I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5519 

To improve and expand geographic literacy among kindergarten through grade 

12 students in the United States by improving professional development 

programs for kindergarten through grade 12 teachers offered through 

institutions of higher education. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 25, 2006 

Mr. WICKER (for himself, Mr. SHAYS, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, 

Mr. CASE, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. POMEROY, and Mr. MORAN of Kansas) 

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

Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To improve and expand geographic literacy among kindergarten through grade 12 students in the United States 

by improving professional development programs for kindergarten through grade 12 teachers offered through 

institutions of higher 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 ‘‘Teaching Geography 

5 is Fundamental Act’’. 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
2 

•HR 5519 IH

1 SEC. 2. GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION. 

2 Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

3 U.S.C. 1021 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘PART C—GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION 

6 ‘‘SEC. 231. FINDINGS. 

7 ‘‘Congress makes the following findings: 

8 ‘‘(1) Geographic literacy is essential to a well9 prepared citizenry in the 21st Century because geo10 graphic factors assume greater importance as the 

11 world’s economies, societies, and political structures 

12 grow more global in scale. 

13 ‘‘(2) In a recent National Geographic–Roper 9- 

14 country survey of geographic literacy among young 

15 adults aged 18 through 24, Americans ranked sec16 ond to last. Only 13 percent of young adults ages 18 

17 through 24 in the United States were able to cor18 rectly identify Iraq on a map of Asia and the Middle 

19 East. 

20 ‘‘(3) The economic stature and competitiveness 

21 of the United States requires increasingly sophisti22 cated levels of geographic knowledge and mastery of 

23 geographic tools. 

24 ‘‘(4) United States Department of Labor data 

25 identifies geotechnology as one of the 3 fastest grow26 ing employment fields serving industries such as inVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:11 Jun 02, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5519.IH H5519

hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
3 

•HR 5519 IH

1 surance, banking, real estate, forestry, and agri2 culture as well as Federal, State, and local Govern3 ments. 

4 ‘‘(5) The National Academy of Sciences urged 

5 creation of a national program to improve the geo6 graphic competence of the United States general 

7 population and the school age population. 

8 ‘‘(6) Geography is defined as a ‘core academic 

9 subject’ within the No Child Left Behind Act of 

10 2001. 

11 ‘‘(7) A recent National Geographic Society sur12 vey found that all 50 States and the District of Co13 lumbia recognize geography in their curricula or con14 tent standards, and an increasing number require 

15 geography for graduation and include geography in 

16 mandated statewide assessments. 

17 ‘‘(8) Seven of 10 educators responding to a Na18 tional Geographic survey felt their professional de19 velopment opportunities in geography were inad20 equate and half believed their schools had inad21 equate basic materials for teaching geography. 

22 ‘‘(9) The National Geographic Society has 

23 spent over 15 years pioneering an extraordinarily ef24 fective national program for improving the teaching 

25 of geography by engaging university faculty 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
4 

•HR 5519 IH

1 geographers and highly trained teachers in State Ge2 ographic Alliances dedicated to providing high qual3 ity professional development opportunities for kin4 dergarten through grade 12 teachers. 

5 ‘‘(10) More than 60 colleges and universities in 

6 all 50 States have received grants from the National 

7 Geographic Society to support State Geographic Alli8 ances and their professional development programs. 

9 Alliance-trained kindergarten through grade 12 

10 teachers and their higher education partners conduct 

11 workshops, develop localized teaching materials, and 

12 facilitate communication among thousands of teach13 ers whose responsibilities include teaching of geog14 raphy in various formats and grade levels. 

15 ‘‘(11) A study by Mid-continent Research for 

16 Education and Learning that assessed student aca17 demic achievement in geography on the National As18 sessment of Educational Progress showed that stu19 dents taught by Alliance-trained teachers out20 performed other students by almost 10 percent. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 232. PURPOSES AND OBJECTIVES. 

22 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this part is to pro23 mote geographic literacy and improved understanding of 

24 global cultures among kindergarten through grade 12 stu25 dents by expanding programs that employ the geographic 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
5 

•HR 5519 IH

1 knowledge and expertise of faculty members in institutions 

2 of higher education for the benefit of kindergarten 

3 through grade 12 teachers and to otherwise advance geo4 graphic literacy. 

5 ‘‘(b) OBJECTIVES.—The objectives of this part are 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘(1) To increase students knowledge of, and 

8 achievement in, standards-based geography to enable 

9 the students to become better informed and more 

10 productive citizens. 

11 ‘‘(2) To increase the number of highly qualified 

12 teachers of United States and world geography and 

13 to enable the teachers to improve student mastery of 

14 geographic principles and practical applications of 

15 those principles. 

16 ‘‘(3) To encourage geographic education re17 search, to develop and disseminate effective instruc18 tional materials, and to promote replication of best 

19 practices and exemplary programs that foster geo20 graphic literacy. 

21 ‘‘(4) To assist States in measuring the impact 

22 of education in geography. 

23 ‘‘(5) To leverage and expand private and public 

24 support for geography education partnerships at na25 tional, State, and local levels. 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
6 

•HR 5519 IH

1 ‘‘SEC. 233. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

2 ‘‘The Secretary is authorized to award a grant to a 

3 national nonprofit educational organization or a consor4 tium of organizations (hereafter in this part referred to 

5 as the ‘grantee’) that has as its primary purpose the im6 provement of the quality of student understanding of ge7 ography through effective teaching of geography in the 

8 Nation’s classrooms. 

9 ‘‘SEC. 234. USE OF FUNDS. 

10 ‘‘(a) DIRECT ACTIVITIES.—The grantee shall use not 

11 more than 25 percent of the funds made available through 

12 the grant for a fiscal year— 

13 ‘‘(1) to strengthen and expand the grantee’s re14 lationships with institutions of higher education and 

15 with State and local educational agencies and other 

16 public and private organizations with a commitment 

17 to geography education and the benefits of geog18 raphy education; 

19 ‘‘(2) to support and promote research-based 

20 training of teachers of geography and related dis21 ciplines in kindergarten through grade 12 as a 

22 means of broadening student knowledge of the 

23 world, including the dissemination of information on 

24 effective practices and research findings concerning 

25 the teaching of geography; 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
7 

•HR 5519 IH

1 ‘‘(3) to support research on effective geography 

2 teaching practices and the development of assess3 ment instruments and strategies to document stu4 dent understanding of geography; 

5 ‘‘(4) to convene national conferences on geog6 raphy education to assess the current state of geo7 graphic literacy and to identify strategies for im8 provement; and 

9 ‘‘(5) to develop and disseminate appropriate re10 search-based materials to foster geographic literacy. 

11 ‘‘(b) SUBGRANTS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The grantee shall use not 

13 more than 75 percent of the funds made available 

14 through the grant for a fiscal year to award sub15 grants to eligible recipients. 

16 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT DEFINED.—In this 

17 part the term ‘eligible recipient’ means an institution 

18 of higher education associated with— 

19 ‘‘(A) a State geographic alliance; 

20 ‘‘(B) a nonprofit educational organization; 

21 ‘‘(C) a State educational agency or local 

22 educational agency; or 

23 ‘‘(D) a partnership between or among an 

24 alliance, organization, or agency described in 

25 subparagraph (A), (B) or (C). 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
8 

•HR 5519 IH

1 ‘‘(3) SUBGRANT USES OF FUNDS.—Eligible re2 cipients shall use the subgrant funds for 1 or more 

3 of the following purposes: 

4 ‘‘(A) Conducting teacher training pro5 grams that use effective and research-based ap6 proaches to the teaching of geography at the 

7 kindergarten through grade 12 level. 

8 ‘‘(B) Applying Geographic Information 

9 System (GIS) or other geographic technological 

10 tools to the teaching of geography. 

11 ‘‘(C) Applying Internet and other distance 

12 leaning technology to the teaching of geography 

13 or to the continuing education of teachers. 

14 ‘‘(D) Promoting rigorous academic stand15 ards and assessment techniques to guide and 

16 measure student performance in geography. 

17 ‘‘(E) Promoting research in geography 

18 education, emphasizing research that leads to 

19 improving student achievement. 

20 ‘‘(F) Carrying out local, field-based activi21 ties for teachers and students to improve their 

22 knowledge of the concepts and tools of geog23 raphy while enhancing understanding of their 

24 home region. 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
9 

•HR 5519 IH

1 ‘‘(G) Promoting comparative studies of 

2 world cultures, economies, and environments. 

3 ‘‘(H) Encouraging replication of best prac4 tices and model programs to promote geo5 graphic literacy. 

6 ‘‘(I) Developing and disseminating effec7 tive, research-based geography learning mate8 rials. 

9 ‘‘(J) Convening State-based conferences to 

10 assess the state of geographic literacy and to 

11 identify strategies for improvement. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 235. APPLICATIONS. 

13 ‘‘(a) GRANTEE APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to re14 ceive a grant under this part, the grantee shall submit 

15 to the Secretary an application at such time, in such man16 ner, and accompanied by such information as the Sec17 retary may require. 

18 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT APPLICATIONS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) SUBMISSION.—To be eligible to receive a 

20 subgrant under this part, an eligible recipient shall 

21 submit an application to the grantee at such time, 

22 in such manner and accompanied by such informa23 tion as the grantee may require. 

24 ‘‘(2) REVIEW.— 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
10 

•HR 5519 IH

1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The grantee shall in2 vite individuals described in subparagraph (B) 

3 to review all applications from eligible recipients 

4 for a subgrant under this section and to make 

5 recommendations to the grantee regarding the 

6 approval of the applications. 

7 ‘‘(B) REVIEWERS.—The individuals re8 ferred to in subparagraph (A) are the following: 

9 ‘‘(i) Leaders in the field of geography 

10 education. 

11 ‘‘(ii) Such other individuals as the 

12 grantee may determine are necessary or 

13 desirable. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 236. REQUIREMENTS. 

15 ‘‘(a) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—The grantee receiv16 ing a grant under this part for a fiscal year, and each 

17 eligible recipient receiving a subgrant under this part for 

18 a fiscal year, may use not more than 15 percent of the 

19 funds made available through the grant or subgrant, re20 spectively, for administrative costs. 

21 ‘‘(b) MATCHING REQUIREMENTS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In order to be eligible to 

23 receive a subgrant under this part an eligible recipi24 ent shall agree in the application submitted under 

25 section 235(b) to provide matching funds towards 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
11 

•HR 5519 IH

1 the costs of the activities assisted under the 

2 subgrant. 

3 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—An eligible recipient shall pro4 vide matching funds in an amount equal to 20 per5 cent of the subgrant funds received under this part 

6 for the second and each succeeding fiscal year for 

7 which subgrant payments are made. 

8 ‘‘(3) SOURCE OF MATCHING FUNDS.—Matching 

9 funds may be provided in cash or in kind, fairly 

10 evaluated, including facilities, staffing salaries, and 

11 educational materials. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 237. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

14 this part $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2007 and each of 

15 the 5 succeeding fiscal years.’’. 

Æ 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS