

15 CHAPTER 1—NATIONAL ASSESSMENT

16 GOVERNING BOARD

17 SEC. 251. NATIONAL ASSESSMENT GOVERNING BOARD.

18 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established, within

19 the Academy, the National Assessment Governing Board

20 which shall formulate policy and carry out the National

21 Assessment of Educational Progress described in section

22 252.

23 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—

24 (1) EXISTING MEMBERS.—Individuals serving

25 on the National Assessment Governing Board on the
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1 day before the date of the enactment of this Act

2 shall continue to serve in such capacity until the ex3 piration of their term of appointment.

4 (2) APPOINTMENT AND COMPOSITION.—Upon

5 the expiration of an existing member’s term on the

6 National Assessment Governing Board and in ac7 cordance with subsection (d), the Director of the

8 Academy shall appoint members to such Board to be

9 composed of—

10 (A) two Governors, or former Governors,

11 who shall not be members of the same political

12 party;

13 (B) two State legislators, who shall not be

14 members of the same political party;

15 (C) two chief State school officers;

16 (D) two members of a State board of edu17 cation;

18 (E) one superintendent of a local edu19 cational agency;

20 (F) one member of a local board of edu21 cation;

22 (G) three classroom teachers representing

23 the grade levels at which the National Assess24 ment of Educational Progress is conducted;
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1 (H) one representative of business or in2 dustry;

3 (I) two curriculum specialists;

4 (J) three testing and measurement experts,

5 who shall have training and experience in the

6 field of testing and measurement;

7 (K) one nonpublic school administrator or

8 policymaker;

9 (L) two school principals, of whom one

10 shall be an elementary school principal and one

11 shall be a secondary school principal; and

12 (M) four additional members who are rep13 resentatives of the general public, including par14 ents.

15 (3) EX OFFICIO MEMBERS.—The Commissioner

16 of Education Statistics and the Director of the

17 Academy shall serve as ex officio, nonvoting mem18 bers of the Board.

19 (4) SPECIAL RULE.—The Director of the Acad20 emy shall ensure at all times that the membership

21 of the Board reflects regional, racial, gender, and

22 cultural balance and diversity. The Board shall exer23 cise its independent judgment, free from inappro24 priate influences and special interests.

25 (c) TERMS.—
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1 (1)(A) IN GENERAL.—Terms of service of mem2 bers of the Board shall be staggered and may not

3 exceed a period of 4 years.

4 (B) TRANSITION RULE.—Notwithstanding

5 paragraph (2), subparagraph (A) shall take effect on

6 the date of the enactment of this Act, except that

7 members of the Board who were appointed and

8 granted a 3-year term of service by the Secretary of

9 Education before such date, and who are members

10 on such date, shall be granted a 1-year extension of

11 such term.

12 (2) SERVICE LIMITATION.—Except for a 1-year

13 extension provided in paragraph (1)(B), members of

14 the Board may serve not more than 2 consecutive

15 terms.

16 (3) CHANGE OF STATUS.—A member of the

17 Board who changes status under subsection (b) of

18 this section during the term of the appointment of

19 the member may continue to serve as a member

20 until the expiration of such term.

21 (d) VACANCIES.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—

23 (A) The Director of the Academy shall ap24 point new members to fill vacancies on the

25 Board from among individuals who are nomi-
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1 nated by organizations representing the type of

2 individuals described in subsection (b)(1) with

3 respect to which the vacancy exists.

4 (B) Each organization submitting nomina5 tions to the Director of the Academy with re6 spect to a particular vacancy shall nominate for

7 such vacancy 6 individuals who are qualified by

8 experience or training to fill the particular

9 Board vacancy.

10 (2) ADDITIONAL NOMINATIONS.—The Director

11 of the Academy may request that each organization

12 described in paragraph (1)(A) submit additional

13 nominations if the Director determines that none of

14 the individuals nominated by such organization have

15 appropriate knowledge or expertise.

16 (e) AUTHORITY.—

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out its respon18 sibilities to formulate policy and carry out the Na19 tional Assessment of Educational Progress, the

20 Board shall have authority to—

21 (A) publish notices in the Federal Register

22 and the Commerce Business Daily;

23 (B) review and approve for publication or

24 public dissemination articles, reports, bro25 chures, speeches, books, and other documents;
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1 (C) make, enter into, and perform con2 tracts, leases, or other similar transactions in

3 furtherance of the functions and responsibilities

4 of the Board;

5 (D) obligate funds allocated and allotted to

6 the National Assessment Governing Board;

7 (E) perform personnel functions necessary

8 to appoint and fix compensation of officers and

9 employees and to appoint excepted service per10 sonnel and to obtain the services of experts and

11 consultants;

12 (F) make determinations regarding con13 flicts of interest; and

14 (G) solicit, accept, hold, administer, and

15 utilize gifts, bequests, and devises of money,

16 property, both real and personal, or uncondi17 tional gifts of services.

18 (2) ESTABLISHMENT OF POLICY.—In estab19 lishing policy for the National Assessment of Edu20 cational Progress, the Board shall—

21 (A) select subject areas to be assessed

22 (consistent with section 252(c)(1));

23 (B) develop appropriate student perform24 ance levels as provided in section 252(f);
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1 (C) develop assessment objectives and test

2 specifications through a national consensus ap3 proach which includes the active participation

4 of teachers, curriculum specialists, State boards

5 of education, local school boards, local school

6 administrators, parents, and concerned mem7 bers of the public;

8 (D) design the methodology of the assess9 ment, in consultation with appropriate technical

10 experts;

11 (E) develop guidelines for reporting and

12 disseminating results;

13 (F) develop standards and procedures for

14 interstate, regional, and national comparisons;

15 and

16 (G) take appropriate actions needed to im17 prove the form and use of the National Assess18 ment of Educational Progress.

19 (3) DELEGATION.—The Board may delegate

20 any of the Board’s procedural and administrative

21 functions to its staff.

22 (4) COGNITIVE AND NONCOGNITIVE ITEMS.—

23 The Board shall have final authority on the appro24 priateness of cognitive and noncognitive items.
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1 (5) PROHIBITION AGAINST BIAS.—The Board

2 shall take steps to ensure that all items selected for

3 use in the National Assessment of Educational

4 Progress are free from racial, cultural, gender, or re5 gional bias.

6 (6) TECHNICAL.—In carrying out the duties re7 quired by paragraph (2), the Board may seek tech8 nical advice, as appropriate, from the Commissioner

9 of Education Statistics and the Advisory Council on

10 Education Statistics and other experts.

11 (7) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after an

12 evaluation of the student performance levels under

13 section 252(f), the Board shall make a report to the

14 Director of the Academy, the Committee on Edu15 cation and the Workforce of the House of Rep16 resentatives, and the Committee on Health, Edu17 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate describing

18 the steps the Board is taking to respond to each of

19 the recommendations contained in such evaluation.

20 (f) PERSONNEL.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—In the exercise of its respon22 sibilities, the Board shall be independent of the Di23 rector and the other offices and officers of the Acad24 emy.

25 (2) STAFF.—
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1 (A) The Board may appoint such staff as

2 will enable the Board to carry out its respon3 sibilities.

4 (B) Such appointments may include, for

5 terms not to exceed 3 years and without regard

6 to the provisions of title 5, United States Code,

7 governing appointments in the competitive serv8 ice, technical employees who may be paid with9 out regard to the provisions of chapter 51 and

10 subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title relat11 ing to classification and General Schedule pay

12 rates.

13 (g) ADMINISTRATION.—Section 10, 11, and 12 of the

14 Federal Advisory Committee Act shall apply with respect

15 to the Board.

16 SEC. 252. NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL

17 PROGRESS.

18 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The National Assessment

19 Governing Board shall establish policy and carry out,

20 through grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements with

21 1 or more qualified entities, or consortia thereof, a Na22 tional Assessment of Educational Progress. The National

23 Assessment of Education Progress collectively refers to a

24 long-term trend assessment, national assessment, and

25 State assessments.
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1 (b) PURPOSE; LONG-TERM TREND ASSESSMENT,

2 NATIONAL ASSESSMENTS, AND STATE ASSESSMENTS.—

3 The purpose of the National Assessment of Educational

4 Progress is to provide a fair and accurate presentation of

5 educational achievement in reading, writing, mathematics,

6 and science, and as time and resources permit, the addi7 tional subjects of United States history, geography, and

8 civics.

9 (c) DUTIES.—

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The National Assessment

11 Governing Board, in carrying out the National As12 sessment of Educational Progress, shall use sam13 pling techniques that produce data that are rep14 resentative on a national and regional basis, and on

15 a State basis pursuant to paragraph (2). The Board,

16 in accordance with an assessment and reporting

17 schedule developed and published by the Board,

18 shall—

19 (A) conduct a long-term trend assessment

20 for purposes of tracking long-term national

21 trends, collect and report data on a periodic

22 basis, but at least every 4 years, for students at

23 ages 9, 13, and 17 in reading, mathematics,

24 and science and in grades 4, 8, and 11 in writ25 ing;
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1 (B) for purposes of collecting data on stu2 dent achievement based on frameworks devel3 oped by the Board under section 251(e)(2),

4 conduct a national assessment each year and

5 State assessments not less than once every 4

6 years in each subject tested as part of the Na7 tional Assessment of Educational Progress in

8 grades 4, 8, and 12 in public and private

9 schools;

10 (C) report achievement data on a basis

11 that ensures valid and reliable trend reporting;

12 (D) include information on special groups,

13 including, whenever feasible, information col14 lected, cross-tabulated, analyzed, and reported

15 by sex, race or ethnicity and socioeconomic sta16 tus;

17 (E) ensure that initial assessment results

18 are reported to the public on a timely basis, but

19 in no event later than 6 months after such as20 sessments are administered;

21 (F) ensure that achievement data are

22 made available on a timely basis following offi23 cial reporting, in a manner that facilitates fur24 ther analysis; and
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1 (G) provide assistance to interested States

2 that wish to compare their State assessments to

3 the National Assessment of Educational

4 Progress.

5 (2) STATE ASSESSMENTS.—

6 (A)(i) The National Assessment Governing

7 Board, in carrying out the National Assessment

8 of Educational Progress, may conduct State as9 sessments of student achievement in grades 4,

10 8, and 12.

11 (ii) Each such State assessment, in each

12 subject area and at each grade level, shall be

13 conducted in a manner that will produce high14 quality data that are valid and reliable.

15 (B)(i) A State wishing to participate in a

16 State assessment shall enter into an agreement

17 with the Board pursuant to subsection (e)(2).

18 (ii) Such agreement shall contain informa19 tion sufficient to give States full information

20 about the process for consensus decision mak21 ing on objectives to be tested, and the stand22 ards for sampling, test administration, test se23 curity, data collection, validation, and reporting.

24 (C) A participating State shall review and

25 give permission for the release of results from
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1 any test of its students administered as a part

2 of a State assessment prior to the release of

3 such data. Refusal by a State to release its data

4 shall not restrict the release of data from other

5 States that have approved the release of such

6 data.

7 (3) PROHIBITED DATA.—In carrying out the

8 National Assessment of Educational Progress, the

9 National Assessment Governing Board shall not col10 lect any data that are not directly related to the ap11 praisal of educational performance, achievement, and

12 traditional demographic reporting variables, or to

13 the fair and accurate presentation of such informa14 tion.

15 (4) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—In carrying out

16 the National Assessment of Educational Progress,

17 the Board may provide technical assistance to

18 States, localities, and other parties.

19 (d) ACCESS.—

20 (1) PUBLIC ACCESS.—Except as provided in

21 paragraph (2), the public shall have access to all

22 data, questions, and test instruments of the National

23 Assessment of Educational Progress.

24 (2) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMA25 TION.—
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1 (A) The National Assessment Governing

2 Board shall ensure that all personally identifi3 able information about students, their edu4 cational performance, and their families, and

5 information with respect to individual schools,

6 remains confidential, in accordance with section

7 552a of title 5, United States Code.

8 (B) The National Assessment Governing

9 Board shall not maintain a system of records

10 containing a student’s name, birth information,

11 social security number, or parent’s name or

12 names.

13 (C)(i) Notwithstanding any other provision

14 of law, the National Assessment Governing

15 Board may decline to make available to the

16 public for a period, not to exceed 10 years after

17 initial use, cognitive questions that the National

18 Assessment Governing Board intends to reuse

19 in the future.

20 (ii) Notwithstanding clause (i), the Na21 tional Assessment Governing Board may decline

22 to make available cognitive items for periods

23 longer than 10 years if the Board determines

24 that it is necessary to do so in order to protect

25 the integrity of long-term trend data.
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1 (e) PARTICIPATION.—

2 (1) LONG-TERM TREND ASSESSMENT AND NA3 TIONAL ASSESSMENT.—Participation in the long4 term trend assessment and national assessment by

5 State and local educational agencies shall be vol6 untary.

7 (2) STATE AMOUNT.—Participation in assess8 ments made on a State basis shall be voluntary. The

9 National Assessment Governing Board shall enter

10 into an agreement with any State that desires to

11 carry out an assessment for the State under this

12 subsection. Each such agreement shall contain provi13 sions designed to ensure that the State—

14 (A) participates in the assessment; and

15 (B) pays from non-Federal sources the

16 non-Federal share of such participation.

17 (3) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—

18 (A) For each fiscal year, the non-Federal

19 share, for the purpose of paragraph (2)(B),

20 shall be—

21 (i) the cost of conducting the assess22 ment at the school level for all public

23 schools in the State sample;

24 (ii) the cost of coordination within the

25 State; and
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1 (iii) other reasonable costs specified

2 by the Board in the agreement described in

3 paragraph (2), such as the cost of ana4 lyzing and reporting the data.

5 (B) The non-Federal share of payments

6 under this paragraph may be in cash or in kind,

7 fairly valued.

8 (C) The agreement described in paragraph

9 (2) shall describe the manner in which the costs

10 of administering the assessment to private non11 profit schools included in the State sample will

12 be met.

13 (f) STUDENT PERFORMANCE LEVELS.—

14 (1) PERFORMANCE LEVELS.—The National As15 sessment Governing Board shall develop appropriate

16 student performance levels for each grade in each

17 subject area to be tested under the National Assess18 ment of Educational Progress.

19 (2) DEVELOPMENT OF LEVELS.—

20 (A) Such performance levels shall be—

21 (i) devised through a national con22 sensus approach, providing for active par23 ticipation of teachers, curriculum special24 ists, State boards of education, local school

25 boards, local school administrators, par-
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1 ents, and concerned members of the gen2 eral public;

3 (ii) used on a developmental basis

4 until the Board determines, as the result

5 of an independent evaluation under sub6 section (g), that such levels are reasonable,

7 valid, and informative to the public; and

8 (iii) updated as appropriate.

9 (B) In using such levels on a develop10 mental basis, the Board shall ensure that re11 ports that use such levels do so in a manner

12 that makes clear the developmental status of

13 such levels.

14 (3) REPORTING.—After determining that such

15 levels are reasonable, valid, and informative to the

16 public, as the result of an evaluation under sub17 section (f), the Board shall use such levels or other

18 methods or indicators for reporting results of the

19 National assessment and State assessments.

20 (g) REVIEW OF NATIONAL AND STATE ASSESS21 MENTS.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—

23 (A) The Director of the Academy shall

24 provide for continuing review of the National

25 assessment, State assessments, and student
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1 performance levels, by 1 or more nationally rec2 ognized evaluation organizations, such as the

3 National Academy of Education and the Na4 tional Academy of Sciences.

5 (B) Such continuing review shall address—

6 (i) whether each State assessment is

7 properly administered, produces high-qual8 ity data that are valid and reliable, and

9 produces data on student achievement that

10 are not otherwise available to the State

11 (other than data comparing participating

12 States to each other and the Nation); and

13 (ii) whether developmental student

14 performance levels are reasonable, valid,

15 and informative to the public.

16 (2) REPORT.—The Board shall report to the

17 Committee on Education and the Workforce of the

18 House of Representatives and the Committee on

19 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Sen20 ate, the President, and the Nation on the findings

21 and recommendations of such reviews.

22 (3) USE OF FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDA23 TIONS.—The National Assessment Governing Board

24 shall consider the findings and recommendations of
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1 such reviews in carrying out the National Assess2 ment of Educational Progress.

3 (h) COVERAGE AGREEMENTS.—

4 (1) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SCHOOLS.—The

5 National Assessment Governing Board and the Sec6 retary of Defense may enter into an agreement, in7 cluding such terms as are mutually satisfactory, to

8 include in the National Assessment of Educational

9 Progress elementary and secondary schools operated

10 by the Department of Defense.

11 (2) BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS SCHOOLS.—

12 The National Assessment Governing Board and the

13 Secretary of the Interior may enter into an agree14 ment, including such terms as are mutually satisfac15 tory, to include in the National Assessment of Edu16 cational Progress schools for Indian children oper17 ated or supported by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

18 SEC. 253. PROHIBITION ON FEDERALLY SPONSORED TEST19 ING.

20 (a) GENERAL PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any

21 other provision of Federal law and except as provided in

22 subsection (b), no funds provided to the Department of

23 Education, the National Assessment Governing Board, the

24 Academy, or an applicable program may be used to carry

25 out any activities related to any federally sponsored na-
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1 tional test in reading, mathematics, or any other subject

2 that is not specifically and explicitly provided for in au3 thorizing legislation enacted into law.

4 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to

5 the Third International Mathematics and Science Study

6 or other international comparative assessments developed

7 under the authority of section 225(a)(6) and administered

8 to only a representative sample of pupils in the United

9 States and in foreign nations.

10 (c) REPEAL OF AUTHORITY.—Section 305(b) of title

11 III of the Department of Labor, Health and Human Serv12 ices and Education and Related Agencies Appropriations

13 Act, 1999 of the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency

14 Supplemental Appropriations Act for 1999 (Public Law

15 105–277) relating to the authority of the National Assess16 ment Governing Board over the direction and all policies

17 and guidelines for developing voluntary national tests, is

18 repealed.
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1 TITLE III—ACTIVITIES WITHIN

2 THE DEPARTMENT OF EDU3 CATION

4 SEC. 301. OFFICE OF PLANNING, PERFORMANCE MANAGE5 MENT, AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.

6 Section 208 of the Department of Education Organi7 zation Act (20 U.S.C. 3419) is amended to read as fol8 lows:

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established within the

10 Department of Education an Office of Planning, Perform11 ance Measurement, and Technical Assistance, which shall

12 be under the direction of a Director.

13 ‘‘(b) DUTIES OF OFFICE.—The Director of the Office

14 of Planning, Performance Measurement, and Technical

15 Assistance shall be responsible for—

16 ‘‘(1) planning and measuring program perform17 ance described in subsection (c);

18 ‘‘(2) providing assistance to State educational

19 agencies and local educational agencies in the devel20 opment and maintenance of management informa21 tion systems described in subsection (d); and

22 ‘‘(3) providing technical assistance and dissemi23 nating information described in subsections (e) and

24 (f)
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1 ‘‘(c) PLANNING AND PERFORMANCE.—To assist with

2 planning and implement a performance measurement sys3 tem, the Director may, directly or through grants to, and

4 contracts with, appropriate entities—

5 ‘‘(1) assess program goals under the Govern6 ment Performance Results Act of 1993 (Public Law

7 103–62);

8 ‘‘(2) measure the quality of program adminis9 tration;

10 ‘‘(3) conduct efforts to measure and improve

11 data quality;

12 ‘‘(4) assess implementation quality;

13 ‘‘(5) assess process effectiveness and efficiency;

14 ‘‘(6) measure customer satisfaction;

15 ‘‘(7) collect participant outcomes;

16 ‘‘(8) obtain biennial updates of census data

17 used under title I of the Elementary and Secondary

18 Education Act of 1965; and

19 ‘‘(9) undertake activities in partnership with

20 the States to develop information needed to inform

21 program management and support continuous im22 provement at the State, school district, and school

23 levels.

24 ‘‘(d) INTEGRATED PERFORMANCE AND

25 BENCHMARKING SYSTEM.—The Office may provide guid-
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1 ance and technical assistance to State educational agen2 cies and local educational agencies in developing and

3 maintaining management-information systems through

4 which such an agency may develop program-performance

5 indicators, collect data to measure performance against

6 those indicators, and use the data to improve services and

7 performance.

8 ‘‘(e) REGIONAL COMPREHENSIVE TECHNICAL AS9 SISTANCE AND REFORM INITIATIVES.—

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall—

11 ‘‘(A) establish, oversee, and coordinate a

12 nationwide, regional network of entities author13 ized to provide comprehensive technical assist14 ance and promote reform initiatives to States,

15 local educational agencies, schools, tribes, com16 munity-based organizations, and other appro17 priate entities;

18 ‘‘(B) identify not more than 10 regional

19 areas of the United States to make up such

20 network, taking into consideration at a min21 imum, the geographic distribution of students

22 assisted under title I of the Elementary and

23 Secondary Education Act of 1965.

24 ‘‘(2) REGIONAL BOARDS.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each region referred

2 to in paragraph (1)(B) shall be governed by a

3 regional board which shall be convened by gov4 ernors in the States represented by each region.

5 Each such board shall consist of individuals

6 broadly representative of the agencies and orga7 nizations serving the region, which at a min8 imum shall include—

9 ‘‘(i) representatives of State edu10 cational agencies;

11 ‘‘(ii) representatives of local edu12 cational agencies;

13 ‘‘(iii) representatives of higher edu14 cational agencies, including individuals rep15 resenting schools of education, university16 based education research, and university17 based research in fields other than edu18 cation;

19 ‘‘(iv) parents;

20 ‘‘(v) practicing educators; and

21 ‘‘(vi) representatives of business.

22 ‘‘(B) PLAN.—Each regional board shall—

23 ‘‘(i) develop a plan for identifying and

24 serving the needs of the region by con25 ducting a continuing survey of the edu-
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1 cational needs, strengths, and weaknesses

2 within the region, including a process of

3 open hearings to solicit the views and

4 needs of schools, charter schools, teachers,

5 administrators, parents, local educational

6 agencies, librarians, businesses, State edu7 cational agencies and other customers

8 within the region;

9 ‘‘(ii) forward such plan to the Direc10 tor of the National Academy for Education

11 Research, Statistics, Evaluation, and Infor12 mation and the Commissioner of Edu13 cation Research to assist in making deci14 sions regarding the national priorities

15 within education research.

16 ‘‘(C) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Based

17 upon the plan described in subparagraph (B),

18 each regional board shall carry out comprehen19 sive technical assistance and reform initiatives,

20 which, at a minimum, shall include—

21 ‘‘(i) the dissemination of research, in22 formation, products, and publications de23 veloped through or supported by the De24 partment of Education or the National

25 Academy for Education Research, Statis-
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1 tics, Evaluation, and Information to

2 schools, educators, parents and policy3 makers throughout the United States, in4 cluding, at a minimum, information related

5 to the core academic areas of mathematics,

6 science, reading, as well as education tech7 nology.

8 ‘‘(ii) training and technical assistance

9 to States, local educational agencies,

10 schools, charter schools, tribes, community11 based organizations, and other appropriate

12 entities, in areas which, at a minimum,

13 shall include—

14 ‘‘(I) the administration and im15 plementation of programs under the

16 Elementary and Secondary Education

17 Act of 1965;

18 ‘‘(II) assistance for the imple19 mentation of teaching methods and

20 assessment tools based upon scientif21 ically valid education research for use

22 by students, teachers, and administra23 tors, including, at a minimum, assist24 ance related to the core academic

25 areas including mathematics, science,
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1 reading, as well as education tech2 nology; and

3 ‘‘(III) the provision of education

4 products based upon scientifically

5 based education research in a usable

6 form in order to promote school im7 provement and academic achievement

8 and to correct educational deficiencies;

9 and

10 ‘‘(iii) applied research projects de11 signed to serve the particular needs of the

12 region if quality applied research does not

13 exist as determined by the regional board,

14 and reflect findings from scientifically valid

15 research resulting in user-friendly,

16 replicable, classroom applications geared

17 toward promoting increased student

18 achievement.

19 ‘‘(D) INFORMATION.—Information devel20 oped pursuant to the plan developed under sub21 paragraph (B) shall be categorized by the level

22 of research the program or practice has

23 achieved through the classification systems es24 tablished under section 204(c)(5) of the Sci-
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1 entifically Based Education Research, Statis2 tics, Evaluation, and Information act of 2000.

3 ‘‘(E) AUTHORITY.—

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—To carry out the

5 activities described in subparagraph (C),

6 each regional board may provide grants or

7 enter into contracts or cooperative agree8 ments, each of which shall be on a com9 petitive basis, with private or public, for

10 profit, or nonprofit research organizations,

11 institutions, agencies, institutions of higher

12 education, individuals, or partnerships

13 among such entities, with the dem14 onstrated ability or capacity to carry out

15 the duties under this subsection, including

16 entities that carried out, on the day pre17 ceding the date of the enactment of the

18 Scientifically Based Education Research,

19 Statistics, Evaluation, and Information

20 Act, activities under—

21 ‘‘(I) part A of title XIII of the

22 Elementary and Secondary Education

23 Act of 1965, Comprehensive Regional

24 Assistance Centers;
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1 ‘‘(II) part C of title XIII of the

2 Elementary and Secondary Education

3 Act of 1965, Eisenhower Regional

4 Mathematics and Science Education

5 Consortia;

6 ‘‘(III) part D of title XIII of the

7 Elementary and Secondary Education

8 Act of 1965, Technology-Based Tech9 nical Assistance;

10 ‘‘(IV) section 931(c)(1)(B) of

11 Goals 2000, Educate America Act,

12 National Research and Development

13 Centers; and

14 ‘‘(V) section 941(h) of Goals

15 2000, Educate America Act, Regional

16 Educational Laboratories for Re17 search, Development, Dissemination,

18 and Technical Assistance;

19 ‘‘(ii) OBJECTIVES AND INDICATORS.—

20 Prior to making a grant under subpara21 graph (E), the board shall design specific

22 objectives and measurable indicators to be

23 used to assess the particular program or

24 initiatives and ongoing progress and per25 formance to ensure the needs of the region
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1 are being met and that the latest and best

2 research and proven practices are being

3 carried out as part of school improvement

4 efforts;

5 ‘‘(F) PRIORITY.—In carrying out activities

6 under this section, each regional board shall

7 give priority to—

8 ‘‘(i) schools participating in

9 schoolwide programs under title I of the

10 Elementary and Secondary Education Act

11 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.);

12 ‘‘(ii) schools with high percentages of

13 students from families with members eligi14 ble for free or reduced price lunches under

15 the Richard B. Russell National School

16 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.); and

17 ‘‘(iii) schools in rural areas with high

18 levels of poverty.

19 ‘‘(G) OTHER DUTIES.—Each regional

20 board also shall—

21 ‘‘(i) leverage funds from public and

22 private sources to enable expansion and

23 continuous improvement of its activities;

24 and
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1 ‘‘(ii) ensure its activities meet the ap2 plicable standards of quality and the needs

3 of the region;

4 ‘‘(iii) establish such governance, orga5 nization, management, administration, and

6 employ such qualified staff as it considers

7 appropriate to carry out its activities.

8 ‘‘(3) FUNDING.—

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—From funds made

10 available under section 302(2), the Secretary

11 shall provide each regional board submitting an

12 application under subparagraph (B), an amount

13 of funding equal, or in proportion to, the level

14 of funding received by such region or similar re15 gion, under prior regional assistance programs

16 as described under paragraph (2)(E)(i), of

17 which not more than 7 percent shall be used for

18 indirect costs using generally accepted account19 ing principles.

20 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION.—Each regional board

21 seeking funds under this section shall submit an

22 application which shall—

23 ‘‘(i) describe how the board will carry

24 out the activities in accordance with this

25 paragraph; and
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1 ‘‘(ii) contain such additional informa2 tion as the Secretary may reasonably re3 quire.

4 ‘‘(4) COORDINATION.—In order to assure co5 ordination and prevent unnecessary duplication of

6 activities among the regions, the Director shall es7 tablish and maintain a system to—

8 ‘‘(A) share information about the activities

9 of each region;

10 ‘‘(B) plan joint activities that meet the

11 needs of multiple regions;

12 ‘‘(C) create a strategic plan for the devel13 opment of activities undertaken by the each re14 gion to reduce redundancy and increase collabo15 ration and resource-sharing in such activities;

16 and

17 ‘‘(D) devise means by which the work of

18 the individual regions serve national, as well as

19 regional education needs.

20 ‘‘(5) EVALUATION.—The Director shall provide

21 for ongoing independent evaluations of the regions

22 in carrying out the duties of this subsection, the re23 sults of which shall be transmitted to the relevant

24 committees of Congress and the National Board for
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1 Education Research, Statistics, Evaluation, and In2 formation.

3 ‘‘(f) SCHOOL-BASED CUSTOMER DRIVEN TECHNICAL

4 ASSISTANCE.—

5 ‘‘(1) RESERVATION.—From funds made avail6 able under section 302(2), for any fiscal year, the

7 Secretary shall award grants to States on a competi8 tive basis consistent with this subsection.

9 ‘‘(2) STATE APPLICATION.—Each State desiring

10 a grant under this subsection shall submit an appli11 cation to the Secretary at such time, in such man12 ner, and containing such information the Secretary

13 may require. Each such application shall describe

14 how—

15 ‘‘(A) the State shall give priority to local

16 educational agencies and schools—

17 ‘‘(i) participating in schoolwide pro18 grams under title I of the Elementary and

19 Secondary Education Act of 1965;

20 ‘‘(ii) with high percentages of students

21 from families with members eligible for

22 free or reduced price lunches under the

23 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch

24 Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.); and
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1 ‘‘(iii) in rural areas with high levels of

2 poverty;

3 ‘‘(B) help educators become better con4 sumers of education research by assisting them

5 in evaluating the quality of research;

6 ‘‘(C) the State shall ensure that activities

7 are coordinated with the services available

8 under the National Education Library and

9 Clearinghouse Office and the regional boards

10 established in subsection (b); and

11 ‘‘(D) assist schools in evaluating education

12 services to ensure they are cost-effective and re13 flect the best information available for research

14 and practice based upon scientifically valid re15 search;

16 ‘‘(3) LOCAL GRANTS.—

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each State that re18 ceives a grant under this subsection shall use

19 not less than 95 percent of such funds to award

20 grants on a competitive basis to local edu21 cational agencies to provide such agencies with

22 the opportunity to choose technical assistance

23 from high quality providers able to meet the

24 particular needs of such agency with a priority

25 for local educational agencies with a high per-
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1 centage of students from families with members

2 eligible for free or reduced price lunches under

3 the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch

4 Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.).

5 ‘‘(B) LOCAL APPLICATION.—Each local

6 educational agency that desires a grant under

7 this subsection shall submit an application to

8 the State at such time, in such manner, and

9 containing such information as the Secretary

10 may require. Each application shall describe—

11 ‘‘(i) the local educational agency’s

12 need for technical assistance; and

13 ‘‘(ii) how the local educational agency

14 will use funds provided under this sub15 section to coordinate all its various sources

16 of funds for technical assistance into an in17 tegrated system for acquiring and using

18 outside technical assistance and other

19 means of building its own capacity to pro20 vide the opportunity for all children to

21 achieve to challenging State academic con22 tent standards.

23 ‘‘(C) LOCAL USES OF FUNDS.—Each local

24 educational agency receiving funds under this

25 subsection may use such funds to—
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1 ‘‘(i) build capacity to use technical as2 sistance funds provided under this sub3 section effectively through the acquisition

4 of technical assistance based upon scientif5 ically valid education research.

6 ‘‘(ii) develop, coordinate, and imple7 ment an integrated system of providing

8 technical assistance to its schools using all

9 available sources of funds provided for

10 technical assistance; and

11 ‘‘(iii) acquire the technical assistance

12 the agency needs to increase opportunities

13 for all children to achieve to challenging

14 State academic content standards.’’.

15 SEC. 302. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

16 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out

17 this title, $122,393,000 for fiscal year 2002, and such

18 sum as may be necessary for each of the 4 subsequent

19 fiscal years, of which—

20 (1) $4,390,000 shall be available to carry out

21 subsections (c) and (d) of section 301, in addition to

22 any other funds made available by the Secretary;

23 and
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1 (2) $118,000,000 shall be available to carry out

2 subsections (e) and (f) of section 301, of which not

3 less than 10 percent shall be for subsection (f).

4 TITLE IV—MISCELLANEOUS

5 PROVISIONS

6 SEC. 401. TRANSITION PROVISIONS.

7 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Director of the Office of Man8 agement and Budget shall determine and take appropriate

9 measures to ensure an orderly transition of the activities

10 described in this Act previously administered through the

11 Department of Education and transferred under this Act.

12 (b) ASSETS.—Except as otherwise provided in this

13 Act, so much of the personnel, property, records, and un14 expended balances of appropriations, allocations, and

15 other funds employed, used, held, available, or to be made

16 available in connection with a function transferred to an

17 official or agency by this Act shall be available to the offi18 cial or the head of that agency, respectively, at such time

19 or times as the Director of the Office of Management and

20 Budget directs for use in connection with the functions

21 transferred.

22 (c) FUNCTIONS.—

23 (1) DETERMINATIONS.—If necessary, the Di24 rector shall make any determination of the functions

25 that are transferred under this Act.
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1 (2) INCIDENTAL TRANSFERS.—The Director, at

2 such time or times as the Director shall provide,

3 may make such determinations as may be necessary

4 with regard to the functions transferred by this Act,

5 and to make such additional incidental dispositions

6 of personnel, assets, liabilities, grants, contracts,

7 property, records, and unexpended balances of ap8 propriations, authorizations, allocations, and other

9 funds held, used, arising from, available to, or to be

10 made available in connection with such functions, as

11 may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this

12 Act. The Director shall provide for the termination

13 of the affairs of all entities terminated by this Act

14 and for such further measures and dispositions as

15 may be necessary to effectuate the purposes of this

16 Act.

17 (d) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this title, the term

18 ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of the Office of Manage19 ment and Budget.

20 SEC. 402. REPEALS.

21 (a) EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND IMPROVEMENT.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Educational Research,

23 Development, Dissemination, and Improvement Act

24 of 1994 (20 U.S.C. 6001 et seq.) is repealed.
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1 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(A) Section

2 202(b) of the Department of Education Organiza3 tion Act (20 U.S.C. 3412(b)) is amended by striking

4 paragraph (3).

5 (B) The Department of Education Organization

6 Act (20 U.S.C. 3401 et seq.) is amended—

7 (i) by striking section 208; and

8 (ii) in section 1 in the table of contents, by

9 striking the item relating to section 208.

10 (C) Section 1(b) of the Goals 2000: Educate

11 America Act (20 U.S.C. 5801 et seq.) is amended in

12 the table of contents by striking the items relating

13 to parts A through E of title IX.

14 (D) Title XIII of the Goals 2000: Educate

15 America Act is repealed.

16 (b) FEDERAL EVALUATIONS, DEMONSTRATIONS,

17 AND TRANSITION PROJECTS.—

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Part E of title I of the Ele19 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20

20 U.S.C. 6491 et seq.) is repealed.

21 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1002

22 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

23 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6302) is amended by striking sub24 section (g).

25 (c) NATIONAL EDUCATION STATISTICS.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The National Education

2 Statistics Act of 1994 (title IV of the Improving

3 America’s Schools Act of 1994; 20 U.S.C. 9001 et

4 seq.) is repealed.

5 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(A) Section

6 5315 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by

7 striking the following:

8 ‘‘Commissioner, National Center for Education

9 Statistics.’’.

10 (B) Section 447(b) of the General Education

11 Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232j) is amended by

12 striking ‘‘section 404(a)(6) of the National Edu13 cation Statistics Act of 1994’’ and inserting ‘‘section

14 225(a)(6) of the Scientifically Based Education Re15 search, Statistics, Evaluation, and Information Act

16 of 2000’’.

17 (C) Section 5307 of the Elementary and Sec18 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7267) is

19 repealed.

Æ