I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5583

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish an alternative

path to teaching in needy school districts.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 26, 2000

Mr. TIERNEY (for himself and Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California) introduced

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

the Workforce

A BILL

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish

an alternative path to teaching in needy school districts.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Alternative Path to

5 Teaching Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

7 The purposes of this Act are—

8 (1) to encourage highly knowledgeable individ9 uals to teach in needy school districts; and
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1 (2) to provide them with strong support, espe2 cially during their initial years of teaching.

3 SEC. 3. ALTERNATIVE PATH TO TEACHING IN NEEDY

4 SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Higher Education

6 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) is amended by in7 serting after section 203 the following:

8 ‘‘SEC. 203A. ALTERNATIVE PATH TO TEACHING IN NEEDY

9 SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

10 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is author12 ized, in accordance with the provisions of this sec13 tion, to make grants, on a competitive basis, to

14 collaboratives satisfying the requirements of para15 graph (3) to carry out the purposes described in

16 subsection (b).

17 ‘‘(2) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds re18 ceived under this section shall be used to supple19 ment, and not supplant, funds provided to a State,

20 a local educational agency, or any other person or

21 entity, under any other Federal or State program es22 tablished for the purpose of increasing the ability of

23 local educational agencies effectively to recruit highly

24 qualified teachers, such as funds provided under sec25 tion 204.
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1 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS ON COLLABORATIVES.—

2 ‘‘(A) STATE LICENSING EXAMINATION.—In

3 order to receive a grant under this section, a

4 collaborative shall be established by one or more

5 local educational agencies in a State that re6 quires an individual to have passed a State

7 teacher licensing examination in order to obtain

8 State certification as a teacher.

9 ‘‘(B) ESTABLISHMENT; REQUIRED PAR10 TICIPANTS.—In order to be eligible for a grant

11 under this section, a collaborative shall be es12 tablished by one or more local educational agen13 cies and shall have a membership that includes

14 at least one representative from each of the fol15 lowing:

16 ‘‘(i) The local educational agency or

17 agencies establishing the collaborative, and

18 any other local educational agency that de19 sires to participate.

20 ‘‘(ii) Institutions of higher education

21 that are—

22 ‘‘(I) selected by the local edu23 cational agency or agencies estab24 lishing the collaborative;
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1 ‘‘(II) not rated by any State as

2 being low performing; and

3 ‘‘(III) in compliance with all ap4 plicable provisions of this Act.

5 ‘‘(iii) Any additional entity—

6 ‘‘(I) selected by the entities de7 scribed in clauses (i) and (ii); and

8 ‘‘(II) deemed by such entities—

9 ‘‘(aa) to be of assistance

10 with recruiting, training, or plac11 ing teachers from diverse back12 grounds in eligible schools; and

13 ‘‘(bb) to have a record of

14 providing high quality and effec15 tive professional development to

16 teachers in eligible schools.

17 ‘‘(4) APPLICATIONS.—

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each collaborative de19 siring to receive a grant under this section shall

20 prepare and submit an application to the Sec21 retary at such time and in such a manner as

22 the Secretary deems appropriate.

23 ‘‘(B) WRITTEN STATEMENT OF SUP24 PORT.—Such application shall include a written

25 statement of support, cooperation, and inten-
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1 tion to participate as necessary in accordance

2 with the provisions of this section, including an

3 assurance that the matching requirements in

4 paragraph (6) will be satisfied, from—

5 ‘‘(i) the head of the State educational

6 agency;

7 ‘‘(ii) the head of the State higher edu8 cation agency or the State university sys9 tem (if the head of such agency or system

10 is different from the head of the State edu11 cational agency); and

12 ‘‘(iii) the head of the State agency

13 that is responsible for teacher licensure or

14 certification (if the head of such agency is

15 different from the person described in

16 clause (ii)).

17 ‘‘(5) MINIMUM GRANT AMOUNT.—Grants

18 awarded under this section—

19 ‘‘(A) subject to subparagraph (B), shall be

20 for not less than $250,000 per grantee, per

21 year; and

22 ‘‘(B) shall be for not less than $5,000,000

23 per State, per year.

24 ‘‘(6) CARRYOVER.—A collaborative receiving a

25 grant under this section may use any grant funds
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1 that remain at the end of a grant year in the suc2 ceeding year.

3 ‘‘(b) USES OF FUNDS.—

4 ‘‘(1) REQUIRED USES OF FUNDS.—A collabo5 rative shall use funds received under this section for

6 the following purposes:

7 ‘‘(A) Developing and implementing an in8 tensive full-time pre-service training program

9 for collaborative participants that—

10 ‘‘(i) provides a minimum of 240 hours

11 of instruction to prepare participants to

12 commence teaching duties in eligible

13 schools; and

14 ‘‘(ii) makes successful completion of

15 the program contingent on receipt of an

16 evaluation incorporating a finding that the

17 graduate is prepared to begin teaching in

18 an eligible school.

19 ‘‘(B) Recruiting and screening of training

20 program applicants to ensure both quality and

21 diversity.

22 ‘‘(C) Providing stipends to collaborative

23 participants during their initial 240-hour train24 ing period, including stipends to cover the costs

25 of housing, board, and relocation, if such pay-
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1 ments will help to ensure quality and diversity

2 in the corps of participants.

3 ‘‘(D) Recruiting, screening, training, and

4 providing ongoing support for, mentors for col5 laborative participants.

6 ‘‘(E) Purchasing release time for mentor

7 teachers and for collaborative participants for

8 induction activities during the first 3 years of

9 collaborative participation.

10 ‘‘(F) Evaluating individual collaborative

11 participants at the conclusion of their first year

12 of teaching.

13 ‘‘(G) Evaluating the collaborative’s pro14 grams as a whole to determine to what extent

15 they are an effective means of increasing the

16 percentage of fully qualified teachers in eligible

17 schools and improving student achievement in

18 those schools.

19 ‘‘(2) ALLOWABLE USES OF FUNDS.—A collabo20 rative may use funds received under this section for

21 the following purposes:

22 ‘‘(A) Providing bonuses to mentor teach23 ers.
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1 ‘‘(B) Providing signing bonuses to collabo2 rative participants prior to the commencement

3 of their training.

4 ‘‘(c) QUALIFICATION OF COLLABORATIVE PARTICI5 PANTS.—

6 ‘‘(1) STANDARDS FOR MEMBER ACCEPTANCE.—

7 Each collaborative shall establish standards for ac8 ceptance of collaborative participants to ensure that

9 each class of collaborative participants is diverse and

10 that each collaborative participant possesses appro11 priate and high level credentials and is likely to be12 come a highly effective teacher in an eligible school.

13 At a minimum, all candidates accepted by any col14 laborative funded under this section shall possess the

15 following qualifications:

16 ‘‘(A) RECENT GRADUATES.—Individuals

17 who completed a bachelor’s degree 3 years or

18 less prior to applying to be a collaborative

19 participant—

20 ‘‘(i) shall have been in the top 25 per21 cent of their graduating class or have

22 placed in the top 25 percent nationally on

23 a widely used examination for entry into

24 graduate or professional school;
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1 ‘‘(ii) if the individual intends to teach

2 at the elementary school level, shall possess

3 a bachelor’s degree that provides them

4 with the content area knowledge needed to

5 teach the full range of subjects included in

6 the elementary school curriculum; and

7 ‘‘(iii) if the individual intends to teach

8 at the secondary school level, shall possess

9 a bachelor’s degree in each subject area in

10 which the individual plans to provide in11 struction, or a closely related field.

12 ‘‘(B) OTHER GRADUATES.—Individuals

13 who completed a bachelor’s degree more than 3

14 years prior to applying to be a collaborative

15 participant—

16 ‘‘(i) shall have a record of outstanding

17 achievement in their profession;

18 ‘‘(ii) if the individual intends to teach

19 at the elementary school level, shall possess

20 a bachelor’s degree or professional back21 ground and experience that provides them

22 with the content area knowledge needed to

23 teach the full range of subjects included in

24 the elementary school curriculum; and
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1 ‘‘(iii) if the individual intends to teach

2 at the secondary school level, shall possess

3 a bachelor’s degree in each subject area in

4 which the individual plans to provide in5 struction, or a closely related field.

6 ‘‘(2) LENGTH OF COMMITMENT.—All potential

7 collaborative participants shall be required, as a con8 dition on receipt of financial assistance from a col9 laborative under subsection (b), to make a 3-year

10 commitment to teach in eligible schools under the ju11 risdiction of the local educational agency or agencies

12 that established the collaborative.

13 ‘‘(d) PROVISIONS RELATING TO LOCAL EDU14 CATIONAL AGENCIES.—In order for a collaborative to use

15 a grant under this section for the benefit of a local edu16 cational agency establishing the collaborative, and for the

17 local educational agency to employ a teacher who is a col18 laborative participant, the local educational agency shall

19 provide to the Secretary assurances that—

20 ‘‘(1) the local educational agency has a rate of

21 employment of teachers who are not fully qualified,

22 teacher vacancies, teacher turnover, or use of sub23 stitutes that exceeds the State average;
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1 ‘‘(2) no collaborative participant will be given a

2 teaching assignment in any school that is not an eli3 gible school;

4 ‘‘(3) no collaborative participant will be given a

5 teaching assignment for which he or she is not fully

6 qualified;

7 ‘‘(4) no collaborative participant will be asked

8 to teach, during the member’s first 3 years of teach9 ing, in a school in corrective action, as described in

10 section 1116(c)(5) of the Elementary and Secondary

11 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6317(c)(5));

12 ‘‘(5) all collaborative participants will receive

13 high intensity, sustained, high quality professional

14 development, including mentoring, throughout the

15 participant’s first year of teaching in an eligible

16 school;

17 ‘‘(6) all collaborative participants who success18 fully complete their first year of teaching will com19 plete, in their second and third year of teaching, a

20 professional development course based on an evalua21 tion that the participant receives from the collabo22 rative at the end of their first year of teaching; and

23 ‘‘(7) all collaborative participants who success24 fully complete their first year of teaching and are

25 given a positive evaluation and recommendation by
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1 their principal and mentor will be offered an exten2 sion of employment by the local educational agency,

3 barring exceptional circumstances.

4 ‘‘(e) REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO TEACHER LICEN5 SURE OR CERTIFICATION.—

6 ‘‘(1) INITIAL TEACHER LICENSURE OR CERTIFI7 CATION.—In order for a collaborative to receive a

8 grant under this section, the State agency charged

9 with teacher licensure or certification shall provide

10 to the Secretary an assurance that it is authorized

11 to, and shall, grant full and unrestricted first-year

12 teacher certification or licensure to all collaborative

13 participants who—

14 ‘‘(A) successfully complete the pre-service

15 training program for collaborative participants

16 described in subsection (b)(1)(A); and

17 ‘‘(B) pass all applicable State and local li18 censing examinations for first-year teachers.

19 ‘‘(2) LICENSE OR CERTIFICATE RENEWAL.—In

20 order for a collaborative to receive a grant under

21 this section, the State agency charged with teacher

22 licensure or certification shall provide to the Sec23 retary an assurance that it is authorized to, and

24 shall, renew a first-year license or certificate granted

25 to a collaborative participant only if, at the end of
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1 the participant’s first year of teaching, the partici2 pant receives a positive evaluation from the local

3 educational agency or agencies establishing the col4 laborative.

5 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:

6 ‘‘(1) COLLABORATIVE.—The term ‘collabo7 rative’ means a partnership established in accord8 ance with the requirements of subsection (a)(3).

9 ‘‘(2) COLLABORATIVE PARTICIPANT.—The term

10 ‘collaborative participant’ means an individual who

11 is a trainee or teacher and is a recipient of financial

12 assistance, pre-service training, professional develop13 ment, or mentoring services provided by a collabo14 rative under this section.

15 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE SCHOOL.—The term ‘eligible

16 school’ means an elementary or secondary school in

17 which at least 35 percent of the students qualify for

18 free or reduced price meals pursuant to the National

19 School Lunch Act.

20 ‘‘(4) FULLY QUALIFIED.—The term ‘fully

21 qualified’—

22 ‘‘(A) when used with respect to a public el23 ementary or secondary school teacher (other

24 than a teacher teaching in a public charter

25 school), means that the teacher has obtained
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1 State certification as a teacher (including cer2 tification obtained through alternative routes to

3 certification) or passed the State teacher licens4 ing exam and holds a license to teach in such

5 State; and

6 ‘‘(B) when used with respect to —

7 ‘‘(i) an elementary school teacher,

8 means that the teacher holds a bachelor’s

9 degree and demonstrates knowledge and

10 teaching skills in reading, writing, mathe11 matics, science, and other areas of the ele12 mentary school curriculum; or

13 ‘‘(ii) a middle or secondary school

14 teacher, means that the teacher holds a

15 bachelor’s degree and demonstrates a high

16 level of competency in all subject areas in

17 which he or she teaches through—

18 ‘‘(I) a high level of performance

19 on a rigorous State or local academic

20 subject areas test; or

21 ‘‘(II) completion of an academic

22 major in each of the subject areas in

23 which he or she provides instruction.

24 ‘‘(5) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.—The

25 term ‘professional development’ means sustained and
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1 intensive activities that improve teachers’ content

2 knowledge and teaching skills and that—

3 ‘‘(A) enhance the ability of teachers to help

4 all students, including females, minorities, chil5 dren with disabilities, children with limited

6 English proficiency and economically disadvan7 taged children, reach high State and local con8 tent and student performance standards;

9 ‘‘(B) advance teacher understanding of one

10 or more of the core academic subject areas and

11 effective instructional strategies for improving

12 student achievement in those areas, including

13 technology;

14 ‘‘(C) are directly related to the subject

15 area in which the teacher provides instruction;

16 ‘‘(D) are of sufficient duration to have a

17 positive and lasting impact on classroom in18 struction;

19 ‘‘(E) are an integral part of broader school

20 and district-wide plans for raising student

21 achievement to State and local standards;

22 ‘‘(F) are aligned with State content and

23 student performance standards;

24 ‘‘(G) are based on the best available re25 search on teaching and learning;
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1 ‘‘(H) include professional development ac2 tivities that involve collaborative groups of

3 teachers and administrators from the same

4 school or district, institutions of higher edu5 cation, and, to the greatest extent possible, in6 clude follow-up and school-based support such

7 as coaching or study groups; and

8 ‘‘(I) as a whole, are regularly evaluated for

9 their impact on increased teacher effectiveness

10 and improved student achievement, with the

11 findings of such evaluations used to improve the

12 quality of professional development.’’.

13 SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS; ACCOUNTABILITY

14 AND EVALUATION.

15 (a) ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.—Section 205 of

16 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1025) is

17 amended—

18 (1) in subsection (a)(1), by adding at the end

19 the following:

20 ‘‘(C) COLLABORATIVES.—Grants awarded

21 to collaboratives under section 203A shall be

22 awarded for a period of 5 years.’’;

23 (2) in subsection (b)(2)—

24 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking the

25 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
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1 (B) by adding at the end the following:

2 ‘‘(C) with respect to grants under section

3 203A, give priority to applications from

4 collaboratives from States that have developed,

5 or are in the process of developing, a system of

6 incentives to encourage highly effective teachers

7 and individuals likely to become highly effective

8 teachers to teach in eligible schools.’’;

9 (3) in subsection (b)(3), by inserting after the

10 first sentence the following: ‘‘To the extent prac11 ticable, the Secretary shall make awards under sec12 tion 203A that support programs in different geo13 graphic regions of the United States and areas with

14 varying population densities.’’; and

15 (4) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the

16 following:

17 ‘‘(3) COLLABORATIVE GRANTS.—If a collabo18 rative receives a grant under section 203A, the State

19 in which the collaborative is established and located

20 shall provide, from non-Federal sources (in cash or

21 in kind), an amount equal to the following percent22 ages of the grant amount to carry out the activities

23 supported by the grant:

24 ‘‘(A) In the first year of the grant, 25 per25 cent.
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1 ‘‘(B) In the second year of the grant, 30

2 percent.

3 ‘‘(C) In the third year of the grant, 35

4 percent.

5 ‘‘(D) In the fourth year of the grant, 40

6 percent.

7 ‘‘(E) In the fifth year of the grant, 50 per8 cent.’’.

9 (b) ACCOUNTABILITY AND EVALUATION.—Section

10 206 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

11 1026) is amended—

12 (1) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub13 section (f); and

14 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol15 lowing:

16 ‘‘(e) COLLABORATIVE ACCOUNTABILITY AND PRO17 GRAM EVALUATION.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each collaborative receiv19 ing funds under section 203A shall publicly report,

20 within 4 weeks of receipt of such results, the per21 centage of its trainees who pass all applicable State

22 and local initial teacher licensure or certification ex23 aminations. Such reporting shall prominently feature

24 such percentages for the most recent administration
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1 of such examinations on all promotional and recruit2 ment material used by the collaborative.

3 ‘‘(2) REPORTS ON PASS RATES.—Each collabo4 rative receiving funds under section 203A annually

5 shall report to the Secretary the percentage of its

6 trainees who pass all applicable State and local ini7 tial teacher licensure or certification examinations.

8 Such reports shall include any additional informa9 tion that the Secretary may deem necessary and ap10 propriate to ensure the quality and integrity of that

11 collaborative’s program, or all programs under this

12 section in general.

13 ‘‘(3) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—With respect

14 to any year, any collaborative whose training grad15 uates fail to pass any applicable State or local initial

16 teacher licensing or certification examination at a

17 rate of 90 percent or higher shall be ineligible for re18 ceipt of funds under section 203A in the succeeding

19 year.

20 ‘‘(4) REVIEW.—

21 ‘‘(A) FUNDS RESERVED FOR CERTAIN ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary shall reserve 1 22 ⁄2 of 1

23 percent of the funds made available to carry out

24 section 203A—
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1 ‘‘(i) to conduct a comprehensive eval2 uation of the program under such section

3 not later than 3 years after the date of the

4 enactment of the Alternative Path to

5 Teaching Act;

6 ‘‘(ii) to disseminate information to

7 qualified local educational agencies nation8 ally about grant opportunities under such

9 section;

10 ‘‘(iii) to establish a web page service

11 to share best practices and allow for active

12 exchange between grantees and between

13 grantees and the Secretary; and

14 ‘‘(iv) to evaluate applications from,

15 and award grants to, collaboratives to en16 able such collaboratives to carry out func17 tions described in such section.

18 ‘‘(B) MATTERS COVERED BY EVALUA19 TION.—The evaluation described in subpara20 graph (A)(i) shall assess—

21 ‘‘(i) the effectiveness of individual pro22 grams in recruiting large numbers of high23 ly qualified applicants from diverse back24 grounds;
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1 ‘‘(ii) the qualifications of teachers re2 cruited and trained through the program

3 as compared to other teachers in partici4 pating local educational agencies; and

5 ‘‘(iii) the retention rates of collabo6 rative participants as compared to the re7 tention rates of other new teachers for par8 ticipating local educational agencies.’’.

9 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

10 Section 210 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20

11 U.S.C. 1030) is amended—

12 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘section 203;’’

13 and inserting ‘‘sections 203 and 203A;’’;

14 (2) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before

15 ‘‘There are’’; and

16 (3) by adding at the end the following:

17 ‘‘(b) ALLOCATION BETWEEN PARTNERSHIP AND

18 COLLABORATIVE GRANTS.—Of the amount made available

19 for any fiscal year under subsection (a)(2), 70 percent

20 shall be available for grants under section 203 and 30 per21 cent shall be available for grants under section 203A.’’.

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