IIB 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1709 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 9, 2009 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To establish a committee under the National Science and 

Technology Council with the responsibility to coordinate 

science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education activities and programs of all Federal agencies, 

and for other purposes. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘STEM Education Co3 ordination Act of 2009’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITION. 

5 In this Act, the term ‘‘STEM’’ means science, tech6 nology, engineering, and mathematics. 

7 SEC. 3. COORDINATION OF FEDERAL STEM EDUCATION. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of the Office of 

9 Science and Technology Policy shall establish a committee 

10 under the National Science and Technology Council with 

11 the responsibility to coordinate Federal programs and ac12 tivities in support of STEM education, including at the 

13 National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, 

14 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the 

15 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 

16 Department of Education, and all other Federal agencies 

17 that have programs and activities in support of STEM 

18 education. 

19 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE COMMITTEE.—The 

20 committee established under subsection (a) shall— 

21 (1) coordinate the STEM education activities 

22 and programs of the Federal agencies; 

23 (2) develop, implement through the partici24 pating agencies, and update once every 5 years a 5- 

25 year STEM education strategic plan, which shall— 


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1 (A) specify and prioritize annual and long2 term objectives; 

3 (B) specify the common metrics that will 

4 be used to assess progress toward achieving the 

5 objectives; 

6 (C) describe the approaches that will be 

7 taken by each participating agency to assess the 

8 effectiveness of its STEM education programs 

9 and activities; and 

10 (D) with respect to subparagraph (A), de11 scribe the role of each agency in supporting 

12 programs and activities designed to achieve the 

13 objectives; and 

14 (3) establish, periodically update, and maintain 

15 an inventory of federally sponsored STEM education 

16 programs and activities, including documentation of 

17 assessments of the effectiveness of such programs 

18 and activities and rates of participation by underrep19 resented minorities in such programs and activities. 

20 (c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF OSTP.—The Director of 

21 the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall encour22 age and monitor the efforts of the participating agencies 

23 to ensure that the strategic plan under subsection (b)(2) 

24 is developed and executed effectively and that the objec25 tives of the strategic plan are met. 


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1 (d) REPORT.—The Director of the Office of Science 

2 and Technology Policy shall transmit a report annually to 

3 Congress at the time of the President’s budget request de4 scribing the plan required under subsection (b)(2). The 

5 annual report shall include— 

6 (1) a description of the STEM education pro7 grams and activities for the previous and current fis8 cal years, and the proposed programs and activities 

9 under the President’s budget request, of each par10 ticipating Federal agency; 

11 (2) the levels of funding for each participating 

12 Federal agency for the programs and activities de13 scribed under paragraph (1) for the previous fiscal 

14 year and under the President’s budget request; 

15 (3) except for the initial annual report, a de16 scription of the progress made in carrying out the 

17 implementation plan, including a description of the 

18 outcome of any program assessments completed in 

19 the previous year, and any changes made to that 

20 plan since the previous annual report; and 

21 (4) a description of how the participating Fed22 eral agencies will disseminate information about fed23 erally supported resources for STEM education 

24 practitioners, including teacher professional develop25 ment programs, to States and to STEM education 


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1 practitioners, including to teachers and administra2 tors in schools that meet the criteria described in 

3 subsection (c)(1) (A) and (B) of section 3175 of the 

4 Department of Energy Science Education Enhance5 ment Act (42 U.S.C. 7381j(c)(1) (A) and (B)). 

Passed the House of Representatives June 8, 2009. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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