II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 434 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 2, 2011 

Mr. COCHRAN (for himself and Ms. MIKULSKI) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

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— 

4 (1) by redesignating part C (20 U.S.C. 1041) 

5 as part D; 

6 (2) by redesignating section 261 (20 U.S.C. 

7 1041) as section 291; and 

8 (3) by inserting after part B (20 U.S.C. 1031 

9 et seq.) the following: 

10 ‘‘PART C—GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION 

11 ‘‘SEC. 261. FINDINGS. 

12 ‘‘Congress makes the following findings: 

13 ‘‘(1) The economic stature and competitiveness 

14 of the United States requires increasingly sophisti15 cated levels of geographic knowledge and mastery of 

16 geographic tools. 

17 ‘‘(2) It is important to improve and expand ge18 ography education so that students in the United 

19 States can attain the necessary expertise to fill and 

20 retain the more than 70,000 new skilled jobs that 

21 are coming available each year in the geospatial 

22 technology industry. 

23 ‘‘(3) Data from the Department of Labor iden24 tifies geotechnology as 1 of the 3 fastest growing 

25 employment fields serving industries such as insurVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:50 Mar 03, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S434.IS S434

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1 ance, banking, real estate, forestry, and agriculture 

2 as well as Federal, State, and local governments. 

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

4 prepared citizenry in the 21st century because geo5 graphic factors assume greater importance as the 

6 world’s economies, societies, and political structures 

7 grow more global in scale. 

8 ‘‘(5) In a recent National Geographic-Roper 9 

9 country survey of geographic literacy among young 

10 adults aged 18 through 24, students in the United 

11 States ranked second to last. Only 13 percent of 

12 young adults aged 18 through 24 in the United 

13 States were able to correctly identify Iraq on a map 

14 of Asia and the Middle East. 

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

16 creation of a national program to improve the geo17 graphic competence of the United States general 

18 population and the school age population. 

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

20 subjects’ defined under the Elementary and Sec21 ondary Education Act of 1965. 

22 ‘‘(8) A recent National Geographic Society sur23 vey found that all 50 States and the District of Co24 lumbia recognize geography in their curricula or con25 tent standards, and an increasing number require 


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1 geography for graduation and include geography in 

2 mandated statewide assessments. 

3 ‘‘(9) Seven of 10 educators responding to a Na4 tional Geographic survey felt their professional de5 velopment opportunities in geography were inad6 equate and half believed their schools had inad7 equate basic materials for teaching geography. 

8 ‘‘(10) The National Geographic Society has 

9 spent more than 15 years pioneering an extraor10 dinarily effective national program for improving the 

11 teaching of geography by engaging university faculty 

12 geographers and highly trained teachers in State Ge13 ographic Alliances dedicated to providing high-qual14 ity professional development opportunities for kin15 dergarten through grade 12 teachers. 

16 ‘‘(11) More than 60 colleges and universities in 

17 all 50 States have received grants from the National 

18 Geographic Society to support State Geographic Alli19 ances and their professional development programs. 

20 Alliance-trained kindergarten through grade 12 

21 teachers and their higher education partners conduct 

22 workshops, develop localized teaching materials, and 

23 facilitate communication among thousands of teach24 ers whose responsibilities include teaching of geog25 raphy in various formats and grade levels. 


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

2 Education and Learning that assessed student aca3 demic achievement in geography on the National As4 sessment of Educational Progress showed that stu5 dents taught by Alliance-trained teachers out6 performed other students by almost 10 percent. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 262. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES. 

8 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this part is to— 

9 ‘‘(1) promote geographic literacy and improved 

10 understanding of global cultures among kindergarten 

11 through grade 12 students by expanding programs 

12 that employ the geographic knowledge and expertise 

13 of faculty members in institutions of higher edu14 cation for the benefit of kindergarten through grade 

15 12 teachers; and 

16 ‘‘(2) otherwise advance geographic literacy. 

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

18 the following: 

19 ‘‘(1) To increase students’ knowledge of, and 

20 achievement in, standards-based geography to enable 

21 the students to become better informed and more 

22 productive citizens. 

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

24 teachers of United States and world geography and 

25 to enable the teachers— 


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1 ‘‘(A) to improve student mastery of geo2 graphic principles; and 

3 ‘‘(B) to increase practical applications of 

4 those principles. 

5 ‘‘(3) To encourage geographic education re6 search, to develop and disseminate effective instruc7 tional materials, and to promote replication of best 

8 practices and exemplary programs that foster geo9 graphic literacy. 

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

11 of education in geography. 

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

13 support for geography education partnerships at na14 tional, State, and local levels. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 263. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to 

17 award a grant to a national nonprofit education organiza18 tion or a consortium of national nonprofit education orga19 nizations (referred to in this part as an ‘eligible entity’) 

20 that has as its primary purpose the improvement of the 

21 quality of student understanding of geography through ef22 fective teaching of geography in the Nation’s classrooms. 

23 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires a 

24 grant under this part shall submit an application to the 


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1 Secretary at such time, in such manner, and accompanied 

2 by such information as the Secretary may require. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 264. USE OF FUNDS. 

4 ‘‘(a) DIRECT ACTIVITIES.—An eligible entity that re5 ceives a grant under this part shall use not more than 

6 25 percent of the funds made available through the grant 

7 for a fiscal year to— 

8 ‘‘(1) strengthen and expand the eligible entity’s 

9 relationships with institutions of higher education 

10 and with State and local agencies and other public 

11 and private organizations with a commitment to ge12 ography education and the benefits of geography 

13 education; 

14 ‘‘(2) support and promote research-based train15 ing of teachers of geography and related disciplines 

16 in kindergarten through grade 12 as a means of 

17 broadening student knowledge of the world, includ18 ing the dissemination of information on effective 

19 practices and research findings concerning the 

20 teaching of geography; 

21 ‘‘(3) support research on effective geography 

22 teaching practices and the development of assess23 ment instruments and strategies to document stu24 dent understanding of geography; 


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1 ‘‘(4) convene national conferences on geography 

2 education to assess the current State of geographic 

3 literacy and to identify strategies for improvement; 

4 and 

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

7 ‘‘(b) SUBGRANTS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re9 ceives a grant under this part shall use not more 

10 than 75 percent of the funds made available through 

11 the grant for a fiscal year to award subgrants to eli12 gible recipients. 

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

14 part, the term ‘eligible recipient’ means an institu15 tion of higher education associated with— 

16 ‘‘(A) a State geographic alliance; 

17 ‘‘(B) a nonprofit educational organization; 

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

19 educational agency; or 

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

21 alliance, organization, or agency described in 

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

23 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT APPLICATIONS.— 

24 ‘‘(A) SUBMISSION.—An eligible recipient 

25 that desires to receive a subgrant under this 


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1 part shall submit an application to the eligible 

2 entity at such time, in such manner, and ac3 companied by such information as the eligible 

4 entity may require. 

5 ‘‘(B) REVIEW.— 

6 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The eligible entity 

7 shall invite individuals described in clause 

8 (ii) to review all applications from eligible 

9 recipients for a subgrant under this part 

10 and to make recommendations to the eligi11 ble entity regarding the approval of the ap12 plications. 

13 ‘‘(ii) REVIEWERS.—The individuals 

14 the eligible entity shall invite to review ap15 plications are the following: 

16 ‘‘(I) Leaders in the field of geog17 raphy education. 

18 ‘‘(II) Such other individuals as 

19 the eligible entity may determine are 

20 necessary or desirable. 

21 ‘‘(4) SUBGRANT USES OF FUNDS.—An eligible 

22 recipient that receives a subgrant under this part 

23 shall use the subgrant funds for 1 or more of the 

24 following activities: 


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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 ‘‘(5) MATCHING REQUIREMENTS.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In order to be eligible 

12 to receive a subgrant under this part, an eligi13 ble recipient shall provide assurances in the ap14 plication submitted under paragraph (3) to pro15 vide matching funds as described in subpara16 graph (B) towards the costs of the activities as17 sisted under the subgrant. 

18 ‘‘(B) AMOUNT.—An eligible recipient shall 

19 provide matching funds in an amount equal to 

20 20 percent of the subgrant funds received under 

21 this part for the second and each succeeding 

22 fiscal year for which subgrant funds are re23 ceived. 

24 ‘‘(C) SOURCE OF MATCHING FUNDS.— 

25 Matching funds may be provided in cash or in 


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1 kind, fairly evaluated, including facilities, staff2 ing salaries, and educational materials. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 265. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS. 

4 ‘‘An eligible entity that receives a grant under this 

5 part for a fiscal year, and each eligible recipient receiving 

6 a subgrant under this part for a fiscal year, may use not 

7 more than 15 percent of the funds made available through 

8 the grant or subgrant, respectively, for administrative 

9 costs. 

10 ‘‘SEC. 266. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

12 this part $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2012 and each of 

13 the 4 succeeding fiscal years.’’. 

Æ 


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