I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1361 

To increase the recruitment and retention of school counselors, school social 

workers, and school psychologists by low-income local educational agencies. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 5, 2009 

Mr. TOWNS (for himself, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. POLIS of 

Colorado, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. 

CHILDERS, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. LOEBSACK, 

Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MILLER of North Carolina, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, 

Mr. REYES, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. GRIJALVA, 

and Mr. HONDA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To increase the recruitment and retention of school counselors, school social workers, and school psychologists 

by low-income local educational agencies. 

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 ‘‘Increased Student 

5 Achievement Through Increased Student Support Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Research shows that socioeconomic status 

2 and family background characteristics are highly 

3 correlated with educational outcomes, with a con4 centration of low-performing schools in low-income 

5 and under-served communities. 

6 (2) Teachers cite poor working conditions, stu7 dent behavior, lack of student motivation, and lack 

8 of administrative support as key reasons why they 

9 choose to leave the teaching profession. 

10 (3) Teachers and principals working for low-in11 come local educational agencies are increasingly 

12 tasked with addressing not only the academic needs 

13 of a child, but also the social, emotional, and behav14 ioral needs of a child that require the services of a 

15 school counselor, school social worker, and school 

16 psychologist, and these needs often interfere with de17 livering quality instruction and raising student 

18 achievement. 

19 (4) Rates of abuse and neglect of young chil20 dren in military families have doubled with the in21 creased military involvement of the United States 

22 abroad since October 2002; likewise, adolescents 

23 with deployed parents report increased perceptions 

24 of uncertainty and loss, role ambiguity, negative 

25 changes in mental and behavioral health, and inVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:06 Mar 07, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1361.IH H1361

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1 creased relationship conflict, raising concerns about 

2 the impact of deployment on military personnel and 

3 their families and whether schools that serve a large 

4 number of children with deployed parents have suffi5 cient staff and expertise to meet these challenges. 

6 (5) Children of military families in rural com7 munities are often geographically isolated, and 

8 schools that were already experiencing understaffing 

9 of school counselors, school social workers, and 

10 school psychologists face even greater challenges 

11 meeting the increased needs of students enduring 

12 the stress that comes along with having a deployed 

13 parent or parents. 

14 (6) Schools served by low-income local edu15 cational agencies suffer disproportionately from a 

16 lack of services, with many schools sharing a single 

17 school counselor, school social worker, or school psy18 chologist with neighboring schools. 

19 (7) Too few school counselors, school social 

20 workers, and school psychologists per student means 

21 that such personnel are often unable to effectively 

22 address the needs of students. 

23 (8) The American School Counselor Association 

24 and American Counseling Association recommend 


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1 having at least 1 school counselor for every 250 stu2 dents. 

3 (9) The School Social Work Association of 

4 America recommends having at least 1 school social 

5 worker for every 400 students. 

6 (10) The National Association of School Psy7 chologists recommends having at least 1 school psy8 chologist for every 1,000 students. 

9 (11) The need for added student support can be 

10 demonstrated through recent research of victimiza11 tion of children ages 2 to 17 that suggests that more 

12 than one-half of the children experienced a physical 

13 assault in the study year. More than 1 in 4 experi14 enced a property offense, more than 1 in 8 experi15 enced a form of child maltreatment, 1 in 12 experi16 enced a sexual victimization, and more than 1 in 3 

17 had been a witness to violence or experienced an18 other form of indirect victimization. Only 29 percent 

19 of the children had no direct or indirect victimiza20 tion. 

21 (12) Principals and teachers see signs of trau22 ma-related stress in many students including hostile 

23 outbursts, sliding grades, poor test performance and 

24 the inability to pay attention. 


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1 (13) Recent data on the number of children in 

2 foster care estimates that over 500,000 children are 

3 in the foster care system each year, with 289,000 

4 exiting the system each year due to aging out or 

5 adoption. 

6 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to increase the recruitment 

8 and retention of school counselors, school social workers, 

9 and school psychologists by low-income local educational 

10 agencies in order to— 

11 (1) support all students who are at risk of neg12 ative educational outcomes; 

13 (2) improve student achievement, which may be 

14 measured by growth in academic achievement on 

15 tests required by the applicable State educational 

16 agency, persistence rates, graduation rates, and 

17 other appropriate measures; 

18 (3) improve retention of teachers who are high19 ly qualified; 

20 (4) increase and improve outreach and collabo21 ration between school counselors, school social work22 ers, and school psychologists and parents and fami23 lies served by low-income local educational agencies; 

24 (5) increase and improve collaboration among 

25 teachers, principals, school counselors, school social 


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1 workers, and school psychologists and improve pro2 fessional development opportunities for teachers and 

3 principals in the area of strategies related to improv4 ing classroom climate and classroom management; 

5 and 

6 (6) improve working conditions for all school 

7 personnel. 

8 SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF 

9 SCHOOL COUNSELORS, SCHOOL SOCIAL 

10 WORKERS, AND SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS EM11 PLOYED BY LOW-INCOME LOCAL EDU12 CATIONAL AGENCIES. 

13 (a) GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary 

14 of Education (hereafter the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall award 

15 grants on a competitive basis to eligible partnerships that 

16 receive recommendations from the peer review panel estab17 lished under subsection (d) to enable such partnerships 

18 to carry out pipeline programs to increase the number of 

19 school counselors, school social workers, and school psy20 chologists employed by low-income local educational agen21 cies by carrying out any of the activities described by sub22 section (g). 

23 (b) GRANT PERIOD.—A grant awarded under this 

24 section shall be for a 5-year period and may be renewed 


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1 for additional 5-year periods upon a showing of adequate 

2 progress, as the Secretary determines appropriate. 

3 (c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

4 under this section, an eligible graduate institution, on be5 half of an eligible partnership, shall submit to the Sec6 retary a grant application, including— 

7 (1) an assessment of the existing ratios of 

8 school counselors, school social workers, and school 

9 psychologists to students enrolled in schools in each 

10 low-income local educational agency that is part of 

11 the eligible partnership; and 

12 (2) a detailed description of— 

13 (A) a plan to carry out a pipeline program 

14 to train, place, and retain school counselors, 

15 school social workers, or school psychologists, or 

16 any combination thereof, as applicable, in low17 income local educational agencies; and 

18 (B) the proposed allocation and use of 

19 grant funds to carry out activities described by 

20 subsection (g). 

21 (d) PEER REVIEW PANEL.— 

22 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF PANEL.—The Sec23 retary shall establish a peer review panel to evaluate 

24 applications for grants under subsection (c) and 


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1 make recommendations to the Secretary regarding 

2 such applications. 

3 (2) EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS.—In mak4 ing its recommendations, the peer review panel shall 

5 take into account the purpose of this Act and the 

6 application requirements under subsection (c), in7 cluding the quality of the proposed pipeline program. 

8 (3) RECOMMENDATION OF PANEL.—The Sec9 retary may award grants under this section only to 

10 eligible partnerships whose applications receive a 

11 recommendation from the peer review panel. 

12 (4) MEMBERSHIP OF PANEL.— 

13 (A) The peer review panel shall include at 

14 a minimum the following members: 

15 (i) One clinical, tenured, or tenure 

16 track faculty member at an institution of 

17 higher education with a current appoint18 ment to teach courses in the subject area 

19 of school counselor education. 

20 (ii) One clinical, tenured, or tenure 

21 track faculty member at an institution of 

22 higher education with a current appoint23 ment to teach courses in the subject area 

24 of school social worker education. 


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1 (iii) One clinical, tenured, or tenure 

2 track faculty member at an institution of 

3 higher education with a current appoint4 ment to teach courses in the subject area 

5 of school psychology education. 

6 (iv) One clinical, tenured, or tenure 

7 track faculty member at an institution of 

8 higher education with a current appoint9 ment to teach courses in the subject area 

10 of teacher education. 

11 (v) One individual with expertise in 

12 school counseling who works or has worked 

13 in public schools. 

14 (vi) One individual with expertise in 

15 school social work who works or has 

16 worked in public schools. 

17 (vii) One individual with expertise in 

18 school psychology who works or has 

19 worked in public schools. 

20 (viii) One administrator who works or 

21 has worked for a low-income local edu22 cational agency. 

23 (ix) One highly qualified teacher who 

24 has substantial experience working for a 

25 low-income local educational agency. 


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1 (B) At least one of the members described 

2 in subparagraph (A) shall be a clinical faculty 

3 member. 

4 (e) DISTRIBUTION OF GRANTS.—From among the 

5 applications receiving a recommendation by the peer re6 view panel, the Secretary shall— 

7 (1) award the first 5 grants to eligible partner8 ships from 5 different States; 

9 (2) to the extent practicable, distribute grants 

10 equitably among eligible partnerships that propose 

11 to train graduate students in each of the three pro12 fessions of school counseling, school social work, and 

13 school psychology; and 

14 (3) to the extent practicable, equitably dis15 tribute the grants among eligible partnerships that 

16 include an urban low-income local educational agen17 cy and partnerships that include a rural low-income 

18 local educational agency, with a minimum of 16.3 

19 percent of the funds (representing the percent of 

20 low-income children served by rural local educational 

21 agencies according to the United States Bureau of 

22 Census Small Area Income Poverty Estimates, 

23 2006) awarded to eligible partnerships that include 

24 a rural low-income local educational agency. 


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1 (f) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give priority to 

2 eligible partnerships that— 

3 (1) propose to use the grant funds to carry out 

4 the activities described under paragraphs (1) 

5 through (3) of subsection (g) in schools that have 

6 higher numbers or percentages of low-income stu7 dents and students not meeting the proficient level 

8 of achievement (as described by section 1111 of the 

9 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

10 (20 U.S.C. 6311)) in comparison to other schools 

11 that are served by the low-income local educational 

12 agency that is part of the eligible partnership; 

13 (2) include a low-income local educational agen14 cy that has fewer school counselors, school social 

15 workers, and school psychologists per student than 

16 other eligible partnerships; 

17 (3) include one or more eligible graduate insti18 tutions that offer graduate programs in the greatest 

19 number of the following areas: 

20 (A) school counseling; 

21 (B) school social work; and 

22 (C) school psychology; and 

23 (4) propose to collaborate with one or more eli24 gible graduate institutions, including sharing univerVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:06 Mar 07, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1361.IH H1361

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1 sity facilities, faculty members, and administrative 

2 costs. 

3 (g) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—Grant funds awarded 

4 under this section may be used— 

5 (1) to pay the administrative costs (including 

6 supplies, office and classroom space, supervision, 

7 mentoring, and transportation stipends as necessary 

8 and appropriate) related to— 

9 (A) having graduate students of school 

10 counseling, school social work, and school psy11 chology placed in schools served by partici12 pating low-income local educational agencies to 

13 complete required field work, credit hours, in14 ternships, or related training as applicable for 

15 the degree, license, or credential program of 

16 each such student; and 

17 (B) offering required graduate course work 

18 for graduate students of school counseling, 

19 school social work, and school psychology on the 

20 site of a participating low-income local edu21 cational agency; 

22 (2) for not more than the first 3 years after 

23 participating graduates receive a masters or other 

24 graduate degree or obtain a State license or creden25 tial in school counseling, school social work, or 


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1 school psychology, to hire and pay all or part of the 

2 salaries of such participating graduates to work as 

3 school counselors, school social workers, and school 

4 psychologists in schools served by participating low5 income local educational agencies; 

6 (3) to increase the number of school counselors, 

7 school social workers, and school psychologists per 

8 student in schools served by participating low-income 

9 local educational agencies to work towards the stu10 dent support personnel target ratios; 

11 (4) to hire, recruit, and retain culturally or lin12 guistically under-represented graduate students in 

13 school counseling, school social work, and school psy14 chology for placement in schools served by partici15 pating low-income educational agencies; 

16 (5) to recruit, hire, and pay faculty as nec17 essary to increase the capacity of a participating eli18 gible graduate institution to train graduate students 

19 in the fields of school counseling, school social work, 

20 and school psychology; 

21 (6) to develop course work that will— 

22 (A) encourage a commitment by graduate 

23 students in school counseling, school social 

24 work, or school psychology to work for low-in25 come local educational agencies; 


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1 (B) give participating graduates the knowl2 edge and skill sets necessary to meet the needs 

3 of— 

4 (i) students and families served by 

5 low-income local educational agencies; and 

6 (ii) teachers, administrators, and 

7 other staff who work for low-income local 

8 educational agencies; 

9 (C) enable participating graduates to meet 

10 the unique needs of students at-risk of negative 

11 educational outcomes, including students who— 

12 (i) are English language learners; 

13 (ii) have a parent or caregiver who is 

14 a migrant worker; 

15 (iii) have a parent or caregiver who is 

16 a member of the Armed Forces or Na17 tional Guard who has been deployed or re18 turned from deployment; 

19 (iv) are homeless, including unaccom20 panied youth; 

21 (v) have come into contact with the 

22 juvenile justice system or adult criminal 

23 justice system, including students currently 

24 or previously held in juvenile detention fa25 cilities or adult jails and students currently 


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1 or previously held in juvenile correctional 

2 facilities or adult prisons; 

3 (vi) have been identified as eligible for 

4 services under the Individuals with Disabil5 ities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et 

6 seq.) or the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 

7 U.S.C. 701 et seq.); 

8 (vii) have been a victim to or wit9 nessed domestic violence or violence in 

10 their community; and 

11 (viii) are foster care youth, youth 

12 aging out of foster care, or former foster 

13 youth; and 

14 (D) utilize best practices determined by the 

15 American School Counselor Association, Na16 tional Association of Social Workers, School So17 cial Work Association of America, and National 

18 Association of School Psychologists; 

19 (7) to provide tuition credits to graduate stu20 dents participating in the program; 

21 (8) for student loan forgiveness for partici22 pating graduates who are employed as school coun23 selors, school social workers, or school psychologists 

24 by participating low-income local educational agen25 cies for a minimum of 5 consecutive years; and 


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1 (9) for similar activities to fulfill the purpose of 

2 this Act, as the Secretary determines appropriate. 

3 (h) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made 

4 available under this section shall be used to supplement, 

5 not supplant, Federal, State, or local funds for the activi6 ties described in subsection (g). 

7 (i) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Each eligible part8 nership that receives a grant under this section shall sub9 mit an annual report to the Secretary on the progress of 

10 such partnership in carrying out the purpose of this Act. 

11 Such report shall include a description of— 

12 (1) actual service delivery provided through 

13 grant funds including— 

14 (A) characteristics of the participating eli15 gible graduate institution, including descriptive 

16 information on the model used and actual pro17 gram performance; 

18 (B) characteristics of graduate students 

19 participating in the program, including per20 formance on any tests required by the State 

21 educational agency for credentialing or licens22 ing, demographic characteristics, and graduate 

23 student retention rates; 

24 (C) characteristics of students of the par25 ticipating low-income local educational agency, 


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1 including performance on any tests required by 

2 the State educational agency, demographic 

3 characteristics, and promotion, persistence, and 

4 graduation rates, as appropriate; 

5 (D) an estimate of the annual implementa6 tion costs of the program; and 

7 (E) the numbers of students, schools, and 

8 graduate students participating in the program; 

9 (2) outcomes that are consistent with the pur10 pose of the grant program including— 

11 (A) internship and post-graduation place12 ment; 

13 (B) graduation and professional career 

14 readiness indicators; and 

15 (C) characteristics of the participating low16 income local educational agency including 

17 changes in hiring and retention of highly quali18 fied teachers and school counselors, school psy19 chologists, and school social workers; 

20 (3) the instruction, materials, and activities 

21 being funded under the grant program; and 

22 (4) the effectiveness of any training and ongo23 ing professional development provided— 


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1 (A) to students and faculty in the appro2 priate departments or schools of the partici3 pating eligible graduate institution; 

4 (B) to the faculty, administration, and 

5 staff of the participating low-income local edu6 cational agency; and 

7 (C) to the broader community of providers 

8 of social, emotional, behavioral, and related 

9 support to students and to those who train such 

10 providers. 

11 (j) EVALUATIONS.— 

12 (1) INTERIM EVALUATIONS.—The Secretary 

13 may conduct interim evaluations to determine 

14 whether each eligible partnership receiving a grant is 

15 making adequate progress as the Secretary considers 

16 appropriate. The contents of the annual report sub17 mitted to the Secretary under subsection (i) may be 

18 used by the Secretary to determine whether an eligi19 ble partnership receiving a grant is demonstrating 

20 adequate progress. 

21 (2) FINAL EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall 

22 conduct a final evaluation to— 

23 (A) determine the effectiveness of the 

24 grant program in carrying out the purpose of 

25 this Act; and 


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1 (B) compare the relative effectiveness of 

2 each of the various activities described by sub3 section (g) for which grant funds may be used. 

4 (k) REPORT.—Not sooner than 5 years nor later than 

5 6 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec6 retary shall submit to Congress a report containing the 

7 findings of the evaluation conducted under subsection 

8 (j)(2), and such recommendations as the Secretary con9 siders appropriate. 

10 (l) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

11 (1) There is authorized to be appropriated to 

12 carry out this section $30,000,000 for each of the 

13 fiscal years 2010 to 2020. 

14 (2) From the total amount appropriated to 

15 carry out this section each fiscal year, the Secretary 

16 shall reserve not more than 3 percent of that appro17 priation for evaluations under subsection (j). 


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1 SEC. 5. STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR INDIVIDUALS 

2 WHO ARE EMPLOYED FOR 5 OR MORE CON3 SECUTIVE SCHOOL YEARS AS SCHOOL COUN4 SELORS, SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS, SCHOOL 

5 PSYCHOLOGISTS, OR OTHER QUALIFIED PSY6 CHOLOGISTS OR PSYCHIATRISTS BY LOW-IN7 COME LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary 

9 shall establish a program to provide student loan forgive10 ness to individuals who are not and have never been par11 ticipants in the grant program established under section 

12 4 and who have been employed for 5 or more consecutive 

13 school years as school counselors, school social workers, 

14 school psychologists, other qualified psychologists, or child 

15 and adolescent psychiatrists by low-income local edu16 cational agencies. 

17 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

18 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such 

19 sums as may be necessary to carry out the program under 

20 this section. 

21 SEC. 6. FUTURE DESIGNATION STUDY. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall conduct a 

23 study to identify a formula for future designation of re24 gions with a shortage of school counselors, school social 

25 workers, and school psychologists to use in implementing 

26 grant programs and other programs such as the programs 


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1 established under this Act or for other purposes related 

2 to any such designation, based on the latest available data 

3 on— 

4 (1) the number of residents under the age of 18 

5 in an area served by a low-income local educational 

6 agency; 

7 (2) the percentage of the population of an area 

8 served by a low-income local educational agency with 

9 incomes below the poverty line; 

10 (3) the percentage of residents age 18 or above 

11 in an area served by a low-income local educational 

12 agency with high school diplomas; 

13 (4) the percentage of students identified as eli14 gible for special education services in an area served 

15 by a low-income local educational agency; 

16 (5) the youth crime rate in an area served by 

17 a low-income local educational agency; 

18 (6) the current number of full-time-equivalent 

19 and active school counselors, school social workers, 

20 and school psychologists employed by a low-income 

21 educational agency; 

22 (7) the number of students in an area served by 

23 a low-income local education agency in military fam24 ilies (active duty and reserve duty) with parents who 

25 have been alerted for deployment, are currently deVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:06 Mar 07, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1361.IH H1361

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1 ployed, or have returned from a deployment in the 

2 previous school year; and 

3 (8) such other criteria as the Secretary con4 siders appropriate. 

5 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

6 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to 

7 Congress a report containing the findings of the study 

8 conducted under subsection (a). 

9 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act: 

11 (1) The terms ‘‘child and adolescent psychia12 trist’’, ‘‘school counselor’’, ‘‘school psychologist’’, 

13 ‘‘school social worker’’, and ‘‘other qualified psychol14 ogist’’ have the meaning given the terms in section 

15 5421 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

16 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7245). 

17 (2) The terms ‘‘State educational agency’’, 

18 ‘‘local educational agency’’, and ‘‘highly qualified’’ 

19 have the meaning given the terms in section 9101 of 

20 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

21 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

22 (3) The term ‘‘low-income local educational 

23 agency’’ means a local educational agency— 

24 (A) in which not less than 20 percent of 

25 the students served by such agency are from 


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1 families with incomes below the poverty line as 

2 determined by the Bureau of the Census on the 

3 basis of the most recent satisfactory data avail4 able; 

5 (B) that has existing ratios of school coun6 selors, school social workers, and school psy7 chologists to students served by the partici8 pating low-income local educational agency 

9 which fall at least 10 percent below the student 

10 support personnel target ratios, meaning such 

11 low-income local educational agency has no 

12 more than one counselor per 277 students, no 

13 more than one school psychologist per 1111 

14 students, and no more than one school social 

15 worker per 444 students; and 

16 (C) that has been identified for improve17 ment or corrective action (as described by sec18 tion 1116 of the Elementary and Secondary 

19 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6316)) or 

20 that includes at least one school that has been 

21 identified for school improvement, corrective ac22 tion, or restructuring (as described by section 

23 1116 of such Act). 

24 (4) The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 

25 has the meaning given such term in section 102 of 


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

2 1002), but excludes any institution of higher edu3 cation described in section 102(a)(1)(C) of such Act. 

4 (5) The term ‘‘eligible graduate institution’’ 

5 means an institution of higher education that offers 

6 a program of study that leads to a masters or other 

7 graduate degree— 

8 (A) in school psychology that is accredited 

9 or nationally recognized by the National Asso10 ciation of School Psychologists Program Ap11 proval Board and that prepares students in 

12 such program for State licensing or certification 

13 in school psychology; 

14 (B) in school counseling that prepares stu15 dents in such program for State licensing or 

16 certification in school counseling; 

17 (C) in school social work that is accredited 

18 by the Council on Social Work Education and 

19 that prepares students in such program for 

20 State licensing or certification in school social 

21 work; or 

22 (D) any combination of (A), (B), and (C). 

23 (6) The term ‘‘eligible partnership’’ means— 


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1 (A) a partnership between 1 or more low2 income local educational agencies and 1 or more 

3 eligible graduate institutions; or 

4 (B) in regions in which local educational 

5 agencies may not have a sufficient elementary 

6 and secondary school student population to sup7 port the placement of all participating graduate 

8 students, a partnership between a State edu9 cational agency, on behalf of 1 or more low-in10 come local educational agencies, and 1 or more 

11 eligible graduate institutions. 

12 (7) The term ‘‘participating eligible graduate 

13 institution’’ means an eligible graduate institution 

14 that is part of an eligible partnership awarded a 

15 grant under section 4. 

16 (8) The term ‘‘participating low-income local 

17 educational agency’’ means a low-income local edu18 cational agency that is part of an eligible partner19 ship awarded a grant under section 4. 

20 (9) The term ‘‘participating graduate’’ means 

21 an individual who— 

22 (A) has received a masters or other grad23 uate degree in elementary or secondary school 

24 counseling, school social work, or school psy25 chology from a participating eligible graduate 


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1 institution and has obtained a State license or 

2 credential in school counseling, school social 

3 work, and school psychology from a partici4 pating eligible graduate institution; and 

5 (B) as a graduate student of school coun6 seling, school social work, or school psychology 

7 was placed in a school served by a participating 

8 low-income local educational agency to complete 

9 required field work, credit hours, internships, or 

10 related training as applicable. 

11 (10) The term ‘‘student support personnel tar12 get ratios’’ means the ratios of school counselors, 

13 school social workers, and school psychologists to 

14 students recommended to enable such personnel to 

15 effectively address the needs of students including— 

16 (A) at least 1 school counselor for every 

17 250 students (as recommended by the American 

18 School Counselors Association and American 

19 Counseling Association); 

20 (B) at least 1 school psychologist for every 

21 1,000 students (as recommended by the Na22 tional Association of School Psychologists); and 

23 (C) at least 1 school social worker for 

24 every 400 students (as recommended by the 

25 School Social Work Association of America). 


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1 (11) The term ‘‘unaccompanied youth’’ has the 

2 meaning given such term in section 725 of the 

3 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 11434a). 

5 (12) The term ‘‘best practices’’ means a tech6 nique or methodology that, through experience and 

7 research related to the practice of school counseling, 

8 school psychology, or school social work, has proven 

9 to reliably lead to a desired result. 

Æ 


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