I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7925 

To promote equity in advanced coursework and programs at elementary 

and secondary schools. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 4, 2020 

Mr. CASTRO of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To promote equity in advanced coursework and programs 

at elementary and secondary schools. 

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 ‘‘Advanced Coursework 

5 Equity Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purposes of this Act are— 

8 (1) to expand access to advanced courses and 

9 programs at under-resourced elementary and sec10 ondary schools; 


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1 (2) to advance equitable enrollment practices, 

2 so that all students who are ready to engage in more 

3 rigorous coursework can benefit from advanced 

4 courses and programs; and 

5 (3) to equip dramatically more students, espe6 cially students from historically underrepresented 

7 groups, with the twenty-first century skills needed to 

8 succeed in college and a competitive global work9 force. 

10 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

11 Congress finds the following: 

12 (1) Black, Latino, and Native American stu13 dents, students with disabilities, and students from 

14 low-income families are underrepresented in ad15 vanced programs and courses. 

16 (2) While 1 in 10 students in schools in the 

17 United States participate in the Advanced Place18 ment (AP) program, just over 1 in 20 low-income, 

19 Black, and Native American students participate in 

20 Advanced Placement, and fewer than 1 in 50 stu21 dents with disabilities participate. 

22 (3) Taking the mathematics course Algebra I in 

23 grade 8 is necessary for most students to be on 

24 track for enrolling in advanced courses, such as Cal25 culus, in high school; however, Black students are 


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1 half as likely as White students to take Algebra I in 

2 grade 8. 

3 (4) A low-income student with reading and 

4 math achievement levels equal to those of a high-in5 come student is half as likely to receive gifted serv6 ices as the high-income student. Black students are 

7 approximately half as likely as White peers with the 

8 same mathematics and reading achievement levels to 

9 be referred to gifted services. 

10 (5) A major barrier for Black and Latino stu11 dents and students with disabilities to access ad12 vanced courses and programs is the over-reliance on 

13 subjective criteria, such as the recommendation of 

14 teachers and counselors, in the advanced course ad15 mittance process. When Denver Public Schools im16 plemented universal screening for gifted and talented 

17 programs, Latino students were identified for the 

18 program at twice the rate as the year before. 

19 (6) Just 1 in 12 students in the United States 

20 scored in the top 2 proficiency levels on the 2018 

21 PISA math assessment. This is below the 

22 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Devel23 opment (OECD) average and less than half the rate 

24 of South Korea, Japan, and Switzerland. 


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1 (7) Public elementary schools and secondary 

2 schools face a $305,000,000,000 budget shortfall 

3 due to COVID-19 related tax revenue decreases and 

4 new COVID-19 related expenses. As school districts 

5 prepare to make drastic cuts to educational pro6 gramming, access to advanced coursework and pro7 grams is in jeopardy for millions of students, espe8 cially students from underrepresented groups and 

9 students attending under-resourced schools. Addi10 tional funding and reforms are needed to maintain 

11 and expand access to advanced coursework and pro12 grams, especially for marginalized students in com13 munities hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

14 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) TERMS FROM THE ELEMENTARY AND SEC17 ONDARY EDUCATION ACT OF 1965.—The terms 

18 ‘‘early college high school’’, ‘‘elementary school’’, 

19 ‘‘English learner’’, ‘‘gifted and talented’’, ‘‘institu20 tion of higher education’’, ‘‘parent’’, ‘‘school leader’’, 

21 ‘‘secondary school’’, and ‘‘State educational agency’’ 

22 have the meaning given those terms in section 8101 

23 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

24 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 


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1 (2) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

2 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given 

3 the term in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec4 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801), 

5 and includes a public charter school that is a local 

6 educational agency. 

7 (3) OPEN ENROLLMENT.—The term ‘‘open en8 rollment’’ means an enrollment mechanism through 

9 which any student that chooses to enroll in an ad10 vanced course or program is allowed to do so, with11 out regard to previous academic performance or test 

12 scores. 

13 (4) SUBGROUP OF STUDENTS.—The term ‘‘sub14 group of students’’ has the meaning given that term 

15 in section 1111(c)(2) of the Elementary and Sec16 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

17 6311(c)(2)). 

18 (5) UNIVERSAL ENROLLMENT.—The term ‘‘uni19 versal enrollment’’ means an enrollment mechanism 

20 through which all students are automatically en21 rolled in an advanced course or program for a par22 ticular subject, without regard to previous academic 

23 performance or test scores. A parent may choose to 

24 opt out a student from enrolling in one or more ad25 vanced courses or programs. 


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1 (6) UNIVERSAL SCREENING.—The term ‘‘uni2 versal screening’’ means an enrollment mechanism 

3 through which all students in a grade are screened 

4 for enrollment in advanced courses and programs. 

5 Students that are determined to be qualified for ad6 vanced courses or programs are automatically en7 rolled in those courses or programs, unless a parent 

8 chooses to opt out a student. The determination of 

9 which students are qualified for advanced courses or 

10 programs— 

11 (A) shall be made after consideration of 

12 not less than 2 objective assessments (except 

13 that a student may qualify based on only 1 

14 such assessment)— 

15 (i) that are combined in a reasoned 

16 way that is not biased against any par17 ticular subgroup of students; 

18 (ii) that provide appropriate accom19 modations for students with disabilities; 

20 (iii) that may be administered not ex21 plicitly for the primary purpose of deter22 mining enrollment in an advanced course 

23 or program (such as through a statewide 

24 exam that all students in a grade will 

25 take), so long as students with disabilities 


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1 have equal access to the assessment and 

2 are provided appropriate accommodations 

3 in accordance with the Individuals with 

4 Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 

5 1400 et seq.) and section 504 of the Reha6 bilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794); 

7 and 

8 (iv) that may include— 

9 (I) a standardized assessment 

10 that provides appropriate accommoda11 tions for students with disabilities in 

12 accordance with the Individuals with 

13 Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 

14 1400 et seq.) and section 504 of the 

15 Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 

16 794); 

17 (II) a statewide, districtwide, or 

18 schoolwide assessment; or 

19 (III) grades from relevant 

20 courses, a portfolio of relevant work, 

21 or class ranking; and 

22 (B) may be partially based upon a subjec23 tive measure (such as a teacher’s recommenda24 tion) in addition to the required 2 objective 

25 measures. 


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1 SEC. 5. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 

3 (1) conduct 3 separate grant programs, by— 

4 (A) awarding not less than 80 percent of 

5 the amounts authorized to be appropriated 

6 under section 9 to State educational agencies to 

7 allow those State educational agencies to award 

8 subgrants to participating local educational 

9 agencies, including public charter schools, to en10 able those local educational agencies to carry 

11 out the activities described in section 7; 

12 (B) awarding not less than 15 percent of 

13 the amounts authorized to be appropriated 

14 under section 9 to participating local edu15 cational agencies to allow those local edu16 cational agencies to carry out the activities de17 scribed in section 7; and 

18 (C) awarding not more than 4 percent of 

19 the amounts authorized to be appropriated 

20 under section 9 to a nonprofit institution of 

21 higher education or other nonprofit entity that 

22 has a demonstrated record of effectiveness in 

23 delivering or designing advanced coursework or 

24 programs (such as by previously executing a 

25 successful project that was part of the Jacob K. 

26 Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education 


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1 Program under section 4644 of the Elementary 

2 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

3 U.S.C. 7294)), to enable that institution or en4 tity to provide services to students in rural 

5 areas and students who otherwise lack access to 

6 advanced courses or programs; and 

7 (2) reserve not more than 1 percent of the 

8 amounts authorized to be appropriated under section 

9 9 for the Department of Education to administer the 

10 program under this Act, provide technical assistance 

11 to grantees, evaluate grantees’ performance (as re12 quired by this Act), and disseminate information 

13 about findings and best practices related to the ac14 tivities authorized under this Act. 

15 (b) APPLICATION.— 

16 (1) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—A State 

17 educational agency desiring to receive a grant under 

18 subsection (a)(1)(A) shall submit an application to 

19 the Secretary during the first year of the 3-year 

20 grant cycle, and at such time and in such manner 

21 as the Secretary may require. The application shall 

22 include the following: 

23 (A) An assurance that memoranda of un24 derstanding, as described in section 6(b), have 

25 been executed between the State educational 


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1 agency and not less than 50 percent of the local 

2 educational agencies in the State, representing 

3 not less than 50 percent of all students in the 

4 State, to participate in the grant program and 

5 fulfill the program obligations. 

6 (B) A list of the participating local edu7 cational agencies that have executed such 

8 memoranda, and the percentage of the State’s 

9 public school students who are served by those 

10 local educational agencies. 

11 (C) A plan for supporting participating 

12 local educational agencies with implementing 

13 open enrollment, universal enrollment, or uni14 versal screening for all advanced courses or pro15 grams offered by the local educational agency. 

16 (D) A plan to assemble a statewide advi17 sory council of students from underrepresented 

18 subgroups of students, and parents or guard19 ians of students from those subgroups, with at 

20 least 2 members of each subgroup of students. 

21 The plan shall explain how the council will be 

22 involved in the State educational agency’s im23 plementation of the grant, as well as oversight 

24 and evaluation of the grant. 


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1 (E) A plan for supporting participating 

2 local educational agencies in collecting and re3 porting data about advanced coursework enroll4 ment and student performance data, including 

5 data disaggregated and cross-tabulated by race 

6 and ethnicity, sex, disability status, socio7 economic status, and status as an English 

8 learner. 

9 (F) A description of ambitious 3-year en10 rollment and performance goals for each sub11 group of students, and intermediate annual tar12 gets for each subgroup of students, to bridge 

13 statewide inequities (according to race and eth14 nicity, sex, disability status, socioeconomic sta15 tus, and status as an English learner) in ad16 vanced coursework or program participation 

17 and performance. 

18 (G) A proposed budget for how the State 

19 educational agency will spend funding awarded 

20 through the grant. 

21 (2) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—A local 

22 educational agency desiring to receive a grant under 

23 subsection (a)(1)(B) shall be eligible to apply for a 

24 grant if the local educational agency is not also seek25 ing a subgrant from a State educational agency that 


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1 receives a grant under this Act. A local educational 

2 agency shall submit an application to the Secretary 

3 at such time and in such manner as the Secretary 

4 may require. The application shall include the fol5 lowing: 

6 (A) An assurance that— 

7 (i) the local educational agency is not 

8 also seeking a subgrant from a State edu9 cational agency that receives a grant under 

10 this Act during the applicable grant cycle; 

11 and 

12 (ii) the local educational agency has a 

13 high student poverty ratio (as measured by 

14 comparing the number of students meeting 

15 at least one measure of poverty described 

16 in section 1113(a)(5) of the Elementary 

17 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

18 U.S.C. 6313(a)(5)) to the total number of 

19 students in the school). 

20 (B) A description of the enrollment mecha21 nism that the participating local educational 

22 agency will use for its various advanced courses 

23 or programs, which shall include open enroll24 ment, universal enrollment, or universal screen25 ing, including in the case of universal screening, 


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1 a description of what assessments will be used 

2 to determine enrollment as described in section 

3 4(6), and a justification for why each assess4 ment was selected. 

5 (C) A plan to assemble a local advisory 

6 council of students from underrepresented sub7 groups of students, and parents or guardians of 

8 students from those subgroups, with at least 2 

9 members of each subgroup of students. The 

10 plan shall explain how the council will be in11 volved in the local educational agency’s imple12 mentation of the grant, as well as oversight and 

13 evaluation of the grant. 

14 (D) A plan to train academic advisors or 

15 counselors on strategies for bridging inequities 

16 (according to race and ethnicity, sex, socio17 economic status, disability status, and status as 

18 an English learner) in advanced coursework or 

19 program participation and performance. 

20 (E) A plan to communicate to students 

21 and families the process and requirements to 

22 enroll in advanced courses. 

23 (F) An agreement to carry out the activi24 ties described in section 7. 


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1 (G) A plan for collecting and reporting 

2 data about advanced coursework enrollment and 

3 student performance data, including data 

4 disaggregated and cross-tabulated by race and 

5 ethnicity, sex, disability status, socioeconomic 

6 status, and status as an English learner. 

7 (H) A description of ambitious 3-year en8 rollment and performance goals for each sub9 group of students, and intermediate annual tar10 gets for each subgroup of students, to bridge 

11 statewide inequities (according to race and eth12 nicity, sex, socioeconomic status, disability sta13 tus, and status as an English learner) in ad14 vanced coursework or program participation 

15 and performance. 

16 (I) A proposed budget for how the partici17 pating local educational agency will spend fund18 ing awarded through the grant. 

19 (3) OTHER NONPROFIT ENTITY.—A nonprofit 

20 institution of higher education or nonprofit entity 

21 desiring to receive a grant under subsection 

22 (a)(1)(C) shall submit an application to the Sec23 retary at such time, in such manner, and containing 

24 such information as the Secretary may require, in25 cluding, at a minimum— 


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1 (A) at least one memorandum of under2 standing that the applicant has already estab3 lished with a school, local educational agency, 

4 or State educational agency that the applicant 

5 intends to work with, and a description of the 

6 services the applicant would provide to that 

7 school, local educational agency, or State edu8 cational agency; 

9 (B) materials that demonstrate the appli10 cant’s record of effectiveness in designing or de11 livering advanced coursework or programs; 

12 (C) a description of ambitious 3-year en13 rollment and performance goals for each sub14 group of students that the applicant intends to 

15 serve, and intermediate annual targets for each 

16 such subgroup of students, to bridge statewide 

17 inequities (according to race and ethnicity, sex, 

18 socioeconomic status, disability status, and sta19 tus as an English learner) in advanced 

20 coursework or program participation and per21 formance; 

22 (D) a plan for collecting and reporting 

23 data about advanced coursework enrollment and 

24 student performance data, including data 

25 disaggregated and cross-tabulated by race and 


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1 ethnicity, sex, disability status, socioeconomic 

2 status, and status as an English learner; and 

3 (E) a proposed budget for how the appli4 cant will spend funding awarded through the 

5 grant. 

6 (c) CRITERIA FOR AWARDING GRANTS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—In evaluating applications 

8 for a grant under subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), 

9 of subsection (a)(1), respectively, the Secretary shall 

10 consider— 

11 (A) the 3-year goals, and intermediate an12 nual targets, for bridging statewide inequities 

13 (according to race and ethnicity, sex, socio14 economic status, disability status, and status as 

15 an English learner) in advanced coursework or 

16 program participation and performance; 

17 (B) the level of detail and feasibility of the 

18 plan for implementing (or supporting a partici19 pating State educational agency, local edu20 cational agency, or school in implementing, as 

21 applicable) open enrollment, universal enroll22 ment, or universal screening for all advanced 

23 courses or programs offered by the local edu24 cational agency; 


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1 (C) the level of detail and feasibility of the 

2 plan for assembling an advisory council of stu3 dents from underrepresented subgroups of stu4 dents, and parents or guardians of students 

5 from those subgroups, and involving that advi6 sory council in the implementation of the grant, 

7 as well as oversight and evaluation of the grant; 

8 and 

9 (D) the level of detail and feasibility of the 

10 plan for collecting and reporting (or supporting 

11 a participating State educational agency, local 

12 educational agency, or school in collecting or re13 porting, as applicable) data by subgroup of stu14 dents about advanced coursework enrollment 

15 and performance. 

16 (2) PRIORITIES.— 

17 (A) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—In 

18 awarding a grant under subsection (a)(1)(A), 

19 the Secretary shall give priority to— 

20 (i) States that established memoranda 

21 of understanding, as described in section 

22 6(b), with a high percentage of the local 

23 educational agencies in the State and cov24 ering a high percentage of total students in 

25 the State; 


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1 (ii) States with large gaps in equitable 

2 access, enrollment, and performance in ad3 vanced coursework across subgroups of 

4 students, as described in the grant applica5 tions of the State educational agencies; 

6 and 

7 (iii) States that made recent improve8 ments to equitable participation and per9 formance in advanced coursework among 

10 historically underrepresented subgroups of 

11 students based on data collection from the 

12 Office of Civil Rights of the Department of 

13 Education, and demonstrate a need for ad14 ditional funds to expand improvements. 

15 (B) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—In 

16 awarding a grant under subsection (a)(1)(B), 

17 the Secretary shall give priority to local edu18 cational agencies that have made recent im19 provements to equitable participation and per20 formance in advanced coursework among his21 torically underrepresented subgroups of stu22 dents based on data collection from the Office 

23 of Civil Rights of the Department of Education. 

24 (d) AMOUNT; DURATION.— 

25 (1) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.— 


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1 (A) AMOUNT.—A grant awarded under 

2 subsection (a)(1)(A) shall be in an amount that 

3 is not less than $15,000,000 and not more than 

4 $60,000,000. 

5 (B) DURATION.—A grant awarded under 

6 subsection (a)(1)(A) shall be for a 3-year pe7 riod. 

8 (2) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.— 

9 (A) AMOUNT.—A grant awarded under 

10 subsection (a)(1)(B) shall be in an amount that 

11 is not less than $1,000,000 and not more than 

12 $20,000,000. 

13 (B) DURATION.—A grant awarded under 

14 subsection (a)(1)(B) shall be for a 3-year pe15 riod. 

16 (3) OTHER NONPROFIT ENTITY.— 

17 (A) AMOUNT.—A grant awarded under 

18 subsection (a)(1)(C) shall be in an amount that 

19 is not more than $3,000,000. 

20 (B) DURATION.—A grant awarded under 

21 subsection (a)(1)(C) shall be for a 3-year pe22 riod. 

23 (e) NUMBER OF GRANTS AWARDED.— 

24 (1) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara2 graph (B), the Secretary shall award not less 

3 than 6 and not more than 10 grants under sub4 section (a)(1)(A) per 3-year grant cycle period. 

5 (B) EXCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding sub6 paragraph (A), if the amount appropriated to 

7 carry out this Act is— 

8 (i) less than $700,000,000 over 3 

9 years, the Secretary may award fewer than 

10 6 awards under subsection (a)(1)(A) per 

11 cycle; and 

12 (ii) more than $900,000,000 over 3 

13 years, the Secretary may award more than 

14 10 awards under subsection (a)(1)(A) per 

15 cycle. 

16 (2) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara18 graph (B), the Secretary shall award not less 

19 than 8 and not more than 16 grants under sub20 section (a)(1)(B) per 3-year grant cycle period. 

21 (B) EXCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding sub22 paragraph (A), if the amount appropriated to 

23 carry out this Act is— 

24 (i) less than $700,000,000 over 3 

25 years, the Secretary may award fewer than 


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1 8 awards under subsection (a)(1)(B) per 

2 cycle; and 

3 (ii) more than $900,000,000 over 3 

4 years, the Secretary may award more than 

5 16 awards under subsection (a)(1)(B) per 

6 cycle. 

7 (f) SPECIAL RULE.—In the event a local educational 

8 agency that is receiving a subgrant cannot carry out one 

9 or more of the activities described in section 7, a State 

10 educational agency receiving a grant under subsection 

11 (a)(1)(A) may use not more than 4 percent of the grant 

12 funds to carry out high-quality technical assistance for 

13 local educational agencies in the State. 

14 SEC. 6. SUBGRANTS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—A State educational agency re16 ceiving a grant under this Act shall use the grant funds 

17 to award subgrants to local educational agencies in the 

18 State. 

19 (b) REQUIREMENT.—A State educational agency 

20 shall award not less than 65 percent of grant funds to— 

21 (1) local educational agencies that have a high 

22 student poverty ratio (as measured by comparing the 

23 number of students meeting at least one measure of 

24 poverty described in section 1113(a)(5) of the Ele25 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 


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1 U.S.C. 6313(a)(5)) to the total number of children 

2 in the school); and 

3 (2) local educational agencies that will support 

4 elementary schools and secondary schools that offer 

5 fewer advanced course or program offerings (or 

6 fewer available slots in those courses or programs) 

7 than the average for the State. 

8 (c) SUBGRANT AGREEMENT.—As part of a memo9 randum of understanding described in section 5(b)(1)(A), 

10 and as a requirement for receiving a subgrant under this 

11 Act, a participating local educational agency shall— 

12 (1) establish ambitious 3-year enrollment and 

13 performance goals for each subgroup of students, 

14 and intermediate annual targets for each subgroup 

15 of students, to bridge districtwide inequities (accord16 ing to race, sex, socioeconomic status, disability sta17 tus, and status as an English learner) in advanced 

18 coursework or program participation and perform19 ance; 

20 (2) specify the enrollment mechanism that the 

21 local educational agency will use for its various ad22 vanced courses or programs, which shall include 

23 open enrollment, universal enrollment, or universal 

24 screening, including in the case of universal screen25 ing, a description of what assessments will be used 


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1 to determine enrollment as described in section 4(6), 

2 and a justification for why each assessment was se3 lected; 

4 (3) submit a plan to train school leaders, aca5 demic counselors or advisors, and teachers on strate6 gies for bridging inequities (according to race and 

7 ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, disability status, 

8 and status as an English learner) in advanced 

9 coursework or program participation and perform10 ance; 

11 (4) submit a plan to assemble a local advisory 

12 council of students from underrepresented subgroups 

13 of students, and parents or guardians of students 

14 from those subgroups, with at least 2 members of 

15 each subgroup of students, including an explanation 

16 of how the council will be involved in the local edu17 cational agency’s implementation of the grant, as 

18 well as oversight and evaluation of the grant; 

19 (5) submit a plan to communicate to students 

20 and families, in multiple languages and through 

21 multiple formats, the process and requirements to 

22 enroll in advanced courses; and 

23 (6) an agreement to carry out the activities de24 scribed in section 7. 


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1 SEC. 7. USES OF FUNDS. 

2 (a) REQUIRED USES OF FUNDS.—A local educational 

3 agency receiving a grant or subgrant under this Act shall 

4 use the grant or subgrant funds to carry out each of the 

5 following: 

6 (1) Use not more than 5 percent of funds to 

7 conduct community engagement (including by as8 sembling a local advisory council) with regard to 

9 changes to advanced courses or programs. 

10 (2) Not later than 1 year after funding is re11 ceived, use not more than 5 percent of subgrant 

12 funds to train school leaders, academic counselors or 

13 advisors, and teachers on strategies for bridging in14 equities (according to race and ethnicity, sex, socio15 economic status, disability status, and status as an 

16 English learner) in advanced coursework or program 

17 participation and performance. 

18 (3) Expand enrollment in advanced courses or 

19 programs for underrepresented students. 

20 (4) Not later than 1 year after funding is re21 ceived, implement open enrollment, universal enroll22 ment, or universal screening for all advanced courses 

23 and programs, including— 

24 (A) gifted and talented programs, 8th 

25 grade Algebra I, Advanced Placement, Inter26 national Baccalaureate, dual enrollment, early 


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1 college high school, and any similarly advanced 

2 courses or programs; and 

3 (B) training individuals involved in the as4 sessment process in the administration of the 

5 assessments and the interpretation of the re6 sults. 

7 (5) Launch advanced courses or programs, or 

8 expand enrollment capacity in advanced courses or 

9 programs, which may include gifted and talented 

10 programs, 8th grade Algebra I, Advanced Place11 ment, International Baccalaureate, dual enrollment, 

12 early college high school, or any similarly advanced 

13 courses or programs. 

14 (6) Provide direct services, such as tutoring, to 

15 students from underrepresented groups to enable 

16 those students to thrive academically in advanced 

17 courses and programs. 

18 (b) PERMITTED USES OF FUNDS.—A local edu19 cational agency receiving a grant or subgrant under this 

20 Act may (in addition to the required uses described in sub21 section (a)) use the grant or subgrant funds to carry out 

22 one or more of the following: 

23 (1) Launch innovative advanced coursework 

24 models that allow all students to benefit from ad25 vanced coursework, such as embedded enrichment 


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1 (for elementary and middle school students), and 

2 open honors (for high school students). 

3 (2) Purchase curricula and materials for ad4 vanced courses and programs, such as calculators, 

5 books, and laboratory materials. 

6 (3) Cover the cost of advanced coursework 

7 exams for low-income students. 

8 (4) Use not more than 20 percent of funds to 

9 train or hire teachers to teach advanced coursework. 

10 (c) NONPROFIT ENTITY.—A nonprofit institution of 

11 higher education or other nonprofit entity receiving a 

12 grant under section 5(a)(1)(C) may use the grant to carry 

13 out one or more of the following activities for students 

14 in rural areas and students who otherwise lack access to 

15 advanced courses or programs: 

16 (1) Provide direct services, such as tutoring, to 

17 students from underrepresented groups to enable 

18 those students to thrive academically in advanced 

19 courses and programs, which may include gifted and 

20 talented programs, 8th grade Algebra I, Advanced 

21 Placement, International Baccalaureate, dual enroll22 ment, early college high school, embedded enrich23 ment (for elementary and middle school students), 

24 open honors (for high school students), or any simi25 larly advanced courses or programs. 


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1 (2) Purchase curricula and materials for ad2 vanced courses and programs, such as calculators, 

3 books, and laboratory materials. 

4 (3) Cover the cost of advanced coursework 

5 exams for low-income students. 

6 SEC. 8. REPORTING; BONUS GRANT. 

7 (a) REPORT TO SECRETARY.— 

8 (1) STATES AND LEAS.—Not later than 60 days 

9 after the end of each year of the grant, each State 

10 educational agency or local educational agency re11 ceiving a grant shall prepare and submit to the Sec12 retary a report containing the following: 

13 (A) A description of the training that the 

14 local educational agency receiving a grant, or 

15 local educational agencies receiving a subgrant 

16 in the State, as applicable, conducted to train 

17 school leaders, academic counselors or advisors, 

18 and teachers on strategies for bridging inequi19 ties (according to race and ethnicity, sex, socio20 economic status, disability status, and status as 

21 an English learner) in advanced coursework or 

22 program participation and performance, includ23 ing the number of people trained and what 

24 schools those trained individuals are affiliated 

25 with. 


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1 (B) A listing of the advanced courses or 

2 programs available at the local educational 

3 agency receiving a grant, or at each local edu4 cational agency that received a subgrant, as ap5 plicable, and the student enrollment mechanism 

6 for each of those courses or programs. If a local 

7 educational agency uses universal screening in8 stead of open enrollment or universal enroll9 ment, then the list shall include a description of 

10 what assessments will be used to determine en11 rollment as described in section 4(4). 

12 (C) The number and percentages of stu13 dents in the State (or in the local educational 

14 agency, in the case of a local educational agen15 cy receiving a grant) that are enrolled in ad16 vanced courses or programs, disaggregated and 

17 cross-tabulated by race and ethnicity, sex, dis18 ability status, socioeconomic status, and status 

19 as an English learner. 

20 (D) The academic outcomes (such as 

21 grades or exam scores) of students enrolled in 

22 advanced courses or programs in the State (or 

23 in the local educational agency, in the case of 

24 a local educational agency receiving a grant), 

25 disaggregated and cross-tabulated by race and 


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1 ethnicity, sex, disability status, socioeconomic 

2 status, and status as an English learner. 

3 (E) A final budget for how the State or 

4 local educational agency spent funding awarded 

5 through the grant. 

6 (F) A narrative articulating whether the 

7 State or local educational agency receiving a 

8 grant met its annual intermediate targets for 

9 equitable enrollment and performance among 

10 underrepresented subgroups of students in ad11 vanced coursework or programs, including anal12 ysis for why the State did or did not meet these 

13 targets across underrepresented subgroups of 

14 students, and a plan to remediate any gaps for 

15 the coming grant year. This narrative shall also 

16 include the analysis from the local advisory 

17 council (in the case of a grantee that is a local 

18 educational agency) or the State advisory coun19 cil (in the case of a grantee that is a State edu20 cational agency). 

21 (2) OTHER NONPROFIT ENTITIES.—Not later 

22 than 60 days after the end of each year of the grant, 

23 each nonprofit entity receiving a grant under section 

24 5(a)(1)(C) shall prepare and submit to the Secretary 

25 a report containing the information described in subVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7925.IH H7925

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1 paragraph (C) through (F) of paragraph (1) with re2 spect to students that are enrolled in advanced 

3 courses or programs provided by the nonprofit entity 

4 and the nonprofit entity’s targets. 

5 (b) BONUS.— 

6 (1) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The State 

7 educational agency receiving a grant under section 

8 5(a)(1)(A) that achieves the greatest growth toward 

9 that State’s advanced coursework enrollment and 

10 performance equity goals described in section 

11 5(b)(1)(E) at the end of the first or second grant 

12 year shall receive a bonus payment of 5 percent of 

13 the original grant amount (to be used during the 

14 subsequent grant year). A State educational agency 

15 shall direct not less than 50 percent of the bonus 

16 funds to local educational agency subgrantees that 

17 achieved the greatest growth toward the local edu18 cational agency’s advanced coursework equity goals 

19 described in section 6(c)(1). 

20 (2) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The local 

21 educational agency receiving a grant under section 

22 5(a)(1)(B) that achieves the greatest growth toward 

23 that local educational agency’s advanced coursework 

24 enrollment and performance equity goals described 

25 in section 5(b)(2)(G) at the end of the first grant 


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1 year shall receive a bonus payment of 5 percent of 

2 the original grant amount (to be used during the 

3 subsequent grant year). A local educational agency 

4 shall direct not less than 50 percent of the bonus 

5 funds to the schools that achieved the greatest 

6 growth toward the local educational agency’s ad7 vanced coursework equity goals described in section 

8 5(b)(2)(G). 

9 (c) EVALUATION.—At the end of the 3-year grant pe10 riod, the Secretary shall prepare and submit to Congress 

11 a report containing an evaluation of the grant program 

12 under this Act and a summary of the reports submitted 

13 under subsection (a). The evaluation shall contain an anal14 ysis of the effectiveness of the program, including the im15 pact of the grants on equitable enrollment and perform16 ance in advanced courses and programs. This evaluation 

17 shall provide recommendations based on the Secretary’s 

18 findings from the grant program. 

19 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

21 this Act $266,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, $266,000,000 

22 for fiscal year 2022, and $266,000,000 for fiscal year 

23 2023. 

Æ 


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