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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 853

To assist local educational agencies to help all students achieve State achievement standards, to end the practice of social promotion, and for other

purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 21, 1999

Mrs. FEINSTEIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To assist local educational agencies to help all students

achieve State achievement standards, to end the practice

of social promotion, and for other purposes.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Student Achievement

5 Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. REMEDIAL EDUCATION.

7 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary is author8 ized to award grants to high need, low-performing local

9 educational agencies to enable the local educational agen-
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1 cies to carry out remedial education programs that enable

2 kindergarten through grade 12 students who are failing

3 or are at risk of failing to meet State achievement stand4 ards in the core academic curriculum.

5 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—Grant funds awarded under

6 this section may be used to provide prevention and inter7 vention services and academic instruction, that enable the

8 students described in subsection (a) to meet State achieve9 ment standards in the core academic curriculum, such

10 as—

11 (1) implementing early intervention strategies

12 that identify and support those students who need

13 additional help or alternative instructional strategies;

14 (2) strengthening instruction and learning by

15 hiring certified teachers to reduce class sizes, pro16 viding high quality professional development, and

17 using proven instructional practices and curriculum

18 aligned to State achievement standards;

19 (3) providing extended learning time, such as

20 before school, after school, and summer school; and

21 (4) developing intensive instructional interven22 tion strategies for students who fail to meet the

23 State achievement standards.

24 (c) APPLICATIONS.—Each local educational agency

25 desiring to receive a grant under this section shall submit
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1 an application to the Secretary. Each application shall

2 contain—

3 (1) an assurance that the grant funds will be

4 used in accordance with subsection (b); and

5 (2) a detailed description of how the local edu6 cational agency will use the grant funds to help stu7 dents meet State achievement standards in the core

8 academic curriculum by providing prevention and

9 intervention services and academic instruction to

10 students who are most at risk of failing to meet the

11 State achievement standards.

12 (d) CONDITIONS FOR RECEIVING FUNDS.—A local

13 educational agency shall be eligible to receive a grant

14 under this section if the local educational agency or the

15 State educational agency—

16 (1) adopts a policy prohibiting the practice of

17 social promotion;

18 (2) adopts a policy requiring that all kinder19 garten through grade 12 students be subject to

20 State achievement standards in the core academic

21 curriculum at key transition points (to be deter22 mined by the State), such as 4th, 8th, and 12th

23 grades, before promotion to the next grade level;

24 (3) uses tests and other indicators, such as

25 grades and teacher evaluations, to assess student
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1 performance in meeting the State achievement

2 standards at key transition points (to be determined

3 by the State), which tests shall be valid for the pur4 pose of such assessment;

5 (4) provides remedial education to all students

6 not meeting the State achievement standards; and

7 (5) has substantial numbers of students who

8 are low-performing students.

9 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

10 (1) CORE ACADEMIC CURRICULUM.—The term

11 ‘‘core academic curriculum’’ means curriculum in

12 subjects such as reading and writing, language arts,

13 mathematics, social sciences (including history), and

14 science.

15 (2) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term

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

17 the term in section 14101 of the Elementary and

18 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

19 (3) PRACTICE OF SOCIAL PROMOTION.—The

20 term ‘‘practice of social promotion’’ means a formal

21 or informal practice of promoting a student from the

22 grade for which the determination is made to the

23 next grade when the student fails to meet the State

24 achievement standards in the core academic cur25 riculum, unless the practice is consistent with the
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1 student’s individualized education program under

2 section 614(d) of the Individuals with Disabilities

3 Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1414(d).

4 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

5 the Secretary of Education.

6 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

7 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

8 $500,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2000 through

9 2004.

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