I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1282 

To provide for Project GRAD programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 14, 2005 

Mrs. MCCARTHY (for herself and Ms. PRYCE of Ohio) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To provide for Project GRAD programs, 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 ‘‘Graduation Really 

5 Achieves Dreams Act’’ or the ‘‘GRAD Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The national secondary school graduation 

9 rate is only 70 percent. For the class of 2001, the 

10 national graduation rate was only 51 percent for Af-
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1 rican-American students and 52 percent for Latino 

2 students. 

3 (2) In our nation’s high poverty urban districts, 

4 as few as one-third of students graduate from sec5 ondary school. In these places, completion rates 

6 among certain disadvantaged groups of students are 

7 often lower still. 

8 (3) In rural areas, where one-third of American 

9 students attend school, only 58.8 percent of students 

10 attend institutions of higher education, compared 

11 with 68.2 percent of American students from urban 

12 and suburban areas. 

13 (4) Each school day, approximately 3,000 sec14 ondary school students drop out of school. 

15 (5) The 6,000,000 secondary students who 

16 make up the lowest 25 percent in terms of achieve17 ment scores are 3.5 times more likely to drop out 

18 than students in the next highest quarter of aca19 demic achievement, and are 20 times more likely to 

20 drop out than high achieving students. 

21 (6) Approximately 25 percent of secondary 

22 school students are reading at ‘‘below basic’’ levels. 

23 The problem is even more severe for poor students 

24 of color. The average minority or low-income ninth 
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1 grader performs at only the fifth or sixth grade level 

2 in reading. 

3 (7) Achievement gaps persist across racial and 

4 socioeconomic lines in rural schools—there are 

5 2,500,000 poor children in rural areas, and the child 

6 poverty rate in some rural areas is 2 to 3 times the 

7 national average. 

8 (8) Recruiting and retaining good teachers is 

9 an enormous challenge in rural areas: the average 

10 salary in rural districts is 13.4 percent lower than 

11 in nonrural areas; and teachers often teach more 

12 than 1 subject, teach in poor working conditions, live 

13 far from colleges, have little access to training, and 

14 face geographic and social isolation. 

15 (9) Low graduation rates and college attend16 ance rates are evidence that, in the earlier grades, 

17 schools are not meeting the fundamental achieve18 ment needs of low-income, minority, and rural stu19 dents. 

20 (10) Even those students who do graduate from 

21 secondary schools and go on to college are struggling 

22 because they lack the basic skills to succeed. Ap23 proximately 40 percent of all 4-year college students 

24 take a remedial course and 63 percent of all commu-
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1 nity college students are assigned to at least 1 reme2 dial course. 

3 (11) A small percentage of low-income students 

4 who manage to enter college are able to complete a 

5 degree. Of students from families in the bottom 20 

6 percent in terms of income who enter college, only 

7 27 percent go on to complete a 2- or 4-year college 

8 degree within 8 years. 

9 (12) Graduation rates impact early drop-out 

10 rates in the military. The attrition rates in the mili11 tary of both individuals who are not secondary 

12 school graduates and GED recipients are 8 percent13 age points higher than the attrition rate of sec14 ondary school graduates. As a result, the Armed 

15 Services no longer accepts secondary school dropouts 

16 and puts less value on alternative certificates. 

17 (13) Students who fail to graduate from sec18 ondary school are more likely to engage in criminal 

19 activity than students who graduate. A 1-percent in20 crease in secondary school graduation rates would 

21 save approximately $1,400,000,000 in costs associ22 ated with incarceration, or about $2,100 for each 

23 male secondary school graduate. 

24 (14) In today’s workplace, nearly 8 in 10 adults 

25 with baccalaureate degrees are employed, but for 
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1 those who completed secondary school only, the 

2 number falls to about 6 in 10. And for students who 

3 dropped out of secondary school, the number drops 

4 further to 4 in 10. 

5 (15) Employment projections indicate that jobs 

6 requiring only a secondary school degree will grow 

7 by just 9 percent by the year 2008, while those jobs 

8 requiring a bachelor’s degree will grow by 25 percent 

9 and those jobs requiring an associate’s degree will 

10 grow by 31 percent. 

11 (16) Personalization of the school environment 

12 has been proven to increase success rates for low13 performing secondary school students. Nearly 50 

14 percent of middle school youth and 40 percent of 

15 secondary school youth report feelings of disengage16 ment from school. Rates are even higher for teens 

17 and minorities in urban schools. These feelings re18 sult in failure to work hard, to seek assistance, or 

19 to take appropriate courses. 

20 (17) Effective research-based education pro21 grams that improve secondary school graduation 

22 rates are comprehensive in nature and include inter23 ventions that begin in kindergarten or earlier and 

24 span all the grades through grade 12. 
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1 SEC. 3. PROJECT GRAD. 

2 (a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 

3 (1) to provide support and assistance to pro4 grams implementing integrated education reform 

5 services in order to improve secondary school grad6 uation and college attendance and completion rates 

7 for disadvantaged students; and 

8 (2) to promote the establishment of new pro9 grams to implement such integrated education re10 form services. 

11 (b) GRANT AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary is author12 ized to award a grant to Project GRAD USA (referred 

13 to in this Act as the ‘‘grantee’’), a nonprofit educational 

14 organization that has as its primary purpose the improve15 ment of secondary school graduation and college attend16 ance and completion rates for disadvantaged students, to 

17 implement and sustain the integrated education reform 

18 services described in subsection (d)(3) at existing Project 

19 GRAD program sites and to promote the expansion of 

20 such programs to new sites. 

21 (c) REQUIREMENTS OF GRANT AGREEMENT.—The 

22 Secretary shall enter into an agreement with the grantee 

23 that requires that the grantee shall— 

24 (1) enter into subcontracts with nonprofit edu25 cational organizations that serve a substantial num26 ber or percentage of low-income students (referred 
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1 to in this Act as ‘‘subcontractors’’), under which the 

2 subcontractors agree to implement the programs de3 scribed in subsection (d) and provide matching funds 

4 for such programs; 

5 (2) directly carry out— 

6 (A) activities to implement and sustain the 

7 literacy, mathematics, classroom management, 

8 social service, and college access programs fur9 ther described in subsection (d)(3); 

10 (B) activities to build the organizational 

11 and management capacity of the subcontractors 

12 to effectively implement and sustain the pro13 grams; 

14 (C) activities for the purpose of improving 

15 and expanding the programs, including but not 

16 limited to activities to further articulate a pro17 gram for one or more grade levels and across 

18 grade levels, to tailor a program for a particular 

19 target audience, and provide tighter integration 

20 across programs; 

21 (D) activities for the purpose of imple22 menting new Project GRAD program sites; 

23 (E) activities for the purpose of promoting 

24 greater public awareness of integrated edu25 cation reform services to improve secondary 
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1 school graduation and college attendance rates 

2 for disadvantaged students; and 

3 (F) other activities directly related to im4 proving secondary school graduation and college 

5 attendance and completion rates for disadvan6 taged students; and 

7 (3) use grant funds available under this act to 

8 pay— 

9 (A) the amount determined under sub10 section (f)(1); and 

11 (B) costs associated with carrying out the 

12 activities and providing the services, as provided 

13 in paragraph (2) of this subsection. 

14 (d) SUPPORTED PROGRAMS.— 

15 (1) DESIGNATION.—The subcontractor pro16 grams referred to in subsection (c)(1) shall be 

17 known as ‘‘Project GRAD programs’’. 

18 (2) FEEDER PATTERNS.—Each subcontractor 

19 shall implement a Project GRAD program and shall, 

20 with the agreement of the grantee— 

21 (A) identify or establish not less than one 

22 ‘‘feeder pattern’’ of public schools, where ‘‘feed23 er pattern’’ is defined as a high school and the 

24 elementary schools and middle schools that 

25 channel students into that high school; and 
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1 (B) provide the integrated educational re2 form services described in paragraph (3) at the 

3 identified feeder pattern or feeder patterns. 

4 (3) INTEGRATED EDUCATION REFORM SERV5 ICES.—The services provided through a Project 

6 GRAD program may include— 

7 (A) research-based programs in reading, 

8 mathematics, and classroom management; and 

9 (B) campus-based social services programs, 

10 including a systematic approach to increase 

11 family and community involvement in the 

12 schools served by the Project GRAD program; 

13 (C) a college access program that in14 cludes— 

15 (i) providing college scholarships for 

16 students who meet established criteria; 

17 (ii) proven approaches for increasing 

18 student and family college awareness; and 

19 (iii) assistance for such students in 

20 applying for higher education financial aid; 

21 and 

22 (D) such other services identified by the 

23 grantee as necessary to increase secondary 

24 school graduation and college attendance and 

25 completion rates. 
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1 (e) USE OF FUNDS.—Of the funds made available 

2 under this Act, not more than 8 percent of such funds, 

3 or $4,000,000, whichever is less, shall be used by the 

4 grantee to pay for administration of the grant, with the 

5 remainder of funds to be used for the purposes described 

6 in subsections (c)(1) and (2). 

7 (f) GRANTEE CONTRIBUTION AND MATCHING RE8 QUIREMENT.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The grantee shall provide to 

10 each subcontractor an average of $200 for each 

11 pupil served by the subcontractor in the Project 

12 GRAD program, adjusted to take into consider13 ation— 

14 (A) the resources available in the area 

15 where the subcontractor will implement the 

16 Project GRAD program; and 

17 (B) the need for Project GRAD programs 

18 in such area to improve student outcomes. 

19 (2) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—Each subcon20 tractor shall provide funds for the Project GRAD 

21 program in an amount that is equal to the amount 

22 received by the subcontractor from the grantee. 

23 Such matching funds may be provided in cash or in 

24 kind fairly evaluated. 
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1 (3) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The grantee may 

2 waive, in whole or in part, the requirement of sub3 section (f)(2) for a subcontractor, if the subcon4 tractor— 

5 (A) demonstrates that it would not other6 wise be able to participate in the program; and 

7 (B) enters into an agreement with the 

8 grantee with respect to the amount to which the 

9 waiver will apply. 

10 (4) DECREASE IN GRANTEE SHARE.—Based on 

11 the funds or resources available to a subcontractor, 

12 the grantee may elect to provide the subcontractor 

13 with an amount that is less than the amount deter14 mined under paragraph (1). 

15 (g) EVALUATION.— 

16 (1) EVALUATION BY THE SECRETARY.—The 

17 Secretary shall select an independent entity to evalu18 ate, every 3 years, the performance of students who 

19 participate in a Project GRAD program under this 

20 Act. The evaluation shall— 

21 (A) be conducted using the strongest pos22 sible research design for determining the effec23 tiveness of the Project GRAD programs funded 

24 under this Act; and 
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1 (B) compare reading and mathematics 

2 achievement and, where applicable, the sec3 ondary school graduation, college attendance, 

4 and college completion rates of students who 

5 participate in a Project GRAD program funded 

6 under this Act with those indicators for stu7 dents of similar backgrounds who do not par8 ticipate in such programs. 

9 (2) EVALUATION BY GRANTEE AND SUB10 CONTRACTORS.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The grantee shall re12 quire each subcontractor to prepare an in-depth 

13 report of the results and the use of funds of 

14 each Project GRAD program funded under this 

15 Act that includes— 

16 (i) data on the reading and mathe17 matics achievement of students involved in 

18 the Project GRAD program; 

19 (ii) statistics on secondary school 

20 graduation, college attendance, and college 

21 completion rates; and 

22 (iii) such financial reporting as re23 quired by the Secretary to review the effec24 tiveness and efficiency of the program. 
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1 (B) FORM OF REPORT.—The report shall 

2 be in a form and include such content as shall 

3 be determined by the grantee, in consultation 

4 with the Secretary or the entity selected by the 

5 Secretary to evaluate the Project GRAD pro6 grams in accordance with paragraph (1). 

7 (3) AVAILABILITY OF EVALUATIONS.—Copies of 

8 any evaluation or report prepared under this sub9 section shall be made available to— 

10 (A) the Secretary; 

11 (B) the chairperson and ranking member 

12 of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

13 and Pensions of the Senate; and 

14 (C) the chairperson and ranking member 

15 of the Committee on Education and the Work16 force of the House of Representatives. 

17 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

18 In this Act: 

19 (1) ELEMENTARY SCHOOL; SECONDARY

20 SCHOOL.—The terms ‘‘elementary school’’ and ‘‘sec21 ondary school’’ have the meanings given such terms 

22 in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary 

23 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

24 (2) LOW-INCOME STUDENT.—The term ‘‘low-in25 come student’’ means a student who is determined 
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1 by a local educational agency to be from a low-in2 come family using the measures described in section 

3 1113(a)(5) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu4 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6313(a)(5)). 

5 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

6 the Secretary of Education. 

7 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

8 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

9 this Act $27,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, and such sums 

10 as are necessary for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years. 

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