I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1161 

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

grants for innovative teacher retention programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2009 

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina (for himself, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, 

Mr. WATT, Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. HONDA, Mr. 

LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. WALZ, Mr. CLAY, Mr. 

ETHERIDGE, Mr. MILLER of North Carolina, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, 

Mr. KISSELL, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. SHULER, Mr. COHEN, Mr. DONNELLY of Indiana, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. MEEKS of New York, and 

Ms. HIRONO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to provide grants for innovative teacher retention 

programs. 

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 ‘‘Keep Teachers Teach5 ing Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress makes the following findings: 

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1 (1) The United States faces an increasing need 

2 for high-quality educators. 

(2) Approximately 1 3 ⁄3 of teachers leave the pro4 fession within 5 years of being hired because of poor 

5 working conditions, low pay, low morale, or lack of 

6 a pathway for professional advancement. In some 

7 schools, the five-year attrition rate reaches 50 per8 cent. 

9 (3) Effective teacher retention programs to ad10 dress this problem are already at work in school dis11 tricts around the country, and many more innovative 

12 programs could be advanced if additional resources 

13 were available. 

14 (4) Efforts to address the teacher shortage de15 mands a national strategy to support the develop16 ment and implementation of innovative teacher re17 tention programs. 

18 (5) The United States Department of Edu19 cation can play an important role in facilitating the 

20 identification of the most promising teacher reten21 tion approaches and disseminating information 

22 about them to States and local educational agencies. 

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1 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR INNOVATIVE TEACHER RETENTION 

2 PROGRAMS. 

3 Section 2151 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu4 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6651) is amended by add5 ing at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(g) TEACHER RETENTION ACTIVITIES.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab8 lish and carry out a teacher retention program to as9 sist State educational agencies and local educational 

10 agencies in developing and implementing innovative 

11 teacher retention programs. The program shall sup12 port the development of model programs and best 

13 practices in retaining quality teachers in the class14 room and shall facilitate the dissemination of inno15 vative teacher retention programs to local edu16 cational agencies throughout the United States. 

17 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.—The Secretary shall carry out 

18 paragraph (1) by making grants to eligible entities 

19 to develop and implement innovative teacher reten20 tion programs, including activities such as— 

21 ‘‘(A) professional development programs; 

22 ‘‘(B) teacher mentoring programs; 

23 ‘‘(C) advanced certification or advanced 

24 credentialing; 

25 ‘‘(D) research, travel, or fellowship oppor26 tunities; and 

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1 ‘‘(E) pairing of teachers with professionals 

2 in research or industry. 

3 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—In this subsection, 

4 the term ‘eligible entity’ includes— 

5 ‘‘(A) local educational agencies; 

6 ‘‘(B) State educational agencies; and 

7 ‘‘(C) partnerships of local educational 

8 agencies, nonprofit organizations, and institu9 tions of higher education. 

10 ‘‘(4) GRANT TERMS.—Grants under this sub11 section shall be awarded for periods of not more 

12 than 5 years and on a competitive basis. Grants 

13 awarded under this subsection may be renewed. 

14 ‘‘(5) SECRETARY’S DUTY TO IDENTIFY MOST

15 PROMISING TEACHER RETENTION APPROACHES.— 

16 The Secretary shall identify the most promising 

17 teacher retention approaches, including those al18 ready working and those developed through grants 

19 funded under this subsection, and disseminate infor20 mation about those approaches to States and local 

21 educational agencies around the country. The Sec22 retary shall transmit to the Committee on Education 

23 and Labor of the House of Representatives and the 

24 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen25 sions of the Senate, not later than 9 months after 

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1 the date of the enactment of this subsection, and an2 nually thereafter, a report that describes the meth3 odology by which the most promising teacher reten4 tion programs are identified and the Secretary’s ef5 forts to disseminate information regarding such pro6 grams to State departments of education and local 

7 educational agencies throughout the United States.’’. 

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