I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 822 

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 

FEBRUARY 26, 2013 

Mr. VAN HOLLEN (for himself, Mr. PETRI, and Mr. WALZ) 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’’. 


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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 D—GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION 

6 ‘‘SEC. 271. FINDINGS. 

7 ‘‘Congress makes the following findings: 

8 ‘‘(1) The economic stature and competitiveness 

9 of the United States requires increasingly sophisti10 cated levels of geographic knowledge and mastery of 

11 geographic tools. 

12 ‘‘(2) It is estimated that the United States 

13 geospatial industry generated $73,000,000,000 in 

14 revenue last year, with half a million high-wage jobs, 

15 and that the industry is growing at between 25-30 

16 percent per year. This burgeoning industry will not 

17 be able to maximize its growth potential without a 

18 sustained Federal investment in geography edu19 cation. 

20 ‘‘(3) A 2012 report by a Council on Foreign 

21 Relations task force, United States Education Re22 form and National Security, states that the lack of 

23 global awareness among American citizens increas24 ingly jeopardizes their ability to interact with local 

25 and global peers or participate meaningfully in busi26 ness, diplomatic, and military situations. 


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1 ‘‘(4) Geographic literacy is essential to a well 

2 prepared citizenry in the 21st century because geo3 graphic factors assume greater importance as the 

4 world’s economies, societies, and political structures 

5 grow more global in scale. 

6 ‘‘(5) The 2010 National Assessment of Edu7 cational Progress in geography shows that fewer 

8 than 30 percent of students tested in grades four, 

9 eight, and twelve scored at grade-level or above. 

10 These scores have stayed the same or gotten worse 

11 since the last time the test was administered in 

12 2001. 

13 ‘‘(6) The National Academy of Sciences urged 

14 creation of a national program to improve the geo15 graphic competence of the United States general 

16 population and the school age population. 

17 ‘‘(7) Geography is one of the ‘core academic 

18 subjects’ defined under the Elementary and Sec19 ondary Education Act. 

20 ‘‘(8) A recent National Geographic Society sur21 vey found that all 50 States and the District of Co22 lumbia recognize geography in their curricula or con23 tent standards, and an increasing number require 

24 geography for graduation and include geography in 

25 mandated statewide assessments. 


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1 ‘‘(9) Seven of ten educators responding to a 

2 National Geographic survey felt their professional 

3 development opportunities in geography were inad4 equate and half believed their schools had inad5 equate basic materials for teaching geography. 

6 ‘‘(10) The National Geographic Society has 

7 spent more than 25 years pioneering an extraor8 dinarily effective national program for improving the 

9 teaching of geography by engaging university fac10 ulty, geographers, and highly trained teachers in 

11 State Geographic Alliances dedicated to providing 

12 high-quality professional development opportunities 

13 for kindergarten through grade 12 teachers. 

14 ‘‘(11) More than 80 colleges and universities in 

15 all 50 States have received grants from the National 

16 Geographic Society to support State Geographic Alli17 ances and their professional development programs. 

18 Alliance-trained kindergarten through grade 12 

19 teachers and their higher education partners conduct 

20 workshops, develop localized teaching materials, and 

21 facilitate communication among thousands of teach22 ers whose responsibilities include teaching of geog23 raphy in various formats and grade levels. 

24 ‘‘(12) A study by Mid-continent Research for 

25 Education and Learning that assessed student acaVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:51 Mar 01, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H822.IH H822

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1 demic achievement in geography on the National As2 sessment of Educational Progress showed that stu3 dents taught by Alliance-trained teachers out-per4 formed other students by almost 10 percent. 

5 ‘‘(13) We live in a changing world with multiple 

6 and evolving threats to national security, including 

7 terrorism, asymmetrical warfare, and social unrest. 

8 As the nature of the threat evolves, so do the tools, 

9 knowledge, and skills needed to respond. A 2013 

10 National Academies report states that it is likely 

11 that qualified Geography Information Systems and 

12 remote sensing experts are already hard to find. 

13 Long before 2030, competition and a small number 

14 of graduates will likely result in shortages in all 

15 emerging areas and in the core areas of cartography, 

16 photogammetry, and geodesy. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 272. PURPOSES AND OBJECTIVES. 

18 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this part is to pro19 mote geographic literacy and improved understanding of 

20 global cultures among kindergarten through grade 12 stu21 dents by expanding programs that employ the geographic 

22 knowledge and expertise of faculty members in institutions 

23 of higher education for the benefit of kindergarten 

24 through grade 12 teachers and to otherwise advance geo25 graphic literacy. 


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

2 the following: 

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

4 achievement in, standards-based geography to enable 

5 the students to become better informed and more 

6 productive citizens. 

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

8 teachers of United States and world geography and 

9 to enable the teachers to improve student mastery of 

10 geographic principles and practical applications of 

11 those principles. 

12 ‘‘(3) To encourage geographic education re13 search, to develop and disseminate effective instruc14 tional materials, and to promote replication of best 

15 practices and exemplary programs that foster geo16 graphic literacy. 

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

18 of education in geography. 

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

20 support for geography education partnerships at na21 tional, State, and local levels. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 273. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

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

24 national nonprofit educational organization or a consor25 tium of organizations (hereafter in this part referred to 


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1 as the ‘grantee’) that has as its primary purpose the im2 provement of the quality of student understanding of ge3 ography through effective teaching of geography in the 

4 Nation’s classrooms. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 274. USE OF FUNDS. 

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

7 more than 25 percent of the funds made available through 

8 the grant for a fiscal year— 

9 ‘‘(1) to strengthen and expand the grantee’s re10 lationships with institutions of higher education and 

11 with State educational agencies and local educational 

12 agencies and other public and private organizations 

13 with a commitment to geography education and the 

14 benefits of geography education; 

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

16 training of teachers of geography and related dis17 ciplines in kindergarten through grade 12 as a 

18 means of broadening student knowledge of the 

19 world, including the dissemination of information on 

20 effective practices and research findings concerning 

21 the teaching of geography; 

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

23 teaching practices and the development of assess24 ment instruments and strategies to document stu25 dent understanding of geography; 


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1 ‘‘(4) to convene national conferences on geog2 raphy education to assess the current state of geo3 graphic literacy and to identify strategies for im4 provement; and 

5 ‘‘(5) to develop and disseminate appropriate re6 search-based materials to foster geographic literacy. 

7 ‘‘(b) SUBGRANTS.— 

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

9 more than 75 percent of the funds made available 

10 through the grant for a fiscal year to award sub11 grants to eligible recipients. 

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

13 part the term ‘eligible recipient’ means an institution 

14 of higher education associated with— 

15 ‘‘(A) a State geographic alliance; 

16 ‘‘(B) a nonprofit educational organization; 

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

18 educational agency; or 

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

20 alliance, organization, or agency described in 

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

22 ‘‘(3) SUBGRANT USES OF FUNDS.—Eligible re23 cipients shall use the subgrant funds for 1 or more 

24 of the following purposes: 


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1 ‘‘(A) Conducting teacher training pro2 grams that use effective and research-based ap3 proaches to the teaching of geography at the 

4 kindergarten through grade 12 level. 

5 ‘‘(B) Applying Geographic Information 

6 System (GIS) or other geographic technological 

7 tools to the teaching of geography. 

8 ‘‘(C) Applying Internet and other distance 

9 learning technology to the teaching of geog10 raphy or to the continuing education of teach11 ers. 

12 ‘‘(D) Promoting rigorous academic stand13 ards and assessment techniques to guide and 

14 measure student performance in geography. 

15 ‘‘(E) Promoting research in geography 

16 education, emphasizing research that leads to 

17 improving student achievement. 

18 ‘‘(F) Carrying out local, field-based activi19 ties for teachers and students to improve their 

20 knowledge of the concepts and tools of geog21 raphy while enhancing understanding of their 

22 home region. 

23 ‘‘(G) Promoting comparative studies of 

24 world cultures, economies, and environments. 


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1 ‘‘(H) Encouraging replication of best prac2 tices and model programs to promote geo3 graphic literacy. 

4 ‘‘(I) Developing and disseminating effec5 tive, research-based geography learning mate6 rials. 

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

8 assess the state of geographic literacy and to 

9 identify strategies for improvement. 

10 ‘‘SEC. 275. APPLICATIONS. 

11 ‘‘(a) GRANTEE APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to re12 ceive a grant under this part, a grantee shall submit to 

13 the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, 

14 and accompanied by such information as the Secretary 

15 may require. 

16 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT APPLICATIONS.— 

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

18 subgrant under this part, an eligible recipient shall 

19 submit an application to a grantee at such time, in 

20 such manner and accompanied by such information 

21 as the grantee may require. 

22 ‘‘(2) REVIEW.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A grantee shall invite 

24 individuals described in subparagraph (B) to re25 view all applications from eligible recipients for 


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1 a subgrant under this section and to make rec2 ommendations to the grantee regarding the ap3 proval of the applications. 

4 ‘‘(B) REVIEWERS.—The individuals re5 ferred to in subparagraph (A) are the following: 

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

7 education. 

8 ‘‘(ii) Such other individuals as the 

9 grantee may determine are necessary or 

10 desirable. 

11 ‘‘SEC. 276. REQUIREMENTS. 

12 ‘‘(a) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—A grantee receiving 

13 a grant under this part for a fiscal year, and each eligible 

14 recipient receiving a subgrant under this part for a fiscal 

15 year, may use not more than 15 percent of the funds made 

16 available through the grant or subgrant, respectively, for 

17 administrative costs. 

18 ‘‘(b) MATCHING REQUIREMENTS.— 

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

20 receive a subgrant under this part an eligible recipi21 ent shall agree in the application submitted under 

22 section 275(b) to provide matching funds towards 

23 the costs of the activities assisted under the 

24 subgrant. 


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1 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—An eligible recipient shall pro2 vide matching funds in an amount equal to 20 per3 cent of the subgrant funds received under this part 

4 for the second and each succeeding fiscal year for 

5 which subgrant payments are made. 

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

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

8 evaluated, including facilities, staffing salaries, and 

9 educational materials. 

10 ‘‘SEC. 277. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

12 this part $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2014 and each of 

13 the 4 succeeding fiscal years.’’. 

Æ 


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