I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1521 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to support innovative, evidencebased approaches that improve the effectiveness and efficiency of postsecondary education for all students, to allow pay for success initiatives, 

to provide additional evaluation authority, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 2, 2021 

Ms. SHERRILL (for herself, Mr. KATKO, Mr. SIRES, and Mr. FITZPATRICK) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to support 

innovative, evidence-based approaches that improve the 

effectiveness and efficiency of postsecondary education 

for all students, to allow pay for success initiatives, to 

provide additional evaluation authority, 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 ‘‘Fund for Innovation 

5 and Success in Higher Education Act’’ or the ‘‘FINISH 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INNOVATION GRANTS. 

2 Part B of title VII of the Higher Education Act of 

3 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1138 et seq.) is amended— 

4 (1) by redesignating section 745 as section 746; 

5 and 

6 (2) by inserting after section 744 the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 745. INNOVATION GRANTS. 

8 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are 

9 to— 

10 ‘‘(1) increase access to, retention in, and com11 pletion of postsecondary education opportunities for 

12 high-need students; 

13 ‘‘(2) address the adverse impacts on postsec14 ondary educational access and attainment for high15 need students brought about as a result of the 

16 COVID–19 pandemic; 

17 ‘‘(3) identify and support the most effective 

18 interventions to increase postsecondary degree at19 tainment and career success of high-need students, 

20 particularly those adversely impacted by the 

21 COVID–19 pandemic; and 

22 ‘‘(4) improve the efficiency of postsecondary 

23 education, including by reducing the percentage of 

24 students enrolling in postsecondary remediation and 

25 increasing the effectiveness of postsecondary remedi26 ation. 


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1 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en3 tity’ means any of the following: 

4 ‘‘(A) A State educational agency. 

5 ‘‘(B) A public or private nonprofit institu6 tion of higher education. 

7 ‘‘(C) The Bureau of Indian Education. 

8 ‘‘(D) A consortium of any of the entities 

9 described in subparagraphs (A) through (C). 

10 ‘‘(E) A partnership between a State edu11 cational agency or public or private nonprofit 

12 institution of higher education and one or more 

13 of the following: 

14 ‘‘(i) A nonprofit organization. 

15 ‘‘(ii) An intermediary organization. 

16 ‘‘(iii) A business. 

17 ‘‘(iv) A sponsor of a program receiv18 ing assistance under the National and 

19 Community Service Act of 1990 (42 

20 U.S.C. 12501 et seq.). 

21 ‘‘(v) A local educational agency. 

22 ‘‘(2) FIRST GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENT.— 

23 The term ‘first generation college student’ means— 

24 ‘‘(A) an individual both of whose parents 

25 did not complete a baccalaureate degree; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) in the case of any individual who reg2 ularly resided with and received support from 

3 only one parent, an individual whose only such 

4 parent did not complete a baccalaureate degree. 

5 ‘‘(3) HIGH-NEED STUDENT.—The term ‘high6 need student’— 

7 ‘‘(A) means a postsecondary student who 

8 is at risk of educational failure or otherwise in 

9 need of special assistance and support; and 

10 ‘‘(B) may include an adult learner, work11 ing student, part-time student, student from a 

12 low-income background, student of color, 

13 former foster youth, first generation college stu14 dent, student with a disability, student who is 

15 deaf or blind or visually impaired, or student 

16 who is an English learner. 

17 ‘‘(4) INTERMEDIARY ORGANIZATION.—The term 

18 ‘intermediary organization’ means an entity— 

19 ‘‘(A) with strong skills and a track record 

20 of success in— 

21 ‘‘(i) identifying effective interventions 

22 to address State, regional, or local prob23 lems; 

24 ‘‘(ii) managing high-quality subgrant 

25 processes; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) providing technical assistance 

2 and support to subgrantees to ensure qual3 ity and improve outcomes; and 

4 ‘‘(B) that utilizes an evidence-based deci5 sionmaking strategy when selecting high-per6 forming entities, on a competitive basis, to re7 ceive subgrants in order to validate and grow 

8 effective interventions. 

9 ‘‘(c) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made avail11 able to carry out this section, the Secretary shall 

12 award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible enti13 ties to enable the eligible entities to create, develop, 

14 implement, replicate, or scale evidence-based and 

15 field-initiated innovations, including through pay for 

16 success initiatives (as defined in section 124(a)), in 

17 order to improve postsecondary access and comple18 tion or career success for high-need students. 

19 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.—The grants awarded under this 

20 section shall implement and evaluate programs, 

21 interventions, and strategies that address the pur22 poses described under subsection (a) and, to the ex23 tent practicable based on the strength of the applica24 tions, include— 


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1 ‘‘(A) early-phase grants to fund the devel2 opment, implementation, and feasibility testing 

3 of a practice, program, or intervention that 

4 prior research suggests has promise, for the 

5 purpose of determining whether the practice, 

6 program, or innovation can successfully im7 prove, for high-need students— 

8 ‘‘(i) access to, retention in, and com9 pletion of a postsecondary program of 

10 study; or 

11 ‘‘(ii) career success; 

12 ‘‘(B) mid-phase grants to fund implemen13 tation and a rigorous evaluation of a practice, 

14 program, or intervention that has been success15 fully implemented under an early phase grant 

16 described in subparagraph (A) or another effort 

17 meeting similar criteria, for the purpose of 

18 measuring (using existing administrative data 

19 where possible) the impact and cost-effective20 ness of the practice, program, or intervention; 

21 or 

22 ‘‘(C) expansion grants to fund implementa23 tion and a rigorous replication evaluation of a 

24 practice, program, or intervention that has been 

25 found to produce sizable, important impacts 


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1 under a mid-phase grant described in subpara2 graph (B) or another effort meeting similar cri3 teria, for the purposes of— 

4 ‘‘(i) determining whether such impacts 

5 can be successfully reproduced and sus6 tained over time; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) identifying the conditions in 

8 which the practice, program, or initiative is 

9 most effective. 

10 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity desiring a 

12 grant under this section shall submit to the Sec13 retary an application at such time, in such manner, 

14 and containing such information as the Secretary 

15 may require. 

16 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—An application submitted 

17 under paragraph (1) shall include— 

18 ‘‘(A) a description of the high-need stu19 dents that the eligible entity is proposing to 

20 serve through the grant; and 

21 ‘‘(B) a description of the outcome meas22 ures, including explicit outcome measures for 

23 high-need students, that the eligible entity will 

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1 scribed in subsection (f)(2)(A), to evaluate the 

2 success of the grant. 

3 ‘‘(e) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec4 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities 

5 that— 

6 ‘‘(1) propose to serve the largest number of 

7 high-need students; or 

8 ‘‘(2) serve a high proportion of students from 

9 one or more school districts with a school district lo10 cale code of 31, 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, as determined 

11 by the Secretary using the school district locale 

12 codes in effect on December 1, 2021. 

13 ‘‘(f) EVALUATIONS.—Each recipient of a grant under 

14 this section shall conduct, and submit to the Secretary, 

15 a rigorous, independent evaluation of— 

16 ‘‘(1) the effectiveness of the practice, program, 

17 or intervention carried out under such grant; 

18 ‘‘(2) the outcomes achieved by such grant, 

19 which shall include— 

20 ‘‘(A) the numbers and percentages, in the 

21 aggregate and disaggregated by each subgroup 

22 of students (as defined in section 1111(c)(2) of 

23 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

24 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(c)(2))), of— 


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1 ‘‘(i) students supported by the grant 

2 entering, persisting, and completing post3 secondary education; 

4 ‘‘(ii) such students enrolling in reme5 dial coursework at the institution; 

6 ‘‘(iii) such students enrolling and 

7 completing such remedial coursework; and 

8 ‘‘(iv) such students enrolling in and 

9 completing such remedial coursework and 

10 successfully completing first-year credit11 bearing coursework within 16 months of 

12 enrollment in an institution of higher edu13 cation; and 

14 ‘‘(B) the recipient’s performance on any 

15 other outcome measures described in the appli16 cation in accordance with subsection (d)(2)(B); 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(3) the activities carried out under such grant. 

19 ‘‘(g) REPORTS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

21 after the date of enactment of the Fund for Innova22 tion and Success in Higher Education Act, and 

23 every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall prepare 

24 and submit to the authorizing committees a report 

25 on the grants carried out under this section. 


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1 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report issued under 

2 this subsection shall— 

3 ‘‘(A) include— 

4 ‘‘(i) information from the outcomes 

5 reported in the evaluations submitted 

6 under subsection (f) for the reporting pe7 riod about the success of the grants sup8 ported under this section; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) the number of high-need stu10 dents served through the grants under this 

11 section during the reporting period; 

12 ‘‘(B) disaggregate all data on student out13 comes related to the grants by, at a minimum, 

14 race and income, and, to the extent practicable, 

15 any other relevant student characteristic, as de16 termined by the Secretary; and 

17 ‘‘(C) consider— 

18 ‘‘(i) how the tiered-evidence grant 

19 structure described in subsection (c)(2) can 

20 be applied to other grant programs author21 ized under this Act, in order to strengthen 

22 those programs; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) how the evidence generated by 

24 the projects, programs, and interventions 

25 supported by grants under this section can 


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1 inform how to carry out other grants au2 thorized under this Act. 

3 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary 

4 shall make each report issued under this subsection 

5 available to the public through the website of the 

6 Department.’’. 

7 SEC. 3. OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES. 

8 Section 741(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

9 (20 U.S.C. 1138(a)) is amended— 

10 (1) in paragraph (12), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

11 the semicolon; 

12 (2) in paragraph (13), by striking the period 

13 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

14 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(14) making all forms of postsecondary in16 structional content widely available, which may in17 clude the use of open educational resources (defined, 

18 for purpose of this paragraph, as teaching, learning, 

19 or research resources that reside in the public do20 main or have been released under a copyright license 

21 that permits their free use, reuse, modification, and 

22 sharing with others).’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. PAY FOR SUCCESS INITIATIVES. 

2 Part B of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

3 (20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 124. PAY FOR SUCCESS INITIATIVES. 

6 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en8 tity’ means a partnership between— 

9 ‘‘(A) a private entity (which may include a 

10 private nonprofit entity); and 

11 ‘‘(B) an institution of higher education, a 

12 Federal, State, or local public entity, or a Trib13 al entity. 

14 ‘‘(2) PAY FOR SUCCESS INITIATIVE.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘pay for 

16 success initiative’ means a performance-based 

17 grant, contract, or other agreement— 

18 ‘‘(i) between an eligible entity and the 

19 Secretary or a grant recipient, as author20 ized under subsection (b)(1); 

21 ‘‘(ii) in which— 

22 ‘‘(I) a commitment is made to 

23 pay the eligible entity for improved 

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1 ures strongly correlated to outcomes, 

2 that result in increased public value or 

3 social benefit to students and the pub4 lic sector, such as increased effective5 ness in improving outcomes, direct 

6 cost savings or cost avoidance, or in7 creased public revenue; and 

8 ‘‘(II) the entity providing the 

9 funds under the grant, contract, or 

10 agreement imposes minimal adminis11 trative requirements to allow for max12 imum flexibility to achieve improve13 ment in the lives of service recipients, 

14 or increased public value and social 

15 benefit; and 

16 ‘‘(iii) that requires— 

17 ‘‘(I) a review or study describing 

18 how the proposed intervention is 

19 based on evidence of effectiveness, 

20 which may be a review or study not 

21 exclusively developed for the specific 

22 grant, contract, or other agreement 

23 and may be based on information al24 ready available; 


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1 ‘‘(II) a rigorous, third-party eval2 uation that uses experimental or 

3 quasi-experimental design or other re4 search methodologies that allow for 

5 the strongest possible causal infer6 ences to determine whether the initia7 tive has met its expected outcomes; or 

8 a third-party, scientifically valid as9 sessment or analysis of administrative 

10 data that verifies measurable improve11 ments in the lives of service recipients 

12 or is correlated with improved long13 term positive outcomes, with safe14 guards using available data to ensure 

15 that any apparent improvements are 

16 not the result of statistical differences 

17 in the service recipients compared 

18 with the target population at large; 

19 ‘‘(III) an annual, publicly avail20 able report on the progress of the ini21 tiative; and 

22 ‘‘(IV) that payments be made to 

23 the recipient of the grant, contract, or 

24 agreement only when agreed-upon 

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1 vided under paragraph (2) or (3) of 

2 subsection (b). 

3 ‘‘(B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘pay for suc4 cess initiative’ does not include any initiative 

5 that— 

6 ‘‘(i) reduces the benefits to a student 

7 or the obligations of an entity under this 

8 Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 

9 U.S.C. 701 et seq.), the Americans with 

10 Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 

11 et seq.), the Individuals with Disabilities 

12 Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.), or 

13 any other law; or 

14 ‘‘(ii) reduces services that an indi15 vidual is entitled to receive under Federal, 

16 State, or local law. 

17 ‘‘(b) PAY FOR SUCCESS INITIATIVE AUTHORITY.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

19 provision of this Act and except as provided under 

20 subsection (c)— 

21 ‘‘(A) any recipient of a grant under this 

22 Act may request to use grant funds to carry out 

23 a pay for success initiative that accomplishes 

24 the objectives of the grant and meets all re25 quirements of the grant (except to the extent a 


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1 requirement is specifically modified by the pay 

2 for success initiative), if such use is proposed in 

3 the application or plan submitted for such 

4 grant; and 

5 ‘‘(B) the Secretary may approve not more 

6 than 5 pilot demonstrations each fiscal year 

7 from the grant applications or plans that con8 tain a request to carry out a pay for success 

9 initiative. 

10 ‘‘(2) USE OF FUNDS FOR REVIEWS OR FEASI11 BILITY STUDIES AND RIGOROUS THIRD-PARTY EVAL12 UATION.—If the Secretary, or a grant recipient, is 

13 authorized to carry out a pay for success initiative 

14 under paragraph (1), the Secretary or grant recipi15 ent may use funds available for the pay for success 

16 initiative— 

17 ‘‘(A) to conduct the review or feasibility 

18 study required under subsection (a)(2)(A)(iii)(I) 

19 or the rigorous third-party evaluation required 

20 under subsection (a)(2)(A)(iii)(II); or 

21 ‘‘(B) to provide funds to the entity car22 rying out the pay for success initiative for the 

23 costs of the initial costs associated with starting 

24 the initiative. 


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1 ‘‘(3) USE OF REMAINING FUNDS.—Notwith2 standing any other provision of law, if the Secretary 

3 or a grant recipient is carrying out a pay for success 

4 initiative under paragraph (1) and the pay for suc5 cess initiative has met or exceeded its proposed out6 comes, the Secretary or grant recipient may use any 

7 funds remaining at the conclusion of the pay for 

8 success initiative to enter into an additional agree9 ment, through a competitive process, with an eligible 

10 entity to expand capacity under the pay for success 

11 initiative or to carry out additional pilot demonstra12 tions of pay for success initiatives. 

13 ‘‘(c) STUDENT PROTECTIONS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) NO NEGATIVE IMPACT ON STUDENT AID.— 

15 A pay for success initiative shall not be supported 

16 with funds under this Act if the pay for success ini17 tiative would adversely affect the funding of, or stu18 dent access to, individual student aid awards made 

19 under section 401 or any other program supported 

20 under this Act. 

21 ‘‘(2) NONINCLUSION IN DETERMINATION OF

22 NEED.—A grant or aid provided directly to a stu23 dent under a pay for success initiative supported 

24 with funds under this Act shall not be considered in 

25 determining that student’s need for grant, loan, or 


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1 work assistance under title IV of this Act, except 

2 that in no case shall the total amount of student fi3 nancial assistance awarded to a student through a 

4 pay for success initiative and under title IV exceed 

5 that student’s cost of attendance, as defined in sec6 tion 472. 

7 ‘‘(d) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Notwithstanding 

8 any other provision of this Act, any funds made available 

9 for a fiscal year to an entity for a pay for success initiative 

10 authorized under this section shall remain available until 

11 expended.’’. 

12 SEC. 5. EVALUATION. 

13 Part B of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

14 (20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.), as amended by section 4, is fur15 ther amended by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 125. EVALUATION AUTHORITY. 

17 ‘‘(a) EVALUATION RESERVATION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

19 provision of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation 

20 with the Director of the Institute of Education 

21 Sciences, may, for each fiscal year, reserve not more 

22 than 1 percent of the amount appropriated for each 

23 discretionary grant program authorized under this 

24 Act (except for the Federal Pell Grant program 

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1 pendently evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of 

2 the outcomes of all programs authorized under this 

3 Act. 

4 ‘‘(2) EFFECT ON OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—The 

5 amount reserved under paragraph (1) shall be in ad6 dition to any other amounts reserved for evaluation 

7 under this Act. 

8 ‘‘(b) EVALUATION PLAN.—On a biennial basis, the 

9 Director of the Institute of Education Sciences shall de10 velop, submit to the authorizing committees, and make 

11 publicly available on the website of the Department, an 

12 evaluation plan for the next 2 fiscal years that— 

13 ‘‘(1) describes the specific activities that will be 

14 carried out under subsection (a) for the 2-year pe15 riod applicable to the plan, and the timelines of such 

16 activities; 

17 ‘‘(2) contains the results of the activities car18 ried out under subsection (a) for the most recent 2- 

19 year period; and 

20 ‘‘(3) describes how programs authorized under 

21 this Act will be regularly evaluated, including the 

22 outcome measures to be used to evaluate each pro23 gram. 


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1 ‘‘(c) POOLING AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding any 

2 other provision of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation 

3 with the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences— 

4 ‘‘(1) may consolidate the funds reserved under 

5 subsection (a) for purposes of carrying out the ac6 tivities described in subsection (b); and 

7 ‘‘(2) shall not be required to evaluate each pro8 gram authorized under this Act each year. 

9 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec10 tion shall be construed to conflict with or supercede any 

11 other evaluation requirement for a specific program or ac12 tivity authorized under this Act.’’. 

Æ 


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