II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 844 

To provide incentives for States and local educational agencies to implement 

comprehensive reforms and innovative strategies that are designed to 

lead to significant improvement in outcomes for all students and significant reductions in achievement gaps among subgroups of students, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 14, 2011 

Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself and Mr. BENNET) introduced the following bill; 

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

A BILL 

To provide incentives for States and local educational agencies to implement comprehensive reforms and innovative 

strategies that are designed to lead to significant improvement in outcomes for all students and significant 

reductions in achievement gaps among subgroups of students, 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 ‘‘Race to the Top Act 

5 of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. RACE TO THE TOP. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VI of the Elementary and 

3 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7301 et 

4 seq.) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating part C as part D; 

6 (2) by redesignating sections 6301 and 6302 as 

7 sections 6401 and 6402, respectively; and 

8 (3) by inserting after part B the following: 

9 ‘‘PART C—RACE TO THE TOP 

10 ‘‘SEC. 6301. PURPOSES. 

11 ‘‘The purposes of this part are to— 

12 ‘‘(1) provide incentives for States and local edu13 cational agencies to implement comprehensive re14 forms and innovative strategies that are designed to 

15 lead to— 

16 ‘‘(A) significant improvements in outcomes 

17 for all students, including improvements in stu18 dent achievement, secondary school graduation 

19 rates, postsecondary education enrollment rates, 

20 and rates of postsecondary education persist21 ence; and 

22 ‘‘(B) significant reductions in achievement 

23 gaps among subgroups of students; and 

24 ‘‘(2) encourage the broad identification, adop25 tion, use, dissemination, replication, and expansion 

26 of effective State and local policies and practices 


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1 that lead to significant improvement in outcomes for 

2 all students, and the elimination of those policies 

3 and practices that are not effective in improving stu4 dent outcomes. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 6302. RESERVATION OF FUNDS. 

6 ‘‘(a) RESERVATION.—From the amount made avail7 able to carry out this part for a fiscal year, the Secretary 

8 may reserve not more than 10 percent of such amount 

9 to carry out activities related to— 

10 ‘‘(1) technical assistance; 

11 ‘‘(2) outreach and dissemination; and 

12 ‘‘(3) prize awards made in accordance with sec13 tion 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innova14 tion Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719). 

15 ‘‘(b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Notwithstanding 

16 any other provision of law, funds for prize awards under 

17 subsection (a)(3) shall remain available until expended. 

18 ‘‘SEC. 6303. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts made avail20 able under section 6308 for a fiscal year and not reserved 

21 under section 6302, the Secretary shall award grants, on 

22 a competitive basis, to States or local educational agencies, 

23 or both, in accordance with section 6304(b), to enable the 

24 States or local educational agencies to carry out the pur25 poses of this part. 


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1 ‘‘(b) GRANT AND SUBGRANT ELIGIBILITY LIMITA2 TIONS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) ARRA STATE INCENTIVE GRANTS.—A 

4 State that has received a grant under section 14006 

5 of division A of the American Recovery and Rein6 vestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5; 123 Stat. 

7 283) may not receive a grant under this part during 

8 the period of its grant under such section. 

9 ‘‘(2) NUMBER OF GRANTS.—A State or local 

10 educational agency may not receive more than 1 

11 grant under this part per grant period. 

12 ‘‘(3) NUMBER OF SUBGRANTS.—A local edu13 cational agency may receive 1 grant and 1 subgrant 

14 under this part for the same fiscal year. 

15 ‘‘(c) DURATION OF GRANTS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A grant under this part 

17 shall be awarded for a period of not more than 4 

18 years. 

19 ‘‘(2) CONTINUATION OF GRANTS.—A State or 

20 local educational agency that is awarded a grant 

21 under this part shall not receive grant funds under 

22 this part for the second or any subsequent year of 

23 the grant unless the State or local educational agen24 cy demonstrates to the Secretary, at such time and 

25 in such manner as determined by the Secretary, that 


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1 the State or local educational agency, respectively, 

2 is— 

3 ‘‘(A) making progress in implementing the 

4 plan under section 6304(a)(3) at a rate that the 

5 Secretary determines will result in the State or 

6 agency fully implementing such plan during the 

7 remainder of the grant period; or 

8 ‘‘(B) making progress against the perform9 ance measures set forth in section 6305 at a 

10 rate that the Secretary determines will result in 

11 the State or agency reaching its targets and 

12 achieving the objectives of the grant during the 

13 remainder of the grant period. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 6304. APPLICATIONS. 

15 ‘‘(a) APPLICATIONS.—Each State or local educational 

16 agency that desires to receive a grant under this part shall 

17 submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in 

18 such manner, and containing such information as the Sec19 retary may reasonably require. At a minimum, each such 

20 application shall include— 

21 ‘‘(1) documentation of the applicant’s record, as 

22 applicable— 

23 ‘‘(A) in increasing student achievement, in24 cluding for all subgroups described in section 

25 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II); 


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1 ‘‘(B) in decreasing achievement gaps, in2 cluding for all subgroups described in section 

3 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II); 

4 ‘‘(C) in increasing secondary school grad5 uation rates, including for all subgroups de6 scribed in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II); 

7 ‘‘(D) in increasing postsecondary education 

8 enrollment and persistence rates, including for 

9 all subgroups described in section 

10 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II); and 

11 ‘‘(E) with respect to any other perform12 ance measure described in section 6305 that is 

13 not included in subparagraphs (A) through (D); 

14 ‘‘(2) evidence of conditions of innovation and 

15 reform that the applicant has established and the 

16 applicant’s proposed plan for implementing addi17 tional conditions for innovation and reform, includ18 ing— 

19 ‘‘(A) a description of how the applicant has 

20 identified and eliminated ineffective practices in 

21 the past and the applicant’s plan for doing so 

22 in the future; 

23 ‘‘(B) a description of how the applicant 

24 has identified and promoted effective practices 


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1 in the past and the applicant’s plan for doing 

2 so in the future; and 

3 ‘‘(C) steps the applicant has taken and will 

4 take to eliminate statutory, regulatory, proce5 dural, or other barriers and to facilitate the full 

6 implementation of the proposed plan under this 

7 paragraph; 

8 ‘‘(3) a comprehensive and coherent plan for 

9 using funds under this part, and other Federal, 

10 State, and local funds, to improve the applicant’s 

11 performance on the measures described in section 

12 6305, consistent with criteria set forth by the Sec13 retary, including how the applicant will, if applica14 ble— 

15 ‘‘(A) improve the effectiveness of teachers 

16 and school leaders, and promote equity in the 

17 distribution of effective teachers and school 

18 leaders, in order to ensure that low-income and 

19 minority children are not taught by ineffective 

20 teachers, and are not in schools led by ineffec21 tive leaders, at higher rates than other children; 

22 ‘‘(B) strengthen the use of high-quality 

23 and timely data to improve instructional prac24 tices, policies, and student outcomes, including 

25 teacher evaluations; 


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1 ‘‘(C) implement internationally bench2 marked, college- and career-ready elementary 

3 and secondary academic standards, including in 

4 the areas of assessment, instructional materials, 

5 professional development, and strategies that 

6 translate the standards into classroom practice; 

7 ‘‘(D) turn around the persistently lowest8 achieving elementary schools and secondary 

9 schools served by the applicant; 

10 ‘‘(E) support or coordinate with early 

11 learning programs for high-need children from 

12 birth through grade 3 to improve school readi13 ness and ensure that students complete grade 3 

14 on track for school success; and 

15 ‘‘(F) create or maintain successful condi16 tions for high-performing charter schools and 

17 other innovative, autonomous public schools; 

18 ‘‘(4)(A) in the case of an applicant that is a 

19 State— 

20 ‘‘(i) evidence of collaboration between the 

21 State, its local educational agencies, schools (as 

22 appropriate), parents, teachers, and other 

23 stakeholders, in developing the plan described 

24 in paragraph (3), including evidence of the comVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:26 Apr 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S844.IS S844

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1 mitment and capacity to implement the plan; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(ii)(I) the names of the local educational 

4 agencies the State has selected to participate in 

5 carrying out the plan; or 

6 ‘‘(II) a description of how the State will se7 lect local educational agencies to participate in 

8 carrying out the plan; or 

9 ‘‘(B) in the case of an applicant that is a 

10 local educational agency, evidence of collabora11 tion between the local educational agency, 

12 schools, parents, teachers, and other stake13 holders, in developing the plan described in 

14 paragraph (3), including evidence of the com15 mitment and capacity to implement the plan; 

16 ‘‘(5) the applicant’s annual performance meas17 ures and targets, consistent with the requirements of 

18 section 6305; and 

19 ‘‘(6) a description of the applicant’s plan to 

20 conduct a rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of 

21 activities carried out with funds under this part. 

22 ‘‘(b) CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING APPLICATIONS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) AWARD BASIS.—The Secretary shall award 

24 grants under this part on a competitive basis, based 


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1 on the quality of the applications submitted under 

2 subsection (a), including— 

3 ‘‘(A) each applicant’s record in the areas 

4 described in subsection (a)(1); 

5 ‘‘(B) each applicant’s record of, and com6 mitment to, establishing conditions for innova7 tion and reform, as described in subsection 

8 (a)(2); 

9 ‘‘(C) the quality and likelihood of success 

10 of each applicant’s plan described in subsection 

11 (a)(3) in showing improvement in the areas de12 scribed in subsection (a)(1), including each ap13 plicant’s capacity to implement the plan and 

14 evidence of collaboration as described in sub15 section (a)(4); and 

16 ‘‘(D) each applicant’s evaluation plan as 

17 described in subsection (a)(6). 

18 ‘‘(2) EXPLANATION.—The Secretary shall pub19 lish an explanation of how the application review 

20 process under this section will ensure an equitable 

21 and objective evaluation based on the criteria de22 scribed in paragraph (1). 

23 ‘‘(c) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants to local edu24 cational agencies under this part, the Secretary shall give 

25 priority to— 


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1 ‘‘(1) local educational agencies with the highest 

2 numbers or percentages of children from families 

3 with incomes below the poverty line; and 

4 ‘‘(2) local educational agencies that serve 

5 schools designated with a school locale code of 41, 

6 42, or 43. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 6305. PERFORMANCE MEASURES. 

8 ‘‘Each State and each local educational agency receiv9 ing a grant under this part shall establish performance 

10 measures and targets, approved by the Secretary, for the 

11 programs and activities carried out under this part. These 

12 measures shall, at a minimum, track the State’s or local 

13 educational agency’s progress in— 

14 ‘‘(1) implementing its plan described in section 

15 6304(a)(3); and 

16 ‘‘(2) improving outcomes for all subgroups de17 scribed in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II) including, as 

18 applicable, by— 

19 ‘‘(A) increasing student achievement; 

20 ‘‘(B) decreasing achievement gaps; 

21 ‘‘(C) increasing secondary school gradua22 tion rates; 

23 ‘‘(D) increasing postsecondary education 

24 enrollment and persistence rates; 


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1 ‘‘(E)(i) improving the effectiveness of 

2 teachers and school leaders and increasing the 

3 retention of effective teachers and school lead4 ers; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) promoting equity in the distribution 

6 of effective teachers and school leaders in order 

7 to ensure that low-income and minority children 

8 are not taught by ineffective teachers, and are 

9 not in schools led by ineffective leaders, at high10 er rates than other children; and 

11 ‘‘(F) making progress on any other meas12 ures identified by the Secretary. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 6306. USES OF FUNDS. 

14 ‘‘(a) GRANTS TO STATES.—Each State that receives 

15 a grant under this part shall use— 

16 ‘‘(1) not less than 50 percent of the grant 

17 funds to make subgrants to the local educational 

18 agencies in the State that participate in the State’s 

19 plan under section 6304(a)(3), based on such local 

20 educational agencies’ relative shares of funds under 

21 part A of title I for the most recent year for which 

22 those data are available; and 

23 ‘‘(2) not more than 50 percent of the grant 

24 funds for any purpose included in the State’s plan 

25 under section 6304(a)(3). 


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1 ‘‘(b) GRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.— 

2 Each local educational agency that receives a grant under 

3 this part shall use the grant funds for any purpose in4 cluded in the local educational agency’s plan under section 

5 6304(a)(3). 

6 ‘‘(c) SUBGRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN7 CIES.—Each local educational agency that receives a 

8 subgrant under this part from a State shall use the 

9 subgrant funds for any purpose included in the State’s 

10 plan under section 6304(a)(3). 

11 ‘‘SEC. 6307. REPORTING. 

12 ‘‘(a) ANNUAL REPORTS.—A State or local edu13 cational agency that receives a grant under this part shall 

14 submit to the Secretary, at such time and in such manner 

15 as the Secretary may require, an annual report includ16 ing— 

17 ‘‘(1) data on the State’s or local educational 

18 agency’s progress in achieving the targets for the 

19 performance measures established under section 

20 6305; 

21 ‘‘(2) a description of the challenges the State or 

22 agency has faced in implementing its program and 

23 how it has addressed or plans to address those chal24 lenges; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) findings from the evaluation plan as de2 scribed in section 6304(a)(6). 

3 ‘‘(b) LOCAL REPORTS.—Each local educational agen4 cy that receives a subgrant from a State under this part 

5 shall submit to the State such information as the State 

6 may require to complete the annual report required under 

7 subsection (a). 

8 ‘‘SEC. 6308. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

10 this part $1,350,000,000 for fiscal year 2012 and such 

11 sums as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding 

12 fiscal years.’’. 

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The table of con14 tents for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

15 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7301 et seq.) is amended— 

16 (1) by striking the items relating to part C of 

17 title VI; and 

18 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec19 tion 6234 the following: 

‘‘PART C—RACE TO THE TOP

‘‘Sec. 6301. Purposes. 

‘‘Sec. 6302. Reservation of funds. 

‘‘Sec. 6303. Program authorized. 

‘‘Sec. 6304. Applications. 

‘‘Sec. 6305. Performance measures. 

‘‘Sec. 6306. Uses of funds. 

‘‘Sec. 6307. Reporting. 

‘‘Sec. 6308. Authorization of appropriations. 

‘‘PART D—GENERAL PROVISIONS


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‘‘Sec. 6401. Prohibition against Federal mandates, direction, or control. 

‘‘Sec. 6402. Rule of construction on equalized spending.’’. 

Æ 


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