II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 895 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to invest 

in innovation for education. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 5, 2011 

Mr. BEGICH (for himself, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mr. 

LEAHY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to invest in innovation for 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 ‘‘Investing in Innovation 

5 for Education Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INVESTING IN INNOVATION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Elementary and 

8 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et 

9 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘PART D—INVESTING IN INNOVATION 

2 ‘‘SEC. 4401. PURPOSES. 

3 ‘‘The purposes of this part are to— 

4 ‘‘(1) fund the identification, development, eval5 uation, and expansion of innovative, evidence-based 

6 practices, programs, and strategies in order to sig7 nificantly— 

8 ‘‘(A) increase student academic achieve9 ment and decrease achievement gaps; 

10 ‘‘(B) increase high school graduation rates; 

11 ‘‘(C) increase college enrollment rates and 

12 rates of college persistence; 

13 ‘‘(D) improve teacher and school leader ef14 fectiveness; and 

15 ‘‘(E) increase the identification of innova16 tive educational strategies in rural areas; and 

17 ‘‘(2) support the rapid development, expansion, 

18 and adoption of tools and resources that improve the 

19 efficiency, effectiveness, or pace of adoption of such 

20 educational practices, programs, and strategies. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 4402. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES. 

22 ‘‘The Secretary may reserve not more than 10 per23 cent of the funds appropriated under section 4408 for 

24 each fiscal year to carry out activities of national signifi25 cance, which activities may include— 

26 ‘‘(1) capacity building; 


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1 ‘‘(2) technical assistance, including to appli2 cants from rural areas; 

3 ‘‘(3) pre-application workshops and web-based 

4 seminars for potential applicants, including appli5 cants from rural areas; 

6 ‘‘(4) the recruitment of peer-reviewers, includ7 ing individuals with a background in rural edu8 cation, to participate in the review of applications 

9 submitted under section 4404; 

10 ‘‘(5) dissemination of best practices developed 

11 with grant funds provided under this part, including 

12 best practices developed with grant funds in rural 

13 areas; 

14 ‘‘(6) carrying out prize awards consistent with 

15 section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology In16 novation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719); and 

17 ‘‘(7) entering into partnerships with other agen18 cies, nonprofits, and the private sector to carry out 

19 advanced research and development activities, in20 cluding research and activities in rural areas. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 4403. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED; LENGTH OF GRANTS; 

22 PRIORITIES. 

23 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary 

24 shall use funds made available to carry out this part to 

25 award grants, on a competitive basis, to local educational 


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1 agencies, educational service agencies, and nonprofit orga2 nizations that propose to provide support to 1 or more 

3 public schools or local educational agencies, or both, con4 sistent with section 4405. 

5 ‘‘(b) DURATION OF GRANTS.—The Secretary shall 

6 award grants under this part for a period of not more 

7 than 3 years, and may extend such grants for an addi8 tional 2-year period if the grantee demonstrates to the 

9 Secretary that it is making significant progress on the pro10 gram performance measures identified in section 4406. 

11 ‘‘(c) RURAL AREAS.—The Secretary shall ensure that 

12 not less than 25 percent of the funds awarded under sub13 section (a) for any fiscal year are for projects that meet 

14 both of the following requirements: 

15 ‘‘(1) The grantee is— 

16 ‘‘(A) a local educational agency with an 

17 urban-centric district locale code of 32, 33, 41, 

18 42, or 43, as determined by the Secretary; 

19 ‘‘(B) a consortium of such local edu20 cational agencies; or 

21 ‘‘(C) an educational service agency or a 

22 nonprofit organization with demonstrated ex23 pertise in serving students from rural areas. 

24 ‘‘(2) A majority of the schools to be served by 

25 the project are designated with a school locale code 


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1 of 41, 42, or 43, or a combination of such codes, as 

2 determined by the Secretary. 

3 ‘‘(d) PRIORITIES.—In awarding grants under this 

4 part, the Secretary may give priority to an eligible entity 

5 that includes, in its application under section 4404, a plan 

6 to— 

7 ‘‘(1) improve early learning outcomes; 

8 ‘‘(2) support college access and success; 

9 ‘‘(3) support family and community engage10 ment; 

11 ‘‘(4) address the unique learning needs of stu12 dents with disabilities or English language learners; 

13 ‘‘(5) support the effective use of education tech14 nology to improve teaching and learning; 

15 ‘‘(6) improve the teaching and learning of 

16 science, technology, engineering, or mathematics; or 

17 ‘‘(7) serve schools in rural local educational 

18 agencies. 

19 ‘‘(e) STANDARDS OF EVIDENCE.—The Secretary 

20 shall set standards for the quality of evidence that an ap21 plicant shall provide in order to demonstrate that the ac22 tivities the applicant proposes to carry out with funds 

23 under this part are likely to succeed in improving student 

24 outcomes or outcomes on other performance measures. 

25 These standards may include any of the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Strong evidence that the activities pro2 posed by the applicant will have a statistically sig3 nificant effect on student academic achievement, stu4 dent growth, or outcomes on other performance 

5 measures. 

6 ‘‘(2) Moderate evidence that the activities pro7 posed by the applicant will improve student aca8 demic achievement, student growth, or outcomes on 

9 other performance measures. 

10 ‘‘(3) A rationale based on research findings or 

11 a reasonable hypothesis that the activities proposed 

12 by the applicant will improve student academic 

13 achievement, student growth, or outcomes on other 

14 performance measures. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 4404. APPLICATIONS. 

16 ‘‘(a) APPLICATIONS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational 

18 agency, educational service agency, or nonprofit or19 ganization that desires to receive a grant under this 

20 part shall submit an application to the Secretary at 

21 such time, in such manner, and containing such in22 formation as the Secretary may reasonably require. 

23 ‘‘(2) REASONABLE PERIOD OF TIME.—The Sec24 retary shall ensure that prospective applicants are 


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1 provided a reasonable period of time in which to pre2 pare and submit their applications. 

3 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—At a minimum, each application 

4 shall— 

5 ‘‘(1) describe the project for which the appli6 cant is seeking a grant and how the evidence sup7 porting that project meets the standards of evidence 

8 established by the Secretary under section 4403(e); 

9 ‘‘(2) describe how the applicant will address at 

10 least 1 of the areas described in section 4405(a)(1); 

11 ‘‘(3) provide an estimate of the number of stu12 dents that the applicant plans to serve under the 

13 proposed project, including the percentage of those 

14 students who are from low-income families, and the 

15 number of students to be served through additional 

16 expansion after the grant ends; 

17 ‘‘(4) demonstrate that the applicant has estab18 lished 1 or more partnerships with private organiza19 tions, nonprofit organizations, or community-based 

20 organizations, and that the partner or partners will 

21 provide matching funds, except that the Secretary 

22 may waive the matching funds requirement, on a 

23 case-by-case, upon a showing of exceptional cir24 cumstances, such as the difficulty of raising match25 ing funds for a project to serve a rural area; 


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1 ‘‘(5) describe the applicant’s plan for continuing 

2 the proposed project after funding under this part 

3 ends; 

4 ‘‘(6) if the applicant is a local educational agen5 cy— 

6 ‘‘(A) document the local educational agen7 cy’s record during the previous 3 years in— 

8 ‘‘(i) increasing student achievement, 

9 including achievement for each subgroup 

10 described in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v); and 

11 ‘‘(ii) decreasing achievement gaps; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(B) demonstrate how the local edu14 cational agency has made significant improve15 ments in other outcomes, as applicable, on the 

16 performance measures described in section 

17 4406; 

18 ‘‘(7) if the applicant is a nonprofit organiza19 tion— 

20 ‘‘(A) provide evidence that the nonprofit 

21 organization has helped at least 1 school or 

22 local educational agency, during the previous 3 

23 years, significantly— 


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1 ‘‘(i) increase student achievement, in2 cluding achievement for each subgroup de3 scribed in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v); and 

4 ‘‘(ii) reduce achievement gaps; and 

5 ‘‘(B) describe how the nonprofit organiza6 tion has helped at least 1 school or local edu7 cational agency make a significant improve8 ment, as applicable, in other outcomes on the 

9 performance measures described in section 

10 4406; 

11 ‘‘(8) if the applicant is an educational service 

12 agency— 

13 ‘‘(A) provide evidence that the agency has 

14 helped at least 1 school or local educational 

15 agency, during the previous 3 years, signifi16 cantly— 

17 ‘‘(i) increase student achievement, in18 cluding achievement for each subgroup de19 scribed in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v); and 

20 ‘‘(ii) reduce achievement gaps; and 

21 ‘‘(B) describe how the agency has helped 

22 at least 1 school or local educational agency 

23 make a significant improvement, as applicable, 

24 in other outcomes on the performance measures 

25 described in section 4406; 


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1 ‘‘(9) provide a description of the applicant’s 

2 plan for independently evaluating the effectiveness of 

3 activities carried out with funds under this part; 

4 ‘‘(10) provide an assurance that the applicant 

5 will— 

6 ‘‘(A) cooperate with cross-cutting evalua7 tions; 

8 ‘‘(B) make evaluation data available to 

9 third parties for validation and further study; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(C) participate in communities of prac12 tice; and 

13 ‘‘(11) if the applicant is a nonprofit organiza14 tion that intends to make subgrants, consistent with 

15 section 4405(b), provide an assurance that the appli16 cant will apply paragraphs (1) through (10), as ap17 propriate, in the applicant’s selection of subgrantees 

18 and in its oversight of those subgrants. 

19 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING APPLICATIONS.— 

20 The Secretary shall award grants under this part on a 

21 competitive basis, based on the quality of the applications 

22 submitted and, consistent with the standards established 

23 under section 4403(e), each applicant’s likelihood of 

24 achieving success in improving student outcomes or out25 comes on other performance measures. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 4405. USES OF FUNDS. 

2 ‘‘(a) USES OF FUNDS.—Each local educational agen3 cy, educational service agency, or nonprofit organization 

4 that receives a grant under this part— 

5 ‘‘(1) shall use the grant funds to address, at a 

6 minimum, 1 of the following areas of school innova7 tions: 

8 ‘‘(A) Improving the effectiveness of teach9 ers and school leaders and promoting equity in 

10 the distribution of effective teachers and school 

11 leaders. 

12 ‘‘(B) Strengthening the use of data to im13 prove teaching and learning. 

14 ‘‘(C) Providing high-quality instruction 

15 based on rigorous standards that build toward 

16 college and career readiness and measuring stu17 dents’ mastery using high-quality assessments 

18 aligned to those standards. 

19 ‘‘(D) Turning around the lowest-per20 forming schools. 

21 ‘‘(E) Any other area of school innovation, 

22 as determined by the Secretary; 

23 ‘‘(2) shall use those funds to develop or expand 

24 strategies to improve the performance of high-need 

25 students on the performance measures described in 

26 section 4406; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) may use the grant funds for an inde2 pendent evaluation, as required by section 

3 4404(b)(9), of the innovative practices carried out 

4 with the grant. 

5 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY TO SUBGRANT.—A nonprofit orga6 nization that receives a grant under this part may use the 

7 grant funds to make subgrants to other entities to provide 

8 support to 1 or more schools or local educational agencies. 

9 Any such entity shall comply with the requirements of this 

10 part relating to grantees, as appropriate. 

11 ‘‘SEC. 4406. PERFORMANCE MEASURES. 

12 ‘‘The Secretary shall establish performance measures 

13 for the programs and activities carried out under this part. 

14 These measures, at a minimum, shall track the grantee’s 

15 progress in— 

16 ‘‘(1) improving outcomes for each subgroup de17 scribed in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) that is served by 

18 the grantee on measures, including, as applicable, 

19 by— 

20 ‘‘(A) increasing student achievement and 

21 decreasing achievement gaps; 

22 ‘‘(B) increasing high school graduation 

23 rates; 

24 ‘‘(C) increasing college enrollment rates 

25 and rates of college persistence; 


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1 ‘‘(D) improving teacher and school leader 

2 effectiveness; 

3 ‘‘(E) improving school readiness; and 

4 ‘‘(F) any other indicator as the Secretary 

5 or grantee may determine; and 

6 ‘‘(2) implementing its project in rural schools, 

7 as applicable. 

8 ‘‘SEC. 4407. REPORTING; ANNUAL REPORT. 

9 ‘‘A local educational agency, educational service agen10 cy, or nonprofit organization that receives a grant under 

11 this part shall submit to the Secretary, at such time and 

12 in such manner as the Secretary may require, an annual 

13 report that includes, among other things, information on 

14 the applicant’s progress on the performance measures es15 tablished under section 4406, and the data supporting 

16 that progress. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 4408. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

19 this part $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2012 and such sums 

20 as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal 

21 years.’’. 

22 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

23 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

24 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

25 to section 4304 the following: 

‘‘PART D—INVESTING IN INNOVATION


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‘‘Sec. 4401. Purposes. 

‘‘Sec. 4402. National activities. 

‘‘Sec. 4403. Program authorized; length of grants; priorities. 

‘‘Sec. 4404. Applications. 

‘‘Sec. 4405. Uses of funds. 

‘‘Sec. 4406. Performance measures. 

‘‘Sec. 4407. Reporting; annual report. 

‘‘Sec. 4408. Authorization of appropriations.’’. 

Æ 


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