II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1201

To improve teacher preparation at institutions of higher education.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 23, 1997

Mr. FRIST introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

A BILL

To improve teacher preparation at 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. TEACHER PREPARATION.

4 (a) INITIAL TEACHER PREPARATION.—Part A of

5 title V of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

6 1102 et seq.) is amended to read as follows:

7 ‘‘PART A—INITIAL TEACHER PREPARATION

8 ‘‘SEC. 511. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS; AND PURPOSES.

9 ‘‘(a) SHORT TITLE.—This part may be cited as the

10 ‘‘America’s Teacher Preparation Improvement Act’’.
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1 ‘‘(b) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following

2 findings:

3 ‘‘(1) No child should be placed in a classroom

4 with a teacher who has not been well prepared for

5 the demanding responsibilities of a professional

6 educator.

7 ‘‘(2) Federal law provides opportunities for

8 local schools to use Federal funds to upgrade the

9 skills of the teaching force through school-based pro10 fessional development, yet there has been virtually

11 no Federal commitment to help institutions of high12 er education upgrade future teachers’ preparation

13 programs.

14 ‘‘(3) Title V of the Higher Education Act of

15 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) (as in effect on the

16 day preceding the date of enactment of the Ameri17 ca’s Teacher Preparation Improvement Act) included

18 17 programs, that were authorized at $598,000,000

19 for fiscal year 1993 and such sums as may be nec20 essary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years, for

21 the initial preparation of teachers.

22 ‘‘(4) To maintain the 1997 kindergarten

23 through grade 12 service levels in 2006, the Nation

24 will require approximately 190,000 additional teach25 ing positions. Teacher excellence must be encour-
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1 aged, promoted, and supported if our Nation’s stu2 dents are to succeed. Enrollments in elementary and

3 secondary schools are at the highest level in the Na4 tion’s history and the enrollments are projected to

5 grow by approximately 10 percent from 1994 to

6 2006.

7 ‘‘(5) The median age of teachers is increasing

8 and many teachers will be approaching retirement

9 age just as the demand for teachers reaches its high10 est level. Such a trend presents an historic oppor11 tunity for the initial training of teachers to meet the

12 demand for teachers.

13 ‘‘(c) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this part are—

14 ‘‘(1) to strengthen the capacity of institutions

15 of higher education offering approved programs to

16 encourage excellence in teachers by assisting the ap17 proved programs in meeting or exceeding the highest

18 State or professional standards for teacher

19 preparation;

20 ‘‘(2) to encourage partnerships between institu21 tions of higher education and preschools, kinder22 gartens, elementary schools, and secondary schools

23 to provide for systematic and professional student

24 training and induction;
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1 ‘‘(3) to support programs for school paraprofes2 sionals and school support personnel to become cer3 tified or licensed teachers;

4 ‘‘(4) to recruit and support nontraditional indi5 viduals to enter the teaching profession and achieve

6 careers as certified or licensed teachers;

7 ‘‘(5) to encourage the recruitment of individuals

8 to teach in urban and rural areas;

9 ‘‘(6) to recruit, and support minorities seeking

10 to enter the teaching profession to achieve careers as

11 certified or licensed teachers; and

12 ‘‘(7) to encourage partnerships between institu13 tions of higher education and other entities to meet

14 the purposes described in paragraphs (1) through

15 (6).

16 ‘‘SEC. 512. DEFINITIONS.

17 ‘‘In this part:

18 ‘‘(1) 2-YEAR INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU19 CATION.—The term ‘2-year institution of higher

20 education’ means an institution of higher education

21 that awards an associate’s degree.

22 ‘‘(2) 4-YEAR INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU23 CATION.—The term ‘4-year institution of higher

24 education’ means an institution of higher education

25 that awards a bachelor’s degree.
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1 ‘‘(3) APPROVED PROGRAM.—The term ‘ap2 proved program’ means a program of study ap3 proved by a State to prepare an individual to become

4 a certified or licensed teacher in the State.

5 ‘‘(4) CERTIFIED OR LICENSED TEACHER.—The

6 term ‘certified or licensed teacher’ means an individ7 ual who possesses a document certifying that the in8 dividual has met the requirements of a State for em9 ployment as a teacher in the preschools, kinder10 gartens, elementary schools, or secondary schools, in

11 the State.

12 ‘‘(5) PARTNERSHIP.—The term ‘partnership’

13 means a teacher preparation school, college, or de14 partment in partnership with 1 or more of the fol15 lowing entities:

16 ‘‘(A) A local educational agency.

17 ‘‘(B) A preschool, kindergarten, elementary

18 school, or secondary school.

19 ‘‘(C) A 2-year institution of higher

20 education.

21 ‘‘(D) An academic department or division

22 within an institution of higher education.

23 ‘‘(E) A nonprofit agency or organization.
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1 ‘‘(F) Any other entity that will assist in

2 the achievement of the purposes of this title as

3 determined by the State educational agency.

4 ‘‘(6) INDUCTION.—The term ‘induction’ means

5 the provision of assistance to a student or teacher

6 during the period that begins with the student’s

7 training period and ends at the conclusion of the

8 second year of teaching.

9 ‘‘(7) KINDERGARTEN.—The term ‘kindergarten’

10 means a nonprofit institutional day or residential

11 school that provides kindergarten education, as de12 termined by State law.

13 ‘‘(8) PRESCHOOL.—The term ‘preschool’ means

14 a nonprofit institutional day or residential school

15 that provides preschool education, as determined by

16 State law.

17 ‘‘(9) SCHOOL PARAPROFESSIONAL.—The term

18 ‘school paraprofessional’ means an individual with at

19 least a secondary school diploma or its recognized

20 equivalent who is employed in a preschool, kinder21 garten, elementary school, or secondary school under

22 the supervision of a certified or licensed teacher.

23 ‘‘(10) SCHOOL SUPPORT PERSONNEL.—The

24 term ‘school support personnel’ means an individual

25 with at least a secondary school diploma or its rec-
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1 ognized equivalent who is employed by a local edu2 cational agency.

3 ‘‘(11) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of

4 the several States, the District of Columbia, the

5 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American

6 Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana

7 Islands, the United States Virgin Islands, the Re8 public of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States

9 of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau.

10 ‘‘(12) TEACHER PREPARATION SCHOOL, COL11 LEGE, OR DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘teacher prepa12 ration school, college, or department’ means the

13 school, college, department, or other division within

14 a 4-year institution of higher education that special15 izes in the training of individuals to serve as cer16 tified or licensed teachers.

17 ‘‘SEC. 513. PROGRAM AUTHORITY.

18 ‘‘(a) GRANTS BY THE SECRETARY.—For any fiscal

19 year for which the amount appropriated to carry out this

20 part does not equal or exceed $50,000,000, the Secretary

21 is authorized to award grants to enhance initial teacher

22 preparation under section 514.

23 ‘‘(b) STATE GRANT PROGRAM.—

24 ‘‘(1) ALLOTMENT.—For any fiscal year for

25 which the amount appropriated to carry out this
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1 part equals or exceeds $50,000,000, the Secretary is

2 authorized to make allotments to State educational

3 agencies pursuant to paragraph (2) to enable the

4 agencies to award grants under section 514.

5 ‘‘(2) ALLOTMENT FORMULA.—

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in

7 subparagraph (B), each State educational agen8 cy entering into an agreement under section

9 515 and having an application approved under

10 section 516 for a fiscal year shall receive an al11 lotment under this part for the fiscal year in an

12 amount that bears as nearly as possible the

13 same relation to the amount appropriated to

14 carry out this part for the fiscal year as the

15 amount the State educational agency received

16 under part B of title II of the Elementary and

17 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

18 6641 et seq.) for the fiscal year bears to the

19 amount received by all State educational agen20 cies under such part B for the fiscal year.

21 ‘‘(B) MINIMUM ALLOTMENT.—No State

22 educational agency shall receive an allotment

23 under subparagraph (A) for a fiscal year in an

24 amount that is less than $500,000.

25 ‘‘(c) ALLOCATION WITHIN STATES.—
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1 ‘‘(1) GRANTS.—Each State educational agency

2 receiving an allotment under subsection (b) shall use

3 not less than 90 percent of the allotted funds to

4 award grants under section 514.

5 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—Each State educational

6 agency awarding grants under this section shall con7 sult with representatives of the higher education

8 community in the State, including the State higher

9 education agency if such an agency exists, with re10 spect to awarding grants under section 514.

11 ‘‘(3) RESERVATION FOR STATE ACTIVITIES.—

12 From the amount allotted to a State educational

13 agency under subsection (b) and not used under

14 paragraph (1), not less than 7 percent of the

15 amount shall be used for State activities that the

16 State educational agency determines advance the

17 purposes of this part and are necessary to prepare

18 exceptional teachers, such as—

19 ‘‘(A) assisting local educational agencies in

20 filling teaching vacancies in urban and rural

21 areas, including filling the vacancies with indi22 viduals who have become certified or licensed

23 teachers pursuant to activities assisted under

24 this part;

25 ‘‘(B) supporting programs to encourage—
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1 ‘‘(i) students to aspire to, and to pre2 pare for, teaching careers in preschools,

3 kindergartens, elementary schools, or sec4 ondary schools; and

5 ‘‘(ii) local educational agencies to re6 cruit qualified individuals for such teaching

7 careers in rural and urban areas; and

8 ‘‘(C) reviewing teacher certification and li9 censure requirements to facilitate the transfer

10 of academic credit from 2-year institutions of

11 higher education to 4-year institutions of higher

12 education.

13 ‘‘SEC. 514. GRANTS TO ENHANCE INITIAL TEACHER

14 PREPARATION.

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary or a State edu16 cational agency may award grants under this section, on

17 a competitive basis, to 4-year institutions of higher edu18 cation to enable the institutions to establish or maintain

19 partnerships to carry out the activities described in sub20 section (b).

21 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—

22 ‘‘(1) REQUIRED.—Grants under this section

23 shall be used as follows:
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1 ‘‘(A) TEACHER PREPARATION.—To

2 strengthen approved programs. Such activities

3 may include—

4 ‘‘(i) cooperative arrangements between

5 teacher preparation schools, colleges, or de6 partments and other academic departments

7 or divisions within an institution of higher

8 education to strengthen an approved

9 program;

10 ‘‘(ii) programs designed to implement

11 the successful integration of technology

12 into teaching and learning;

13 ‘‘(iii) encouraging the improvement of

14 curriculum to provide additional prepara15 tion for new teachers to work with student

16 populations; and

17 ‘‘(iv) in consultation with local edu18 cational agencies, creating opportunities

19 for faculty at institutions of higher edu20 cation to engage in professional develop21 ment, including strengthening teaching

22 skills by increased exposure to local

23 preschools, kindergartens, elementary

24 schools, or secondary schools, or students

25 attending such schools.
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1 ‘‘(B) INDUCTION EXPERIENCE.—To estab2 lish and sustain partnerships, for the purpose

3 of creating sites that provide the highest quality

4 induction experience for new teachers, among—

5 ‘‘(i) an institution of higher education;

6 and

7 ‘‘(ii) 1 or more preschools, kinder8 gartens, elementary schools, secondary

9 schools, or nonprofit agencies or organiza10 tions.

11 ‘‘(2) PERMISSIVE.—Grants under this section

12 may be used as follows:

13 ‘‘(A) TARGETED PROGRAMS.—To establish

14 rigorous, targeted programs for nontraditional

15 students who seek to become teachers. Such in16 dividuals may include school paraprofessionals,

17 former members of the Armed Forces who were

18 discharged or otherwise separated under honor19 able conditions, or other individuals seeking to

20 change careers. Such programs may differ from

21 programs for traditional students, but shall

22 meet or exceed the highest professional stand23 ards for approved programs.
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1 ‘‘(B) RECRUITMENT.—To recruit individ2 uals to teach in urban and rural areas. Such ac3 tivities may include—

4 ‘‘(i) providing extended and multiple

5 clinical experiences for potential teachers

6 in urban or rural preschools, kinder7 gartens, elementary schools, or secondary

8 schools;

9 ‘‘(ii) establishing partnerships between

10 institutions of higher education offering

11 approved programs, and community groups

12 in urban and rural areas, to recruit indi13 viduals into teaching in the areas; and

14 ‘‘(iii) developing partnership agree15 ments between 4-year institutions of higher

16 education offering approved programs and

17 2-year institutions of higher education to

18 facilitate movement of future teachers

19 from the 2-year institutions of higher edu20 cation to the 4-year institutions of higher

21 education.

22 ‘‘(C) SYSTEM OF INITIAL TEACHER PREPA23 RATION.—To support partnerships, for the pur24 pose of establishing a system of initial teacher

25 preparation that meets or exceeds the highest
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1 State or professional standards for teacher

2 preparation, among—

3 ‘‘(i) an institution of higher education

4 offering approved programs; and

5 ‘‘(ii) 1 or more preschools, kinder6 gartens, elementary schools, secondary

7 schools, community groups, 2-year institu8 tions of higher education, or nonprofit or9 ganizations.

10 ‘‘SEC. 515. AGREEMENTS.

11 ‘‘Each State educational agency receiving an allot12 ment under this part shall enter into an agreement with

13 the Secretary. Each such agreement shall include provi14 sions to ensure that—

15 ‘‘(1) the State educational agency will keep

16 such records and provide such information to the

17 Secretary as may be required for fiscal audit and

18 program evaluation; and

19 ‘‘(2) the State educational agency will establish

20 a system for the evaluation of the activities assisted

21 under this part.

22 ‘‘SEC. 516. APPLICATIONS; REPORT.

23 ‘‘(a) APPLICATIONS.—

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each institution of higher

25 education desiring a grant under this part shall sub-
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1 mit an application to the Secretary or the State edu2 cational agency, as appropriate, at such time, in

3 such manner, and accompanied by such information

4 as the Secretary or State educational agency, respec5 tively, may require.

6 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted

7 under paragraph (1) shall—

8 ‘‘(A) include a description of the members

9 of the partnership, the goals and intended out10 comes for the partnership, and the respective

11 roles and responsibilities of each of the mem12 bers of the partnership, including how grant re13 sources shall be allocated among the members

14 in order to carry out the roles and responsibil15 ities of the members under this part;

16 ‘‘(B) include a description of how the

17 members of the partnership will collaborate to

18 provide enhanced learning opportunities for

19 nontraditional students and preservice

20 educators;

21 ‘‘(C) indicate how the proposed activities

22 will lead to meeting or achieving the highest

23 State or professional standards for teacher

24 preparation;
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1 ‘‘(D) indicate how the proposed activities

2 will further the alignment of standards for

3 teacher preparation with the State’s standards

4 for the kindergarten through grade 12 schools

5 and students;

6 ‘‘(E) indicate how proposed activities are

7 linked to State goals for educational improve8 ment; and

9 ‘‘(F) indicate how the proposed activities

10 will reinforce Federal activities assisted under

11 part A of title II of the Elementary and Sec12 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6621

13 et seq.).

14 ‘‘(b) REPORT.—

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In order to assure Federal

16 accountability, an institution of higher education

17 that receives a grant under this part shall submit a

18 progress report to the Secretary or State educational

19 agency, as appropriate, that illustrates the advance20 ments made by the partnership regarding the initial

21 preparation of teachers.

22 ‘‘(2) SUBMISSION.—The report described in

23 paragraph (1) shall be submitted 3 years after the

24 date of enactment of the America’s Teacher Prepa-
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1 ration Improvement Act and every 3 years there2 after.

3 ‘‘SEC. 517. MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.

4 ‘‘A State educational agency, in utilizing the proceeds

5 of an allotment received under this part, shall maintain

6 the expenditures of the State for enhancing initial teacher

7 preparation, and for encouraging minority students to be8 come teachers, at a level equal to not less than the level

9 of such expenditures maintained by the State for the fiscal

10 year preceding the fiscal year for which the allotment is

11 received.

12 ‘‘SEC. 518. PARTICIPATION OF PRIVATE SCHOOL CHILDREN

13 AND TEACHERS.

14 ‘‘Private school children and teachers seeking to par15 ticipate in activities under this part shall be eligible for

16 such participation in the same manner and to the same

17 extent as private school children and teachers are eligible

18 to participate in activities under the Elementary and Sec19 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.).

20 ‘‘SEC. 519. CONSTRUCTION.

21 ‘‘Nothing in this part shall be construed to affect

22 home schools.

23 ‘‘SEC. 520. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

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

25 this part $235,000,000 for fiscal year 1998 and such sums
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1 as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal

2 years.’’.

3 (b) REPEALS.—Section 500, parts B, C, D, and F,

4 and subpart 1 of part E, of title V of the Higher Edu5 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101, 1103 et seq., 1104

6 et seq., 1107 et seq., 1113 et seq., and 1111 et seq.) are

7 repealed.

8 (c) MINORITY TEACHER RECRUITMENT.—Section

9 580B of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

10 1112e) is amended by striking ‘‘1993’’ and inserting

11 ‘‘1998’’.

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