I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 847 

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

in innovation for education. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 10, 2015 

Mr. POLIS (for himself and Mr. SABLAN) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to invest in innovation for education. 

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 ‘‘Investing in Innovation 

5 for Education Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INVESTING IN INNOVATION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Elementary and 

8 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et 

9 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 847 IH

1 ‘‘PART D—INVESTING IN INNOVATION 

2 ‘‘SEC. 4401. PURPOSES. 

3 ‘‘The purposes of this part are to— 

4 ‘‘(1) fund the identification, development, eval5 uation, and expansion of innovative, evidence-based 

6 practices, programs, and strategies in order to sig7 nificantly— 

8 ‘‘(A) increase student academic achieve9 ment and decrease achievement gaps; 

10 ‘‘(B) increase secondary school graduation 

11 rates; 

12 ‘‘(C) increase college enrollment rates, 

13 rates of college persistence, and rates of attain14 ment of other post-secondary credentials; 

15 ‘‘(D) improve teacher and principal effec16 tiveness or retention of highly effective teachers 

17 or principals; and 

18 ‘‘(E) increase the identification and dis19 semination of innovative educational strategies 

20 in rural areas; and 

21 ‘‘(2) support the rapid development, expansion, 

22 and adoption of tools and resources that improve the 

23 efficiency, effectiveness, or pace of adoption of such 

24 educational practices, programs, and strategies. 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 847 IH

1 ‘‘SEC. 4402. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), from 

3 the amounts appropriated under section 4408, the Sec4 retary shall reserve not more than 10 percent for each fis5 cal year to carry out activities of national significance, 

6 which may include— 

7 ‘‘(1) technical assistance, including to appli8 cants from rural areas; 

9 ‘‘(2) pre-application workshops or web-based 

10 seminars for potential applicants, including appli11 cants from rural areas; 

12 ‘‘(3) the recruitment of peer reviewers, includ13 ing individuals with a background in rural education 

14 and individuals with expertise in education tech15 nology, to participate in the review of applications 

16 submitted under section 4404; 

17 ‘‘(4) dissemination of best practices, in con18 sultation with the regional educational laboratories 

19 established under part D of the Education Sciences 

20 Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 9561 et seq.) and 

21 comprehensive centers established under section 203 

22 of the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 

23 (20 U.S.C. 9602), developed with grant funds pro24 vided under this part, including best practices devel25 oped with grant funds in rural areas; 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 847 IH

1 ‘‘(5) entering into partnerships with other agen2 cies, nonprofits, and the private sector to carry out 

3 advanced research and development activities, in4 cluding research and activities in rural areas; and 

5 ‘‘(6) carrying out prize awards, in a manner 

6 consistent with section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler 

7 Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 

8 3719). 

9 ‘‘(b) RESERVATION OF FUNDS FOR DISSEMINA10 TION.—The Secretary shall reserve not less than 50 per11 cent of the funds reserved under this section to carry out 

12 the dissemination activities described in subsection (a)(4). 

13 ‘‘SEC. 4403. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED; LENGTH OF GRANTS; 

14 PRIORITIES. 

15 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZATION.—From the 

16 amounts appropriated under section 4408 and not re17 served under section 4402, the Secretary shall award 

18 grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities to carry 

19 out the activities described in section 4405. 

20 ‘‘(b) DURATION OF GRANTS.—The Secretary shall 

21 award grants to eligible entities under this section for a 

22 period of not more than 3 years, and may extend such 

23 grants for an additional 2-year period if the eligible entity 

24 demonstrates to the Secretary that it is making significant 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 847 IH

1 progress on the program performance measures identified 

2 in section 4406. 

3 ‘‘(c) RURAL AREAS.—The Secretary shall ensure that 

4 not less than 25 percent of the funds awarded under this 

5 section for any fiscal year are for projects that meet both 

6 of the following requirements: 

7 ‘‘(1) The eligible entity is— 

8 ‘‘(A) a local educational agency with an 

9 urban-centric district locale code of 32, 33, 41, 

10 42, or 43, as determined by the Secretary; 

11 ‘‘(B) a consortium of such local edu12 cational agencies; or 

13 ‘‘(C) an educational service agency or a 

14 nonprofit organization with demonstrated ex15 pertise in serving students from rural areas. 

16 ‘‘(2) A majority of the schools to be served by 

17 the project are designated with a school locale code 

18 of 41, 42, or 43, or a combination of such codes, as 

19 determined by the Secretary. 

20 ‘‘(d) SUPPORT FOR NEW PRACTICES, STRATEGIES, 

21 OR PROGRAMS.—The Secretary shall ensure that not less 

22 than one-half of the funds awarded under this section for 

23 any fiscal year are for projects that— 

24 ‘‘(1) meet an evidence standard described in 

25 paragraph (2) or (3) of subsection (f); and 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 847 IH

1 ‘‘(2) do not meet the evidence standard de2 scribed in paragraph (1) of subsection (f). 

3 ‘‘(e) PRIORITIES.—In awarding grants under this 

4 section, the Secretary may give priority to an eligible enti5 ty that includes, in its application under section 4404, a 

6 plan to— 

7 ‘‘(1) improve early learning outcomes and aca8 demic connections between early learning and ele9 mentary school; 

10 ‘‘(2) support college access, persistence, and 

11 success; 

12 ‘‘(3) support family and community engage13 ment; 

14 ‘‘(4) address the unique learning needs of stu15 dents with disabilities or English language learners; 

16 ‘‘(5) support the effective use of education tech17 nology to improve teaching and learning; 

18 ‘‘(6) improve the teaching and learning of 

19 science, technology, engineering, computing, or 

20 mathematics; 

21 ‘‘(7) serve schools in rural local educational 

22 agencies; 

23 ‘‘(8) train teachers or principals to adopt and 

24 implement college and career ready standards; 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 847 IH

1 ‘‘(9) develop alternative career pathways or dif2 ferentiated school staffing models for effective teach3 ers or principals to expand their impact on student 

4 learning; 

5 ‘‘(10) train or support principals or teacher 

6 leaders, including teacher leaders preparing for prin7 cipal roles; 

8 ‘‘(11) support, improve, or develop any other 

9 area of school innovation, as determined by the Sec10 retary; and 

11 ‘‘(12) address the learning needs of Indian, Na12 tive American, Alaska Native, or migrant children in 

13 school. 

14 ‘‘(f) STANDARDS OF EVIDENCE.—The Secretary shall 

15 set standards for the quality of evidence that an eligible 

16 entity shall provide to demonstrate that the activities the 

17 eligible entity proposes to carry out with grant funds 

18 under this section are likely to succeed in improving stu19 dent outcomes or outcomes on other performance meas20 ures. These standards may include any of the following: 

21 ‘‘(1) Strong evidence that the activities pro22 posed by the eligible entity will have a statistically 

23 significant effect on student academic achievement, 

24 student growth, graduation rates, or outcomes on 

25 other performance measures. 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 847 IH

1 ‘‘(2) Moderate evidence that the activities pro2 posed by the eligible entity will improve student aca3 demic achievement, student growth, graduation 

4 rates, or outcomes on other performance measures. 

5 ‘‘(3) Evidence of promise or a strong theory 

6 that the activities proposed by the eligible entity will 

7 improve student academic achievement, student 

8 growth, graduation rates, or outcomes on other per9 formance measures. 

10 ‘‘SEC. 4404. APPLICATIONS. 

11 ‘‘(a) APPLICATIONS.—An eligible entity that desires 

12 to receive a grant under section 4403 shall submit an ap13 plication to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, 

14 and containing such information as the Secretary may rea15 sonably require. 

16 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted by an 

17 eligible entity under subsection (a) shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) describe the project for which the eligible 

19 entity is seeking a grant and how the evidence sup20 porting that project meets the standards of evidence 

21 established by the Secretary under section 4403(f); 

22 ‘‘(2) describe how the eligible entity will address 

23 at least one of the areas described in section 

24 4405(a)(1); 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 847 IH

1 ‘‘(3) provide an estimate of the number of stu2 dents that the eligible entity plans to serve under 

3 the proposed project, including the percentage of 

4 those students who are from low-income families, 

5 and the number of students to be served through ad6 ditional expansion after the grant ends; 

7 ‘‘(4) demonstrate that the eligible entity has es8 tablished one or more partnerships with the private 

9 sector, which may include philanthropic organiza10 tions, and that the partner or partners will provide 

11 matching funds, except that the Secretary may 

12 waive, on a case-by-case basis, the matching funds 

13 requirement under this paragraph upon a showing of 

14 exceptional circumstances, such as the difficulty of 

15 raising matching funds for a project to serve a rural 

16 area; 

17 ‘‘(5) describe the eligible entity’s plan for con18 tinuing the proposed project after the grant funding 

19 under section 4403 ends, including a plan for dis20 semination of best practices and collaboration with 

21 other local educational agencies; 

22 ‘‘(6) demonstrate that the proposed project has 

23 incorporated input and feedback from educators 

24 working in the area to be served; 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 847 IH

1 ‘‘(7) if the eligible entity is a local educational 

2 agency— 

3 ‘‘(A) document the local educational agen4 cy’s record in— 

5 ‘‘(i) increasing student achievement, 

6 including achievement for each subgroup 

7 described in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v); or 

8 ‘‘(ii) decreasing achievement gaps; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(B) demonstrate how the local edu11 cational agency has made significant improve12 ments in other outcomes, as applicable, on the 

13 performance measures described in section 

14 4406; 

15 ‘‘(8) if the eligible entity is a nonprofit organi16 zation— 

17 ‘‘(A) provide evidence that the nonprofit 

18 organization has helped at least one high-need 

19 school or high-need local educational agency 

20 significantly— 

21 ‘‘(i) increase student achievement, in22 cluding achievement for each subgroup de23 scribed in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v); 

24 ‘‘(ii) reduce achievement gaps; or 

25 ‘‘(iii) increase graduation rates; and 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 847 IH

1 ‘‘(B) describe how the nonprofit organiza2 tion has helped at least 1 school or local edu3 cational agency make a significant improve4 ment, as applicable, in other outcomes on the 

5 performance measures described in section 

6 4406; 

7 ‘‘(9) if the eligible entity is an educational serv8 ice agency— 

9 ‘‘(A) provide evidence that the agency has 

10 helped at least one high-need school or high11 need local educational agency significantly— 

12 ‘‘(i) increase student achievement, in13 cluding achievement for each subgroup de14 scribed in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v); 

15 ‘‘(ii) reduce achievement gaps; or 

16 ‘‘(iii) increase graduation rates; and 

17 ‘‘(B) describe how the agency has helped 

18 at least 1 school or local educational agency 

19 make a significant improvement, as applicable, 

20 in other outcomes on the performance measures 

21 described in section 4406; 

22 ‘‘(10) provide a description of the eligible enti23 ty’s plan for independently evaluating the effective24 ness of activities carried out with funds under sec25 tion 4403; 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
12 

•HR 847 IH

1 ‘‘(11) provide an assurance that the eligible en2 tity will— 

3 ‘‘(A) cooperate with cross-cutting evalua4 tions; 

5 ‘‘(B) make evaluation data available to 

6 third parties for validation and further study 

7 consistent with protections established by appli8 cable Federal, State, and local privacy require9 ments and other on provisions on the protection 

10 of personally identifiable information; and 

11 ‘‘(C) participate in communities of prac12 tice; and 

13 ‘‘(12) if the eligible entity is a nonprofit organi14 zation that intends to make subgrants, consistent 

15 with section 4405(b), provide an assurance that the 

16 eligible entity will apply paragraphs (1) through 

17 (10), as appropriate, in the eligible entity’s selection 

18 of subgrantees and in the oversight of such sub19 grants. 

20 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING APPLICATIONS.— 

21 The Secretary shall award grants under section 4403 on 

22 a competitive basis, based on the quality of the applica23 tions under this section submitted and, consistent with the 

24 standards established under section 4403(f), each eligible 

25 entity’s likelihood of achieving success in improving stuVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Feb 17, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H847.IH H847

asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
13 

•HR 847 IH

1 dent outcomes or outcomes on other performance meas2 ures. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 4405. USES OF FUNDS. 

4 ‘‘(a) USES OF FUNDS.—Each eligible entity that re5 ceives a grant under section 4403— 

6 ‘‘(1) shall use the grant funds to address, at a 

7 minimum, one of the following areas of school inno8 vations: 

9 ‘‘(A) Improving the effectiveness and dis10 tribution of teachers or principals. 

11 ‘‘(B) Strengthening the use of data to im12 prove teaching and learning. 

13 ‘‘(C) Providing high-quality instruction 

14 based on rigorous standards that build toward 

15 college and career readiness and measuring stu16 dents’ mastery using high-quality assessments 

17 aligned to those standards. 

18 ‘‘(D) Turning around the lowest-per19 forming schools. 

20 ‘‘(E) Supporting the effective use of tech21 nology to improve teaching or principals and 

22 learning, including training teachers or prin23 cipals in the innovative use of technology. 

24 ‘‘(F) Any other area of school innovation, 

25 as determined by the Secretary.; 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
14 

•HR 847 IH

1 ‘‘(2) shall use those funds to develop or expand 

2 strategies to improve the performance of high-need 

3 students on the performance measures described in 

4 section 4406; and 

5 ‘‘(3) may use the grant funds for an inde6 pendent evaluation, as required by section 

7 4404(b)(9), of the innovative practices carried out 

8 with the grant. 

9 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY TO SUBGRANT.—In the case of an 

10 eligible entity receiving a grant under section 4403 that 

11 is nonprofit organization such eligible entity may use the 

12 grant funds to make subgrants to other entities to provide 

13 support to one or more high-need schools or high-need 

14 local educational agencies. Any entity receiving a subgrant 

15 under this subsection shall comply with the requirements 

16 of this part for eligible entities, as appropriate. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 4406. PERFORMANCE MEASURES. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

19 performance measures for the projects carried out under 

20 this part. These measures, at a minimum, shall track an 

21 eligible entity’s progress in— 

22 ‘‘(1) improving outcomes for each subgroup de23 scribed in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) that is served by 

24 the grantee on measures, including, as applicable, 

25 by— 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
15 

•HR 847 IH

1 ‘‘(A) increasing student achievement and 

2 decreasing achievement gaps; 

3 ‘‘(B) increasing secondary school gradua4 tion rates; 

5 ‘‘(C) increasing college enrollment rates 

6 and rates of college persistence; 

7 ‘‘(D) improving teacher and principal ef8 fectiveness or the retention of highly effective 

9 teachers or principals; 

10 ‘‘(E) improving school readiness; or 

11 ‘‘(F) any other indicator as the Secretary 

12 or grantee may determine; and 

13 ‘‘(2) implementing the eligible entity’s project 

14 in rural schools, as applicable. 

15 ‘‘(b) DATA COLLECTION PERIOD.—From the 

16 amounts appropriated under section 4408, the Secretary 

17 may— 

18 ‘‘(1) approve, for an eligible entity receiving a 

19 grant under section 4403, a data collection period of 

20 not more than 72 months beginning after the end of 

21 the eligible entity’s grant period; and 

22 ‘‘(2) provide the eligible entity with funding 

23 during such period for the sole purpose of collecting, 

24 analyzing, and reporting performance information 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
16 

•HR 847 IH

1 under this subsection on the project carried out dur2 ing the grant period. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 4407. ANNUAL REPORT. 

4 ‘‘An eligible entity that receives a grant under section 

5 4403 shall submit to the Secretary, at such time and in 

6 such manner as the Secretary may require, an annual re7 port that includes information on— 

8 ‘‘(1) the eligible entity’s progress on the per9 formance measures established under section 4406; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(2) the data supporting such progress. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 4408. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

13 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

14 this part $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2016 and such sums 

15 as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal 

16 years. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 4409. DEFINITIONS. 

18 ‘‘In this part: 

19 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en20 tity’ means— 

21 ‘‘(A) a local educational agency; 

22 ‘‘(B) an educational service agencies; or 

23 ‘‘(C) a nonprofit organization in partner24 ship with a local educational agency or consor25 tium of schools. 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
17 

•HR 847 IH

1 ‘‘(2) HIGH-NEED LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN2 CY.—The term ‘high-need local educational agency’ 

3 means a local educational agency— 

4 ‘‘(A) that serves not fewer than 10,000 

5 children from families with incomes below the 

6 poverty line; 

7 ‘‘(B) for which not less than 20 percent of 

8 the children served by the agency are from fam9 ilies with incomes below the poverty line; or 

10 ‘‘(C) that is in the highest quartile of local 

11 educational agencies in the State, based on stu12 dent poverty. 

13 ‘‘(3) HIGH-NEED SCHOOL.—The term ‘high14 need school’’ means— 

15 ‘‘(A) an elementary school or middle school 

16 in which not less than 50 percent of the en17 rolled students are children eligible for free or 

18 reduced price lunch under the Richard B. Rus19 sell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 

20 1751 et seq.); and 

21 ‘‘(B) a high school in which not less than 

22 40 percent of the enrolled students are children 

23 eligible for free or reduced price lunch under 

24 the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 

25 Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.), which may be calVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Feb 18, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H847.IH H847

asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
18 

•HR 847 IH

1 culated using comparable data from feeder 

2 schools. 

3 ‘‘(4) PRINCIPAL.—The term ‘principal’ includes 

4 an assistant principal. 

5 ‘‘(5) TEACHER.—The term ‘teacher’ includes 

6 teacher leaders. 

7 ‘‘(6) TEACHER LEADER.—The term ‘teacher 

8 leader’ means a teacher who has demonstrated effec9 tiveness and assumes leadership responsibilities to 

10 work with other teachers to raise student achieve11 ment in multiple classrooms.’’. 

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

13 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

14 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

15 to section 4304 the following: 

‘‘PART D—INVESTING IN INNOVATION

‘‘Sec. 4401. Purposes. 

‘‘Sec. 4402. National activities. 

‘‘Sec. 4403. Program authorized; length of grants; priorities. 

‘‘Sec. 4404. Applications. 

‘‘Sec. 4405. Uses of funds. 

‘‘Sec. 4406. Performance measures. 

‘‘Sec. 4407. Reporting; annual report. 

‘‘Sec. 4408. Authorization of appropriations.’’. 

Æ 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS